Way : Set Default Printer Windows 10 Via Settings
Step 1: Click the Windows icon on the toolbar and then select Settings.
Step 2: On the Settings window, please click Devices and Printers & scanners in order.
Step 3: Look at the right pane and then untick Let Windows 10 manage your default printer.
Step 4: Scroll up to Printers & scanners. Click a printer you want to set as default and then click the Manage button.
Step 5: On the new window, please click Set as default to set the selected printer as default Windows 10.
To Turn On Or Off Let Windows 10 Manage Default Printer Using A Reg File
The downloadable .reg files below make changes to the DWORD value in the registry key below.HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\WindowsLegacyDefaultPrinterMode DWORD0= on1 = off
This is the default setting.
Turn_On_Let_Windows_Manage_My_Default_Printer.regTurn_Off_Let_Windows_Manage_My_Default_Printer.regRunYesYesOK
I had problems with the system turning the let windows manage default printer back on. I ran the reg file, and it is still automatically turning it back on without help. How can I fix this issue?Rick
Hello Rick, and welcome to Ten Forums. :)Is this happening after installing Windows Updates by chance? If so, they have been resetting settings back to default lately.
This started with Build 1511. I have a landland attached fax modem I use to send info to the doctor. When I started using it after the build, my next print job wanted to go to the fax. I reset the default and all was good until I sent another fax. Glad I looked.Not sure that this is a good default. I have lots of software type printers and I really want the actual printer to be the default. Hence the word default.I changed the setting to let me decide.Z
How Can I Print From 2021 Mobile
The easiest method is to use the default print service on your Android phone. Go to Settings > Connected Devices > Connection Preferences > Printing > Default Printing Service. Tap Default Print Service to set it to On. Turn on your Wi-Fi-enabled printer. Exit Settings and open the file youd like to print.
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Making Printer Default Settings
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To change the printer’s default settings , log on using an account that has Manage Printers permission. Members of the Administrators group have Manage Printers permission by default.
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You cannot change the printer default settings for individual users. Settings made in the dialog box are applied to all users.
On the menu, point to , and then click .
The window appears.
On the menu, click .
The dialog box appears.
When you open the dialog box for the first time after installing the RPCS printer driver, a confirmation message appears. After you click , the dialog box appears.
Make the settings you require, and then click .
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The settings you make here are used as the default settings for all applications.
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For details, see the printer driver Help.
Set The Default Printer As The Last One Used

One other handy option on Windows 10 is to set your default printer as the last one you used at that location. So if you travel between your home and physical office, for instance, you can have the default printer set as the one you used most recently at that spot.
Click the Windows icon on the bottom left of your screen and select Settings.
Choose Devices at the top.
Pick Printers & Scanners on the left. Below the list of printers on the right, check the box for Let Windows manage my default printer.
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Change Default Printer Using Notepad
An easy way to change the default printer in Windows 10 is by using the Notepad App.
Open Notepad App or right-click on the Desktop and select New> Text Document option.
In New Text Document, click on the File tab and select Print option in the drop-down menu.
On the next screen, right-click on your desired Printer and select Set as Default Printer option.
Prevent Windows 10 From Automatically Choosing The Default Printer
Windows 10 automatically sets the most recently used printer as your default printer. If you want to manually set a printer as your default and dont want Windows 10 to automatically set a printer as default, you need to navigate to Settings > Devices > Printers & Scanners, and turn off Let Windows manage my default printer. When this is on, Windows will set your default printer to be the one you used most recently at your current location option.
Method 1 of 3
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Fix Operation Could Not Be Completed Double Click The Printer Name And Make Sure That The Printer Is Connected To The Network Error
This is where things may go sideways. As we described above, sometimes a user may encounter weird issues when trying to set up the default printer in Windows 10. If nothing helped and you still cannot set up the default printer, try to use the Windows registry to bypass the nasty error.
Warning. Follow the procedure strictly and do not change other registry branches and values, otherwise you may end up with serious software problems and data loss.
How Do I Change The Default Printer In Cmd
This is easy to do. Follow the steps below:
RUNDLL32 PRINTUI.DLL,PrintUIEntry /y /n Printer name
Note: Make sure that you replace Printer name in the above command with the name of the printer you want to set as your default printer. If you dont know the name of the printer, open Notepad or Microsoft Word and press Ctrl + P to invoke the Print dialog. There, you will find the name of your printer.
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How To Set Default Printer In Windows 10
On a newer Windows 10 version, it is extremely easy to set up the default printer.
Older Windows versions do not have the settings above. Do note that you can use the instruction below to set the default printer in any Windows 10 versions, as the latter keep the Classic Control panel for redundancy. If you run Windows 8 or Windows 7, set up the default printer in Windows by doing the following:
Change The Default Printer Via The Print Dialog
Heres what you have to do:
Tip: You can simply press Ctrl + P to quickly open the Print dialog after launching Notepad.
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Set The Default Printer In Settings
You can go right to the Settings on Windows 10 and pick the printer you want to use by default. This makes printing with a click faster with your preferred printer.
Open the Start menu by clicking the Windows icon on the bottom left of your screen and select Settings.
Choose Devices at the top of the window that pops open.
Pick Printers & Scanners on the left and select the printer you want to use on the right.
Below your printers name, click Manage.
On the final screen in the process, click Set as default.
Set Default Printer Using An Application

