A fix is already in the works, company says

Jul 25, 2022 16:23 GMT  ·  By

Microsoft has recently acknowledged a new glitch hitting Windows devices, and once again, it all happens after the recent cumulative updates released by the company.

This time, however, the one impacted by the problem is Windows 10, with Microsoft revealing in an advisory that printing could fail after installing the June 2022 cumulative updates.

The issue apparently exists in newer cumulative updates as well, so if you’ve installed the July updates, there’s a chance that USB printers could fail on your device as well.

Microsoft says that in most cases, Windows may start showing duplicate copies of printers that were already installed on the device, while others could see an error when trying to print from an application that specifically refers to the printer using a specific name.

The company says some workarounds already exist, though on the other hand, there’s no guarantee they would do the trick and bring everything back to normal.  

  • ​Open the Settings app, navigate to “Bluetooth & devices”, and select “Printers & scanners”
  • ​If there appears to be a duplicate installation of an existing printer, such as with suffix "Copy1", confirm if printing works for this printer. This printer should operate as expected.
  • ​If there is a need to use the original printer installation and not the duplicate, right-click the duplicate printer, select "Printer properties" and select the "Ports" tab. Observe the port in use.
  • ​Open "Printer properties" on the original printer and select the "Ports" tab. From the list displayed, select the port option in use by the duplicate printer. If this original printer works normally, the duplicate copy printer can be removed.

Additionally, users can try to update the drivers for their printers, uninstall and reinstall the printer, and obviously wait for the full patch that’s already in the works.