How to Troubleshoot ‘Devices and Printers Not Loading’ on Windows 10



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Through Devices and Printers, you can get an overview and quick access to all connected and wireless devices on your computer. From here you can also manage, add and remove smartphones, portable music players, digital cameras, webcams, monitors, keyboards, mice, printers, scanners, Bluetooth adapters, and more.

The Hardware and Sound Control Panel, Devices, and Printers are also easily accessible. But sometimes users report that devices and printers don’t load. Especially after the latest Windows 10 update, devices and printers become unresponsive.

What causes the “devices and printers won’t load” issue?

  • Damaged system file.
  • Bluetooth service stopped.
  • Print spooler service stopped.
  • There is a problem with Internet Explorer DLL.

How to solve the “Devices and printers won’t load” problem?

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sfc-command
Launch the SFC tool

  1. Press Win + R to open the Run field.
  2. Type cmd in the Run field, and then press Ctrl + Shift + Enter to open the command prompt as an administrator.
  3. Type sfc /scannow in the box, then press Enter.
  4. Wait for the process to complete, then close the command prompt.
  5. Reboot the computer.

Turn on Bluetooth support and the print spooler service

  1. Press Win + R to open the Run field.
  2. Type services.MSC in the Run field, then press OK to open the Services window.
  3. In the Services window, find the Bluetooth support service in the list, right-click it, and select Properties.
  4. On the General tab, set the startup type to Automatic and click Start when service stops.
  5. Click Apply and OK to save your changes.
  6. Find the Print Spooler service in the list, right-click it and select Properties.
  7. On the General tab, set the startup type to Automatic and click Start when service stops.
  8. Click Apply and OK to save your changes.
  9. Close the services and restart your computer.



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Frequently Asked Questions

Click the Start button and select Control Panel, Administrative Tools, Services. Find the print spooler in the list. Check to see if it has been started and if the startup type is set to "Automatic". If it has been stopped, check to see if simply restarting it solves the problem.

One possible reason that the "Devices and Printers" control panel takes so long to load is that it contains a list of devices that no longer exist or cannot be reached. When devices and printers finally open, try right-clicking on printers or scanners that are no longer in use and delete them.

At the Advanced Command prompt, type "sfc /scannow" and press Enter to start the process. Once the process is complete, close Advanced Command Prompt and restart your computer. If the problem is due to a corrupted system file, you should be able to open the "Devices and Printers" window without any problems.

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