Converting the Windows Script Host RemovePrinterConnection Method

Definition: Removes a shared network printer connection from your computer system.

RemovePrinterConnection

You can use WMI (and the Get-WMIObject cmdlet) to delete printers from your computer. (Don’t let the official WSH definition throw you off here: in WSH, as in PowerShell, you can remove local printer connections as well as network printer connections.) How do you remove a printer connection using Windows PowerShell? Why, like this, of course:

$a = Get-WMIObject -query "Select * From Win32_Printer Where Name = 'Test Printer'"
$a.delete()

As you can see, in line 1 we use Get-WMIObject and the –query parameter to retrieve a specific printer from the local computer; in particular, we want the printer that has a Name equal to Test Printer. After we have this printer in tow we simply use the Delete method to remove that printer from the computer.

Note. Yes, we know: in VBScript the method is named Delete_, with an underscore following the word Delete. Why the difference in method names between PowerShell and VBScript? In a nutshell, that’s because they use different objects. When working with the Get-WMIObject PowerShell goes through the .NET Framework, and returns an instance of the System.Management.ManagementObject class; in that class, the method is named Delete. VBScript, meanwhile, uses the WMI Scripting API and returns an instance of the SWbemObject class; with that class the method is named Delete_.

As to why the two classes use two different method names, well, your guess as good as ours.

See conversions of other Windows Script Host methods and properties.
Return to the VBScript to Windows PowerShell home page