Last Updated on December 25, 2022 by Mathew Diekhake

To help simplify the woes of getting a printer to work, Windows 10 has an option turned on by default called “Let Windows manage my default printer.” This means you should find Windows automatically remember the last printer that you used to print a document and then assign that same printer the nest time you go to printer something else.

Of course, some people have more than one printer and don’t always want to print with whatever the last printer was used, and at any time may wish to alternate between some of the other options. If you’re one of those people, then you may one day need to know how to set a default printer manually so you can always be using the printer of your choice.

Learning how to set a default printer may also come in handy if ever you have to troubleshoot problems with the one. There are occasions when people try to set up a printer more than once or find themselves needing to set up the same printer a second time because, for some reason, Windows isn’t printing with the first one you set up.

The following tutorial demonstrates how to set a default printer when you’re using a version of the Windows 10 operating system.

Method One: How to Let Windows Manage my Default Printer

Here’s how you can set the default printer to be managed by the Windows operating system from the Settings application:

Note: Letting Windows manage the default printer means that it will automatically print with the last printer that was used at the same location. This option is suitable for most people because even though you may have several printers set up on the computer, most of the time people want to use the same printer that was recently used.

1. Open the Settings app.

2. Click on Device from the Windows Settings menu.

3. From the Device’s menu, click on Printers & scanners and then in the right side of the same window check the box next to where it says Let Windows manage my default printer.

Method Two: How to Set a Default Printer in Settings

Here’s how you can set a default printer from the Settings application:

1. Open the Settings app.

2. Click on Devices from the Windows Settings menu.

3. From the Device’s menu, click on Printers & scanners and then in the right side of the same window uncheck the box for Let Windows manage my default printer.

4. Under the Printers & scanners heading, click once on the printer you want to set as the default to select it and then click on the Manage button.

5. Under the Manage your device heading, click on the Set as default button.

6. When clicked, you should see the printer status now reads Default.

7. Clicking back to the Printers and scanners section of Device’s should also should that the new default is now selected under the printer’s name.

Method Three: Set a Default Printer in Control Panel

Here’s how you can set a default printer from the Control Panel:

1. Open the Control Panel and select to View by in the icons view from the top right corner of the window.

2. Click on Devices and printers from the Control Panel icons.

3. Set the default printer by right-clicking on the picture of the printer and then clicking on the Set as default printer from its context menu.

4. When you get the message letting you know that Windows will stop managing your printer, click on the OK button.

5. You know the change has been successful when you can see the green tick on the new default printer.

Method Four: How to Set a Default Printer in Command Prompt

Here’s how you can set a default printer from the Command Prompt:

1. Open the Command Prompt window.

2. Type the following command into the Command Prompt window and then click on the Enter key on your keyboard. From the information given in the Command Prompt window, make note of the name you want to set as the default printer.

wmic printer get name,default

Note: The printer that is set as the default printer already will have the word “True” in the results.

3. Type the following command into the command line and then press Enter on your keyboard:

wmic printer where name="printer name" call setdefaultprinter

Note:

Change where it says “printer name” for the real name of the printer that you found using the command above.

For example:

wmic printer where name="EPSON WF-7610 Series (FAX) (Copy 1)" call setdefaultprinter

That’s all.

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