tutorials

How to change default printer Windows 10

  Date Of Publication: July/2025
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Sometimes we handle several printers in our system and it usually happens that by mistake we send files to print on the wrong device. In network, as we share folders or files, it is even more important because we can make mistakes and send documentation to a printer that we should not.

At home, at the user level it may not be so problematic if we only have one printer but if we already have more than one printing unit, the thing changes. It will be really annoying to end up sending files to print to a device that doesn't work or that we don't want. In this tutorial we will see how we can define the default printer and thus avoid losing the printing of our documents by sending them to unconnected or unavailable equipment.

1. Set Windows 10 default printer with Control Panel


Step 1
The first way we will see about how to set the default printer in Windows 10 is using the Control Panel . We access the Control Panel and see the following.

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Step 2
There we press the option View devices and printers in Hardware and sound, we will see the following.

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Step 3
We can see there the printers available for use in Windows 10. There we must right click on the printer we want to define as default and select the option “ Set as default printer ”.

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In this way we have defined which printer to use by default.

2. Set Windows 10 default printer with print dialog


Next, we will use another way as we can define the default printer in Windows 10 and it is using the Print option .

Step 1
For this we create any file, txt or doc, etc. and use any of the following options:

  • Go to the Action / Print menu
  • Use the key combination:

Ctrl + P

Step 2
In the displayed print box we will right click on the printer to be defined as primary and select the option “ Set as default printer ”.

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3. Set Windows 10 default printer with Command Prompt


Through the CMD we can define the default printer in Windows 10 and for this we must execute the command prompt as administrators (Right click / Run as administrator).

In the displayed window we will enter the following command: 

 RUNDLL32 PRINTUI.DLL, PrintUIEntry / y / n “printer name”

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4. Set Windows 10 default printer with Configuration option


Finally we will use the Configuration option to set the default printer in Windows 10.

Step 1
To do this we go to the Start menu and select the Settings option . We will see the following.

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Step 2
There we select the Devices option and we will observe the following.

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Step 3
There we move the window down and locate the "Allow Windows to manage my default printer" field.

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Step 4
Now under the Printers and scanners field we select the printer to be defined as default and press the Manage button .

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Step 5
In the displayed window we select the option Set as default.

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5. Prevent Windows 10 from automatically changing default default printer


One of the things that we see many and do not usually like is that Windows 10 automatically changes the most recent printer you are using as the default printer. If what you want is for you to always be the one who manually chooses which printer is necessary to make it default, look at these steps to disable this system function.

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We must go to this area:

  • Start
  • Setting
  • Dispositives
  • Printers and scanners

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Here we must disable the option: "Allow Windows to manage my default printer". So Windows will not change the default depending on your location and other terms.

Using these options we can define which printer will be the default in Windows 10 and thus be sure where the printing of our documents will arrive. This is really useful when we have several printers and each one is intended for a different type of printing. In addition, networking is vital because it will not be the same to send the print to one printer or another.

If you work in a network, it will be necessary that you have configured in your equipment which is the default printer to make sure where our documents are directed. To do this, see how you can share network printers in Windows 10, 9 and 8 and then with today's tutorial you can choose the predefined one.

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W10 printer sharing

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