Cannot Change Computer Name In Devices And Printers Panel
Jul 14, 2013
I have a Dell Inspiron laptop that I had to restore to the factory Dell settings recently. After formatting the hard drive and re-installing windows 8 I noticed that the computer name in the devices and printers panel was Dell, Inc. instead of the computer name that I put in when re-installing windows. Is there a way to change the computer name in the devices and printers panel so that it matches the computer name in the system panel? I can change the computer name by going into the system panel but that doesn't change the name in the devices and printer panel.
My friend happened to look in Devices and Printers, and in the Multimedia Devices section he had about 10 devices showing up that he never heard of. Six of them were computers with names that he had never heard of, the others were devices that we could not tell what they were.
I expect that these entries mean that at some time they were on the same network that he was on. Would that be correct?
If so, then it is a matter for concern because he never goes on public networks. He only goes on his network at home, and a network in a small office that he rents and shares with one other person. They have their own router with security set up on it, and that router is connected to an Ethernet jack that most likely goes to a switch on a network that also provides internet service to some other offices in the same building.
This computer is only about 2 months old, so these entries can't be too old.
When I looked at his computer, he was on his home network and all those other devices showed as Offline. I right clicked on them all and removed them. Would it be a good guess that perhaps the security of the network at his office was compromised, and those devices were connected to that network at some point?
I told him to monitor and see when they reappear, but he won't be back in that office for 2 weeks.
After installing Windows 8, I decided that I wanted to change my computer name. I followed the instructions online and changed it through Advanced System Settings. However, the old computer name keeps on showing up in Devices under Devices and Printers. I have looked at other posts in this forum
is keeping the old computer name. What shall I do?
I am running Windows 8 OEM on a MacBook Pro Retina Display running Bootcamp. All updates have been installed. Symantec and Dropbox are the only software that I have installed in Windows.
I have recently purchased a new HP Officejet Pro 8620 and am currently having problems actually using it.
I have already installed the full-feature driver from the HP website but the printer does not appear in devices and printers. However my printer does appear in print dialog and the device manager. I have tried adding the printer through devices and printers but it has no effect.
When I try to print anything through print dialog or any application for that matter no print job is sent. Basically I can't print anything from my computer now.
I have already re-installed the driver multiple times only to come up with similar results. This is for my main computer which is a HP Envy dv7. Also I have connected to the printer via the wireless router option.
However for my second computer which is a Dell XPS 12 everything worked fine right from the start which also connected to the printer wirelessly.
New printers do not display in Windows 8.1 Devices and Printers (no icon):
New Dell, clean install:
- Reinstalled Dell Factory Image - Updated to Windows 8.1 - Installed Office 2013 - Added BUILT-IN Windows Driver for LaserJet 5P/5MP - Added Epson driver for Windows 8 64 bit from Epson website Neither printer shows in Devices and Printers.
Rebooted. Stopped and started print spooler. Checked registry and all printers, including the new ones, appear to be listed in all the correct registry areas.
Open Notepad, select Print, both printers are listed.
Both printers print. When in Notepad, select Print, I can right click on the printer, select properties, and control the printer, print test pages, change drivers and preferences, etc.
The ONLY PROBLEM is the printers do not show in Devices and Printers, so I cannot control them from there.
When I go toControl Panel -> Hardware and Sound -> Devices and Printersit can take 5 minutes or more to populate the window. A green bar slowly progressing along the top.
Sometimes (not always) when I click on the Network icon it shows an empty window, taking five or more minutes, also with a green bar slowly progressing along the top. EDIT: After I submitted this post I saw that the network window had finally populated. Still, it was incredibly slow and happened after the window showed a message saying "This folder is empty."
If I go to This PC that comes up almost instantly, including the mapped network drives.
My friend happened to look in Devices and Printers, and in the Multimedia Devices section he had about 10 devices showing up that he never heard of. Six of them were computers with names that he had never heard of, the others were devices that we could not tell what they were.
I expect that these entries mean that at some time they were on the same network that he was on. Would that be correct?
If so, then it is a matter for concern because he never goes on public networks. He only goes on his network at home, and a network in a small office that he rents and shares with one other person. They have their own router with security set up on it, and that router is connected to an Ethernet jack that most likely goes to a switch on a network that also provides internet service to some other offices in the same building.
This computer is only about 2 months old, so these entries can't be too old.
When I looked at his computer, he was on his home network and all those other devices showed as Offline. I right clicked on them all and removed them. Would it be a good guess that perhaps the security of the network at his office was compromised, and those devices were connected to that network at some point?
I told him to monitor and see when they reappear, but he won't be back in that office for 2 weeks.
