Windows 10: Turn On or Off Let Windows 10 Manage Default Printer

How to: Turn On or Off Let Windows 10 Manage Default Printer


Information Starting in Windows 10 build 10565, Microsoft is introducing a new mode that makes your default printer the last printer you used most recently at your current location. This change helps ensure the best printer is preselected in inbox print dialogs.

This tutorial will show you how to turn on or off to let Windows manage your default printer for your account in Windows 10.


Note If you set a printer as default, it will turn off let Windows manage your default printer.




CONTENTS:

• Option One: To Turn On or Off Let Windows 10 Manage Default Printer in Settings
• Option Two: To Turn On or Off Let Windows 10 Manage Default Printer using a REG File

OPTION ONE [/i] To Turn On or Off Let Windows 10 Manage Default Printer in Settings
1. Open Settings, and click/tap on the Devices icon.

2. Click/tap on Printers & scanners on the left side, and check (on - default) or uncheck (off) Let Windows manage my default printer for what you want on the right side. (see screenshot below)

3. When finished, you can close Settings if you like.








OPTION TWO [/i] To Turn On or Off Let Windows 10 Manage Default Printer using a REG File


Note The .reg files below make changes to the DWORD value in the registry key below.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Windows

LegacyDefaultPrinterMode DWORD

0= on
1 = off

1. Do step 2 (on) or step 3 (off) below for what you would like to do.


2. To Turn On Let Windows 10 Manage Default Printer
NOTE: This is the default setting.
A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the file below, and go to step 4 below.

Turn_On_Let_Windows_Manage_My_Default_Printer.reg

Download

3. To Turn Off Let Windows 10 Manage Default Printer
A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the file below, and go to step 4 below.

Turn_Off_Let_Windows_Manage_My_Default_Printer.reg

Download
4. Save the .reg file to your desktop.

5. Double click/tap on the downloaded .reg file to merge it.

6. If prompted, click on Run, OK (UAC), Yes, and OK to approve the merge.

7. You can now delete the downloaded .reg file if you like.

That's it,
Shawn


Related Tutorials

• How to Set a Default Printer in Windows 10
• Create Printers Folder Shortcut in Windows
• How to Rename a Printer in Windows 10
• How to List All Installed Printers in Windows 10

:)

 

Group Policy - Disable Let Windows Manage My Default Printer

Settings:

Windows 10: How to turn off Let Windows manage my default printer.

Regedit:

Windows 10: How to turn on or off Let Windows manage my default printer using registry editor.

GPO:

Windows 10: How to turn on or off Let Windows manage my default printer using registry GPO.

 

Windows 10 keeps turning on last printer default after I turn it off

Original title: windows 10 last printer default

Windows 10 keeps turning on last printer default after I turn it off. I then have to go back into settings< Devices< Printers scroll down to Let Windows manage my default printers
I turn it off, next morning it is back on. I do not turn computer off at night. Is there a way to permanently delete this toggle?

 

Hello Rick, and welcome to Ten Forums. *Smile

Is this happening after installing Windows Updates by chance? If so, they have been resetting settings back to default lately.

 

I take it there is no Group Policy for this yet?

 

I haven't seen one yet. *Sad

 

This started with Build 1511. I have a landland attached fax modem I use to send info to the doctor. When I started using it after the build, my next print job wanted to go to the fax. I reset the default and all was good until I sent another fax. Glad I looked.

Not sure that this is a good default. I have lots of software type printers ( one for PDFs, one for Kindle, etc) and I really want the actual printer to be the default. Hence the word default.

I changed the setting to let me decide.

Z

 

Blink - I notice in a lot of your threads , you offer the option of using the Settings process to change a configuration but you like to add a second option of using registry changes.

Depending on the change, I have been using both options. I am just wondering why you give the choice and which one id the preferred choice.

When I installed the new Build last month, I found out that I had to recheck most of my changes because some of them reverted back to the old way or simply were not there any more. I am up to keeping a file of the changes so I can reapply them.

I definitely want to thank you for all the work that you do. You have helped saved me many times so far!!

Z

 

Hey Z, *Smile

I'm glad that they could help.

I like to provide different options for performing the same action. There's no preferred option since they do the same thing, but I'd say do whatever option you feel is easier for you.

Having multiple options for the same action could be helpful. If you are unable to use one of the options for whatever reason, you will have another option to use instead.

The .reg file options can also allow folks to save them, and use them all at once say after a clean install so they don't have to go into Settings or wherever to set them.

 

Since I have home, I have no choice it installs updates automatically.
It was fixed for a while, but it is once again turning itself back on automatically.
No updates since 12/2/15 according to view updates in programs and features.

 

Rick,

The update most likely reset the setting back to default. There had been a few lately that has done this.

If it's still turning itself on after doing the options in this tutorial again, then use the Find and Find Next feature in Registry Editor (regedit.exe) to search for all LegacyDefaultPrinterMode DWORD instances, and make sure each one found is set to 1. You may have one at the HKLM location as well.

 

Hi to all.

I still having this annoing problem with shared printers.

I have done all the fixes suggested but only solved the default printer change with network printers.

The user that share a printer lose the default printer in any case when another user print on this shared and it turn immediatly default printer only for the user that share the printer.

The printer shared is a label printer without network port and all was working very well before this , in my opinion, unusefull improve.

All user have the " not manage default option" , win 10 pro but seems that "default option" do not effect at all with shared printers.

It is clear that is a very bad working for the sharing printer user that have to check every time what the actual default printer.

any suggestion or is is a win 10 bug ?

ciao

 

I finally figured out that everytime I sign in with gotomypc, it changes windows back to let windows manage my default printer. They have agreed with me that their program is causing my problem, and are working on a fix.
Have a GREAT day!
Rick

 

Thank you for sharing your findings Rick. Hopefully, they'll get their program patched soon. *Smile

 

This is my work computer. This has happened once before and I switched off the "Let Windows manage my default printer". Then: I could not print the my most used spreadsheet from Excel 2003. I could not print it as a PDF or a JPG. It would not print!

So I switched it back to the ON position and it still would not print for a few days. It just happened to work after about a week. And yes, I rebooted my computer many times to no avail.

It just started to print again out of the clear blue.

So today I am working in our works database program and out of the blue, the printer I used yesterday and ever since that problem above, happened again! Windows 10 changed my default printer to a card printer instead of the 8.5 x 11 printer. Explain that?!?!?! I did print off a card just before but I didn't make any changes to my default printer. But Windows 10 decided I wanted to use a Card printer for an 8.5 x 11 inch page from another program.