With default settings, Windows 10 automatically manages your default printer by setting the most recently used printer as your default printer.
Since Windows 10 automatically manages the default printer, most users never need to think about settings or changing the default printer. That said, at times, you might want to change the default printer or make your newly installed printer as the default printer in Windows 10.
There are no less than four ways out there in Windows 10 to change or set your default printer.
Follow the directions mentioned in one of the four given below methods to change the default printer or set a printer as the default in Windows 10.
Method 1 of 4
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
Change default printer via the Settings app
Step 1: Open Settings app and navigate to Devices > Printers & scanners.
Step 2: In order to change the default printer or set a printer as your default, you need to stop Windows 10 from automatically managing your default printer.
To do this, simply turn off the Let Windows manage my default printer option.
Step 3: Now, under the Printers & scanners section, click on a printer to see the Manage button. Click the Manage button.
Step 4: At the Manage your device page, click Set as default option to set the selected printer as your default on Windows 10 PC.
And if you can’t see Set as the default option, it’s because you have not turned off Let Windows manage my default printer option as mentioned in Step 2.
Method 3 of 3
Change default printer in Devices & printers
Step 1: Type Control Panel in the Start menu or taskbar search box and then press Enter key to open Control Panel.
Step 2: Change Control Panel View by to Small icons and then click Devices and Printers.
Step 3: Under the Printers section, you can see all virtual as well as physical printers. Right-click on the printer that you want to set as the default printer and then click Set as default printer option.
Method 4 of 4
Change default printer via Command Prompt
Step 1: Open the Command Prompt as administrator.
Step 2: At the Command Prompt window, type the following command to set a printer as the default in Windows 10.
RUNDLL32 PRINTUI.DLL,PrintUIEntry /y /n “Printer name”
In the above command, replace the Printer name with the actual name of the printer that you want to set as default. For instance, if I want to set my Hewlett-Packard HP LaserJet Pro MFP M126nw as the default printer, then the command would be something like this:
RUNDLL32 PRINTUI.DLL,PrintUIEntry /y /n “Hewlett-Packard HP LaserJet Pro MFP M126nw”
If you are not sure about the name of the printer, open Notepad or WordPad, press Ctrl + P to open the Print dialog, and then note the Printer name.
And if you have any issues with your printer, run the official printer troubleshooter in Windows 10.