Every time I plugin a device (Memory card, Cell phone etc.) Windows 8.1 automatically opens Devices and Printers which is very annoying. I set Autoplay to "Take no action" but in vain. How can I disable this behavior?
For some reason the green bar goes all the way across the top of the screen before the devices and printers menu will load. In then loads without an issue after waiting for almost two full minutes. This is a core I7 Win 8.1 PC with 16GB of ram and an SSD so it screams otherwise.
I do have a lot of devices on my home network but my windows 7 PC which is on the same network loads the devices and printers menu almost instantly. If it were a device hanging up you would think that the Windows 7 PC would also be affected but it isn't. I will say that Windows 8.1 does identify a whole lot more devices that fall into the category of "multimedia devices" on the network than does windows 7.
Lately I have observed that whenever I connect my computer through WiFi, I see various other devices visible under 'my computer', like network gateway, mobile phones, and other devices.
Is it because the network settings had network visibility option checked 'on'.
Also, would that mean someone may have accessed the files on my computer.
I want to know who else can access my computer through the same WiFi that I am connected to.
I'm having an issue where if my USB devices are plugged in when i start my computer they are fine. but if i try to plug in a thumbdrive after it's already been turned on it won't recognize it. nothing.
Just Ran the SFC /scannow and i don't know what to make of it. it is attach The Attached file has the SFC details. not sure what to make of it.
Running Windows 8.1 x64 Gygabyte: z68a-d3h-b3 (will attach more if needed.)
I have a Dell Inspiron 660 PC w/windows 8.1 no matter what I plug into the usb port I cannot find it on my computer. I hear the connect/disconnect sound, but can't find anything on the computer as to where it is at or how to open it. The device is a storage device with photos. It also does the same thing with my phone. I hear it, but nothing opens or comes up anywhere.
my PC running Win 8/IE10 . At random times during the day, I lose the Hard Drive/ DVDDrive Icons in the "My Computer" and all icons in Control Panel . On both pages I just get a blank screen with "Empty Folder" message, and a blue "Search Bar" at the top. Also, when the fault occurs, I lose all the Thumbnail Icon pictures of my Photographs, leaving justa white square with the name of the photograph beneath.
If I double click on the white square, the photograph appears normally jn Windows photo viewer.
Rebooting returns the PC to normal for a couple of hours maybe, but eventually the fault will reappear.
I have run Kaspersky AntiVirus, MS Disk and Registry , but all report "No Problems". Tried to run scan now but keep getting 'try as administrator' when I am the administrator ?
How do I change the email address associated with my Windows 8 computer?
I got a new laptop with Windows 8 for Christmas. It was my first exposure to Windows 8 and I sailed through the installation/setup pretty quickly. Unfortunately, I've forgotten most of what I did and now I have a problem.
When I sign in to Windows 8, it shows me my main email address. But I've just moved and cancelled my account with that ISP. In another couple of days or weeks, the account will die and what will happen with regards to signing on to Windows 8. I assume I need to go to a website somewhere and re-register my laptop in some way to use a different email address.
I have had yahoo as my home page. Recently I keep getting redirected to hsrd.yahoo or I also have seen us.lrd.yahoo also. I have a new Samsung computer with windows 8 and ie10. I can't seem to change the default home page. This is what shows up [URL]....
I have two network printers, a HP 1006 that is shared off my Windows Home Server and a Brother 2070N that is shared from another Dell PC running Windows 7. I can print to these shared printers from every other PC attached to my home LAN but the Windows 8 PC. I cannot add drivers but I can "see" both printers when I go to Control Panel and try to add the printers. Trouble with printing?
Any update resolving the network printers becoming offline. I cannot remove-add the same printers again and again specially for the people i support in our office.
We just got a Win 8 machine, and finally decided to make a workgroup to share printers. made the workgroup, named workgroup, on the new win8 box. two desktops with win7 connected perfectly.
I cannot get the xp laptop to connect, I changed the Name from mshome to workgroup, but it still does not work.
So, have a client who runs Windows 8. Can't print to any of the printers in their office. They have shared / wireless and a couple of USB connected ones. Each one installed /configured indivdually and the test print will queue up but nothing will happen, it just sits there and does nothing
The ONLY thing i could managed to get to print was through bullzip (pdf creator )
check printer spooler checked permissions on spooler/printers folder re-installed printers different ways they all seem to install just fine, but won't print
Computer has been rebooted several times to no avail. I tried different drivers for each.... ??
