I found this depends on how you setup the printer.
If it's in the list when you want to add a printer and select it, it will show up. If you tell it, it's not in the list and set it up manually using \\server\printshare then it may or may not show up.
When you choose to print in an app, it's listed. It's also listed under Device Manager as a print queue.
However, to get it to show up, change the view to some other view. My view was details. I changed it to large icons and the printers showed up. I could then change it back to detail and they would still be listed. Restarting the print spooler, disabling/re-enabling
Bluetooth Support, restarting Devices and Printers, right-clicking and clicking refresh, pressing F5 for a refresh, logging out and logging back in, restarting the computer ALL have no effect but changing the view, does. Ridiculous?
The only one that is NOT listed is one setup as a TCP/IP printer and that is because SNMP was turned off, is my guess. You can still print to it from any app but you cannot select it as the default from Devices and Printers because it doesn't list. I'm going
to turn SNMP back on, on the printer, to see if it will then show up and if so, see what happens when I remove it. The reason SNMP is turned off is because on TCP/IP enabled printers in Windows 8, the printer will show offline unless you delete and recreate
it. At some point it loses communication and thinks it went offline. Turn off SNMP and that problem is resolved.
For \\server\printershare I have found if you remove spaces from the share name, that will resolve those printers from showing offline sometime later. You have to create the share manually because Microsoft will offer the description name with spaces.
What it looks like is one development group at Microsoft isn't talking to another one. Microsoft, here's a clue. Go back to your old philosophy of:
Microsoft, making it simple.
Ease of use.
Hope that helps some of you.
Connected printers not showing in 'Devices and Printers' - Windows 8
