To set a default printer in Windows 11, follow these steps:
Pin your Printers & scanners page to Start or taskbar for faster access.
To see all installed printers, type:
Get-Printer
Disable “Let Windows manage my default printer” only if you truly use one printer 99% of the time. Otherwise, let Windows 11 handle it intelligently per location. how to set default printer windows 11
A default printer is what Windows auto-selects. You can still choose any other printer manually in each app’s Print dialog.
Open Settings (press Windows + I on your keyboard). To set a default printer in Windows 11,
Select Set as default printer from the context menu. A green checkmark will appear on the printer icon.
By default, Windows 11 enables When active, this feature automatically sets your default printer to the last printer you used in the current location (e.g., work vs. home). If you want a fixed, unchanging default printer, you must disable this setting first. A default printer is what Windows auto-selects
Set-Printer -Name "Your Printer Name Here" -DefaultPrinter $true
Set-ItemProperty -Path "HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Windows" -Name "LegacyDefaultPrinterMode" -Value 1