My desktop computer (Win 7 Pro 32 bit) has two local printers, both with the share attribute, and is the server on a wireless LAN containing my wife's ASUS tablet (Win 8.1RT). Until recently she could print using the shared printers, but now cannot. The printer sare detected, but on trying to print, an error message says that theserver print spooler service is not running. But it definitely is - I have checked with Admin Tools, checked that it starts automatically, tried stopping and restarting it. The ASUS can still see and open shared files and folders. The printer drivers are up to date on both machines and work perfectly on the server. I am beginning to think that a Win 8 update has changed something?
I've just set up a clean system installation (Win 8.1 PRo x64). As a part of it I obviously installed my printer driver. The printer is Lexmark E260d and I use Lexmark Universal Driver downloaded directly from Lexmark's webpage.
My surprise is that after installation I have two such printers available at my system:
- "Lexmark E260" - which is the name I gave during installation,
- "Lexmark International Lexmark E260d" - which is another device appearing as a printer.
Both drivers / devices (?) print correctly yet I can see some differences in their functionality descriptions, when choosing Properties / Hardware. Lexmark E260 device has there "Print queues" only while Lexmark International... device has three types "Printers", "Print queues" and "Universal Serial Bus controllers". Another thing is when I double click on devices icons in "Devices and Printers" window - Lexmark E260 brings well-known list of documents actually being printed and Lexmark International... brings printer configuration dialog allowing to see printing documents, customize printer setting and so on.
Why I have somehow two different printers appearing on my system? Should I remove one of them and which? How can I avoid duplicating devices when installing drivers?
When I go to my "Device and Printers" it says under "Multimedia Devices" Blu-ray Disc Player. What is that for because I put a bluray disc in my drive but nothing happens. I was just wondering what is is there for if it doesn't play blu rays.
Our customer has recently upgraded Windows server from 2003 to 2008.
In new server, we saw that network printer's definition in registry is in the format of 'Printer on Server', while in old server the printer format was mainly 'ServerPrinter' (although the 'Printer on Server' format existed there too).
So due to this change in printer 'format', we need to modify our software to recognize the new format.
How does windows determines which format to use in printer definition? Is there a way to switch between formats?
(Note: I refer to printer definition under HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftWindows NTCurrentVersionDevices registry key) ...
Just updated to Update 1 on Win 8.1 on two machines. When I open the PC Settings App from Start Screen or Taskbar all the options are ok except PC and devices. When I select this on the app menu the app crashes back to the desktop.I suspect it's the new Drive Manager in that menu option. Other machine works fine with this option.
I want to control my phone over bluetooth in windows 8 to listen music. any option to control the device? I have successfully paired the device. It was easily done in windows 7 but i cannot find such option in windows 8.
Why is one of my four internal hard drives listed as a Portable Device in Device Manager?
Removing it from Portable Devices does not remove it from Disk Drives and then it all looks normal and functions normal, until I scan devices or Windows reboots.
It also functions normal when it is listed in both spots, Disk Drives and Portable Devices, just annoys the hell out of me me that one drive is listed under Portable Devices, I want it gone from there.
On Windows 8, from time to time, all of my USB devices suddenly stop working, and the systray notifies that my "USB devices are not recognized." A reboot rectifies the problem, but the problem happens about once or twice a week.
Just a few weeks prior I had all of my USB devices going to a powered hub, which then was plugged into my computer. I happened to change motherboards from a Biostar 770E to an Asus M5A97 R2.0, which has plenty of USB ports. I hadn't bothered to eliminate the hub yet, and just as with the old motherboard, this one exhibited the "device not recognized" error. Ah ha, I thought! My USB hub has gone south.
So I threw it in the garbage, and plugged all of my USB devices directly into the motherboard (USB 3.0 portable drive, Logitech M705 wireless mouse, Belkin Wireless adapter, printer, and Remote Wonder. So I was quite surprised today when my USB devices dumped out, and Windows messaged me that my "USB devices are not recognized." I should note that I have installed AMD chipset drivers from the Asus website, as the board was quite unstable without them. With the Biostar, I opted not to install third party chipset drivers and it ran fine without them.
The service cannot be started, either because it is disabled or because it has no enabled devices associated with it. I think this was "Application information" service.
The problem is that now I can't run app called Turbo Service Manager to backup, services.msc, regedit, elevated cmd to use "net start", msconfig, even *.reg files won't launch. I can't launch Safe Mode through metro because my USB mouse and keyboard disconnects at the moment I should choose "4".
I was looking around in the control panel and I found the system section. It had a part in it that showed my product key. Is this my actual product key for reinstalling or is it an identifier? I do like it that I can find it on OEM PCs but I don't want people looking through my control panel for it.
