How to Set a Default Printer in Windows 10/11. step by step
When using a laptop for both Office and home, we often have to switch printers. Windows 11/10 does not provide an easy way to switch between printers, as it will ensure that there is a default printer. It has occurred to me a few times that I put something to print only to realize that it went to my Office printer instead of a printer at home. So how do you set a default printer in Windows 11/10? This is what we will look at today.
How to set the default printer in Windows 10
To set the default printer on your Windows 10 PC, do the following:
Open Windows 10 device settings (Win + I) > Devices
Switch to Printers & Scanners
Click the printer you want to set as the default printer, and then click Manage
Then click the “Set as default” button to set the printer as the default printer.
Once you do that, the printer will appear as the selected printer when you go ahead to print anything. Also, the printer will have the default status in the list of printers.
Automatically switch the default printer based on the location
While it is easy to change the default printer, it doesn’t help. If the default printer can change automatically based on the location of the computer. So if I go home, the default printer is the home printer, and the office printer when I go to work.
Read: Set as default printer Context menu item is missing.
Let Windows manage my default printer
Under Printers and Scanners, check the box that says “Let Windows manage my default printer”. When this option is turned on, Windows will set the default printer to be the one you most recently used in your current location.
It has one drawback though in certain use cases. If you keep switching printers in the office, the default printer will be the most recently used printer at that location.
I hope the guide was useful to you, and you were able to set the default printer for Windows 10.
There is no network-based option to change the default printer like in Windows 7, so you’ll have to let Windows manage the default printer.
How to set the default printer in Windows 11
The following steps will help Windows 11 users to set the default printer:
Press Win + I keys to launch the Settings app.
In the Settings app, select Bluetooth & Devices from the left side.
Now, click on the Printers & Scanners tab on the right side.
On the Printers & Scanners page, you will see a list of all the printers added to your computer. Select the printer you want to set as the default printer and click the Set as default button.
Windows 11 also has a feature to automatically select the default printer based on the most recent printer used in a specific location. Turning on this feature will save your time in manually selecting the default printer in different locations.
To enable this option in Windows 11, go to “Settings > Bluetooth & Devices > Printers & Scanners.” Scroll down on the Printers and Scanners page and turn on the button that says Let Windows manage my default printer. You’ll find this option in the Printer Preferences section.
Note that after turning on this feature, you will not be able to set the printer as the default printer manually. To do this, you must turn off this option.
How can I prevent Windows 11/10 from changing my default printer?
In Windows 11/10, there is a setting called Allow Windows to manage my default printer. When this setting is enabled, Windows automatically selects the default printer based on the most recent printer used in a particular location. This feature is useful if you are using the same laptop with different printers in different places like home, office, etc. To stop Windows 11/10 from changing the default printer, you must disable this setting. We have explained the steps to do this above in this article.
If you wish, you can permanently disable this feature using Group Policy Editor and Registry Editor.
Should I let Windows manage my default printer?
The answer to this question depends on you. If you use the same laptop in your office and home and have to change the default printer daily, you can leave this task to Windows.