How to Force Windows 10 to Set Up Default Printer?

Adding a new printer in Windows 10 can be performed with the help of a very convenient and simple tool.

It has option that allows you to set a new printer as the default, but in some cases, attempts to designate it as “main” fail and the user receives a notification:

Default printer cannot be set

In some case you can see another error message when you are trying to set some of your printers as a default one.

Operation could not be completed (error 0x00000709). Double click the printer name and make sure that the printer is connected to the network

Can’t Set Up Default Printer in Windows 10

If you have see one of these errors, first you should to open classic Control Panel and go to the Devices and Printers section. Right click on the printer you need and select item Set as default printer.

If the error repeats, you will have to make some changes in the registry:

1. Press Win + R, type regedit and press Enter;
2. Expand the following registry key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Windows
3. Right click on Windows key and select Permissions;
   
4. Select Administrators, check the Full Control item and press OK;
   
5. Then add Full Control permission for your user_name too;
6. In the right pane find the registry parameter Devices and change its value to the printer name you want to set as a default one (the printer name is specified before the line ,winspool…). For, example if your printer has name HP Color LaserJet 5550 PCL6 Class Driver, you need to set the value to HP Color LaserJet 5550 PCL6 Class Driver,winspool,TS001.
   

After saving the settings, the new printer will be marked with a green circle, the same as in the case with the default devices.

Note. In Windows 10 build 10565, Microsoft changed the default printer assignment algorithm. Now the printer by default is automatically assigned the printer which was used by the user for the last time. In case you prefer to assign the default printer manually, see the article How to stop Windows 10 from changing default printer.

If the solution described above didn’t help you to setup default printer, delete the following values from the registry (if they exist):

• Device
• LegacyDefaultPrinterMode
• UserSelectedDefault

Reboot your computer and try to select default printer as usual.

The post How to Force Windows 10 to Set Up Default Printer? appeared first on TheITBros.