Can't uninstall printer driver

Helpline Q&A Directory

I installed the driver for a Brother HL-1040 printer. I then removed it by selecting the printer in the printer folder and hitting the Delete key. When I next started the PC it halted the startup half-way through with a message that said: 'The Registry or system.ini file refers to file bi-di.386 but it no longer exists - uninstall the associated application and use its uninstall or setup program'.

Reinstalling the HL-1040 driver got rid of the problem, but there is no uninstall facility as far as I can tell. On deleting the driver again, the problem has reappeared. I have never tried to mess with the Registry. Should I try to find the file there and delete it?

You are wise not to mess with the Registry. A redundant printer driver won't do any harm to your computer; tinkering with the Registry could do. If you're determined to remove it, use Scanreg to back up the Registry before you start (see tip, Back up the Registry), and be sure that you know how to restore from the backup should it be necessary.

Try looking in system.ini first, because most likely this file is being loaded from there. Click Start, Run, type Sysedit and click ok. Then search for bi-di.386. If you find a line containing this string, delete it and save the changes.

To look for it in the Registry, launch the Registry Editor (Start, Run, Regedit) and then expand the following folders: Hkey_Local_Machine, System, CurrentControlSet, Services and VxD.

Look in the subfolders of VxD for an entry that references bi-di.386 - it will probably be in a value named StaticVxD. When you find the subfolder that contains this value, delete it.