Changing Your Default Printer - Windows 10

Key Points:

• A default printer is the printer that all jobs will be sent to regardless of the application being used.
   
• By default, Windows manages printers by sending jobs to the last printer that was selected on the computer.
   
• Users can override this by manually selecting their default printer at any time.

Instructions:

The steps below reference setting a default printer in Windows 10.  For instructions on how to do this in Windows 11, click here to view KB article #146247.

1. Click the Start menu icon (located at the bottom left of your computer screen).
    
2. Type the word printers.
   
   
    
3. In the Best match list, select Printers & scanners.
   
   
    
4. A list of all the printers that are currently mapped on your computer will be shown.  The printer that is marked with the Default notation is your default printer.
   
   
    
5. To make a printer your default printer, click on the printer within the list and choose the Manage option.  Finally, select the Set as default option.
   
   
   
   
   
   If you cannot set a printer as the default, then Windows 10 is managing your printers and you will need to override this setting.  Scroll down to the bottom of the Printers & scanners list and remove the check from the Let Windows manage my default printer option.  Go back up to Step 5 and you should now be able to manually set your default printer.