Step 1: Launch any classic desktop program such as Notepad or Paint.
Step 2: After launching the program, simultaneously press Ctrl + P keys to open the Print dialog. Alternatively, click the File menu and then click Print option to see the Print dialog.
Step 3: Here, in Select Printer section, right-click on the printer which you would like to make as the default printer in Windows 10 and then click Set as default printer option.
Thats it!
Filed Under: Windows 10Tagged:
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Let Windows Manage Your Default Printer
Way : Set Default Printer Windows 10 Via Print Dialog
Step 1: Open your Notepad on Windows 10 and then click File> Print.
Step 2: On the new popping-up window, right-click the printer you want to set default on Windows 10 and then select Set as Default Printer from the menu.
After Step 2, you might receive a promptSetting this printer as the default means Windows 10 will stop manning your default printer. If you receive the message, click the OK button.
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Windows 8 And Windows 10
The printer should have the word “Default” below it on the main Printers & scanners window. Also, once the printer is set as the default printer, it should appear as the selected printer.
Prevent Windows From Changing Your Default Printer
To set your default printer, you need to first scroll to the bottom of your printers list and make sure Let Windows manage my default printer is unchecked.
If you have this enabled, Windows will change your default to what it thinks is best , which can be confusing. Having this enabled also prevents you from setting your own default printer.
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Why Does My Default Printer Keep Changing In Windows 10
If Windows keeps changing your default printer, there are two reasons why that could happen:
- The first reason is that youve enabled the option that allows it to automatically manage your printers. So when you use another printer that is not the current default printer, Windows assumes that you now prefer that printer and, therefore, makes it the default printer.
- An unexpected error occurred, forcing the OS to default to another printer. Such errors include outdated or faulty printer software, corrupt registry entries, system bugs, broken printer cords, etc.
Whatever the case may be, there are several solutions you can use to resolve the issue and prevent Windows from changing your default printer.
Set The Default Printer In Control Panel
Some Windows 10 users still like to use the Control Panel for managing settings and devices. If you fall into this group, follow these steps to set your default printer in Control Panel.
Open Control Panel as you usually would. You can also use the Search box to locate it quickly if you have it in your Taskbar. Just enter Control Panel into the Search box and then select it from the results.
Under Hardware and Sound, choose View devices and printers. If, for some reason, you dont see this option, click Hardware and Sound and then pick Devices and Printers.
Scroll down to Printers, right-click the printer you want to use, and pick Set as default printer.
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How A User Can Set Default Printer On Windows
If you set the default printer with Printix, Windows will stop managing the default printer on the computer in question, that is, Let Windows manage my default printer becomes unchecked in the Printers & scanners dialog.
When Windows is not managing default printers, the user can set the default printer manually:
Why Windows 11 Keeps Changing The Default Printer

There are two ways to choose the default printer in Windows 11: mark it yourself using the directions above, or have Windows always default to the last printer you used.
In both cases, you always have full control over which printer to use when it comes time to print just manually select the printer that should be used in that instance. But, if you prefer to always have a particular printer be the default one, regardless of what you used last time you printed, there’s a setting you need to change.
Go to step 3 above , and confirm Let Windows manage my default printer is disabled/off. Turning this off enables the Set as default button in step 5, and forces Windows 11 to always default to the printer of your choice.
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Set Pdf As Default Printer
Hii am using windows 10 pro 1903 18358, and nitro Pro pdfi’m unable to set it as default printeri can’t find an option in printer settings or anywhere i can configure thisthanks
Hello vanderzee, and welcome to Ten Forums. Usually, you should be able to set “Microsoft Print to PDF” as the default printer. Check the options in the tutorial below to see if it is listed for you to set as default.
thanks for the replyproblem is, MS print to pdf is installed, but the are no printers to choose, the menu is simply emptyif i try to search for a printer, the only choice is to add a physical printer, no option to add a virtual pdf printernitro pdf should work on windows 10, so it seems to be a bug/problem with windows 10 i searched a lot already, but don’t seem to be able to solve thisthanks
Change Default Printer Via Print Dialog
Step 1: Open Notepad or WordPad program.
Step 2: Click the File menu and then click the Print option to open the Print dialog. Alternatively, you can use Ctrl + P hotkey to open the Print dialog.
Step 3: Here, right-click on the printer that you want to set as the default printer on your Windows 10 PC and then click Set as Default Printer option.
If you see the following dialog with Settings this printer as the default means Windows will stop managing your default printer message, click OK button to set the selected printer as default.
Method 2 of 3
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Fix : Run A System Restore
The Default printer keeps changing problem could be a result of recent updates or modifications you made on your computer. A good solution to that will be to perform a system restore to the last point when things worked normally:
Note: Keep in mind that performing a system restore will remove the programs you installed and undo the system settings you modified after the date of your selected restore point.
Change Default Printer In Windows 10
On a Windows 10 computer, you can either set your own default printer or allow Windows to manage the default printer on your computer.
When you manually set a default printer on your computer, all the print jobs will always be sent automatically to your selected printer.
This setup is useful if your computer is based at a particular location and also if you have multiple printers, but prefer sending print jobs to a specific printer.
The only disadvantage of setting a default printer is that you will have to change default printer, whenever you happen to take your Home computer to office or bring your office computer to Home.
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