How to Set a Default Printer in Windows 11
To choose a default printer, you first need to access it from Settings or Control Panel. There’s also a command you can execute in Command Prompt if you’d rather set the default printer with a command.
Settings
This is the polished, “normal” way to set the default printer. It can be done in just a handful of steps.
Control Panel
You can also use Control Panel to mark which printer should be default.
Command Prompt
If you prefer to work with commands, such as through Safe Mode or in a batch file, or you can’t follow the above directions for whatever reason, you can also define the default printer through Command Prompt. If you don’t see that first category, then you must be viewing Control Panel by icons instead of categories, in which case, just select Devices and Printers from the list.
Why Windows 11 Keeps Changing the Default Printer
There are two ways to choose the default printer in Windows 11: mark it yourself using the directions above, or have Windows always default to the last printer you used. In both cases, you always have full control over which printer to use when it comes time to print; just manually select the printer that should be used in that instance. But, if you prefer to always have a particular printer be the default one, regardless of what you used last time you printed, there’s a setting you need to change. Go to step 3 above (the first set of steps that use Settings), and confirm Let Windows manage my default printer is disabled/off. Turning this off enables the Set as default button in step 5, and forces Windows 11 to always default to the printer of your choice.
Can You Set Two Printers as Default?
No, the built-in mechanism for selecting a default printer in Windows 11 allows for only one. A printer marked as ‘default’ is simply the one your computer assumes you want to use when it’s time to print. If you have multiple printers installed, choosing one as default makes printing a little faster because you don’t have to sift through all your printers to choose the right one. Having two (or more) default printers would defeat the purpose.
