Win7 Devices and Printers hangs up

January 4, 2013 12:43 PM

I have a Dell laptop with Windows 7 32-bit on it and I'm having the weirdest issue with it. The "Devices and Printers" control panel window hangs every time I open it. It gets to about 90% of the way, according to the progress bar, and then stops. I can manage my printers using the Admin tools but everything else is unreachable. Is there any way to fix this short of a Windows re-install? This is a work laptop and I'd rather not have to go through our IT service department since they'll nuke everything on it that wasn't there when I got it.
posted by tommasz to Computers & Internet (8 answers total)

Have you tried to unplug everything but the power adapter? Try that, if doesn't hang.. then slowly plug in each of your devices at a time and try to access the control panel window until it hangs, and then you'll know which device it is. From there, you could try to reinstall the drivers for that device, or replace the device.
posted by royalsong at 12:51 PM on January 4, 2013

Response by poster: Unplugging everything makes no difference, it hangs at the same point.
posted by tommasz at 12:56 PM on January 4, 2013

Is your bluetooth service disabled? Type "services.msc" in the start box and check to see if "Bluetooth Service" is disabled.
posted by dobi at 1:02 PM on January 4, 2013

Response by poster: It acts the same whether Bluetooth services are running or not.
posted by tommasz at 1:14 PM on January 4, 2013

This happens to me at work. I think it may have to do with it using Novell networking software. Type "printers" in the Windows Start menu search box. Instead of "Devices and Printers", click on "Printers". This will show you all your printers installed. I assume that's what you're trying to get to. Hope this works for you.
posted by Swede78 at 1:57 PM on January 4, 2013

Response by poster: We don't have any Novell software anymore. I can access the printers via Admin tools, it's things like Bluetooth devices I want to access.
posted by tommasz at 4:44 PM on January 4, 2013

Other option would be to dump into Safe Mode and uninstall the devices one by one until you figure out what it is. F8 on startup (Before the loading windows bar) gives you access. You might not be able to log in since this is a work computer.

Also...As an IT guy, I would recommend against this. Usually if a user of mine is pulling that I get grumpy with them. Is there a chill IT guy you can say 'Hey look, please just fix this issue. Ive had a problem in the past with otherwise reformatting and I dont want to lose the productivity' or something. If the user has been pretty relaxed and understanding in the past, I usually look the other way. Unless of course it is causing some sort of harm to have the 'rogue' software on.
posted by NotSoSimple at 4:54 PM on January 4, 2013

Sorry, tommasz. I missed the part saying you can access the printers. If you search for "devices" however, like the separate printers manager, you will find a "Device Manager" option in the results. This is a different menu than the "Devices and Printers" that isn't working for you. Maybe this will help you get to the device you want.
posted by Swede78 at 1:35 PM on January 5, 2013