Uninstalling HP printer driver...

Question

Level 1

6 points

Uninstalling HP printer driver...

Hello,

I'm trying to uninstall an HP printer driver downloaded/installed from the HP website while experimenting with a printer (and before realizing the drivers are pre-loaded by Apple). Running the included uninstall utility uninstalled the driver, but left all the HP software. So I deleted the HP folder from my Applications folder and this, together with a spotlight search for "HP", got rid of most items, but there are still a few files and folders lurking around; specifically:

Macintosh HD\Library\Frameworks\HPPml.framework\...
Macintosh HD\Library\Frameworks\HPServicesInterface.framework\...
Macintosh HD\Library\Frameworks\HPSmartX.framework\...

Macintosh HD\Library\StartupItems\HPIO\...
Macintosh HD\Library\StartupItems\HP Trap Monitor\...

Can anyone confirm whether these folders are indeed related to the HP printer software I installed (not the pre-loaded HP drivers from Apple) or if they are native to OS X, and also whether it is safe to delete them?

Cheers,

Chris

2011 MacBook Pro 15", Mac OS X (10.6.6)

Posted on Mar 1, 2011 8:44 AM

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Answer 1

Kappy

Level 10

361,731 points

Mar 1, 2011 9:29 AM in response to PilotFlying

I have no HP printers and find no HP related folders in the /Library/Frameworks/ folder. However, if you have an HP printer then those folders are most likely required by whatever printer driver you have or will install for your HP printer. I would leave those folders alone.

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Answer 2

iVmichael

Level 6

13,740 points

Mar 1, 2011 2:51 PM in response to PilotFlying

Everything HP related here seems to be in /Library/Printers/HP or /Application Support/HP so I think you'd be OK to go ahead and delete the Startup Items for sure and the Frameworks 'probably' ...

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Answer 3

PilotFlying Author

Level 1

6 points

Mar 1, 2011 3:48 PM in response to PilotFlying

Kappy & iVmichael,

Thanks to you both for the replies. This is exactly the information I was looking for - what a non-'HP-infected' system looks like. I do have an HP printer, but want to rid my system of all traces of the HP software I installed and revert to the pre-loaded Apple driver. In typical HP fashion, their software package doesn't just install a driver, but a whole suite of software that seems to find its way into every corner of your system - therefore making it very difficult to find and get rid of it all. I ended up deleting all the folders mentioned in my original post, and everything seems to be working fine.

iVmichael, you mentioned you had an 'hp' folder in your '/Application Support' directory... I actually deleted this one thinking it was from the HP software install. Can you confirm you have this folder present without any HP printer software installed, and that it's the one that contains sub-folders 'hpio' and 'hppa'? Do either of you have any 'hp.....' processes showing in Activity Monitor? May have to put it back if that's the case.

Thanks again for the info. If anyone else out there knows where HP printer software likes to hide out please let me know!

Cheers,

Chris

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Answer 4

Mar 7, 2011 10:35 PM in response to PilotFlying

PilotFlying -

If you know the date you did the HP download/install, you can check information of folders and files to see if the create date matches when you downloaded ....

Good luck!

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Answer 5

PilotFlying Author

Level 1

6 points

Mar 8, 2011 6:14 PM in response to Randy Knowles

Thanks, Randy - another great suggestion! I think I have it all sorted now after painstakingly looking through all system folders. I also found a great app called 'AppDelete' which traces and deletes all files associated with an installed app. It even finds orphaned files, which has useful in this case.

Thanks again for the suggestion!

Cheers,

Chris

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