Cannot Set Default Printer in Vista
I recently came across an issue on a client PC where i could not set a printer to be the default. When I right-clicked the printer and chose the “Set as Default Printer” option, absolutely nothing happened. After researching the issue, I was able to manually make the printer the default by adding the following registry key:
Name: Device
Type: Reg_SZ (String Value)
Value: “printername, winspool, portname”
Location: HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Windows\
In my case, the Windows key didnt exist under CurrentVersion and had to be created.
July 9th, 2008 at 4:58 am
Tnx man, i was the same problem
November 16th, 2008 at 5:30 pm
Thanks, great help. I had been struggling with this issue for awhile. Nice to be able to print PDFs after so long with flash drives and computer labs.
December 1st, 2008 at 2:02 pm
Thanks that sorted me out a treat.
Maybe an update recently caused the problem …!!!
April 3rd, 2009 at 9:26 am
Thank you. I was desperate. I am an educator in South Africa and have tried just tooooo many things to get this printer to be set as default. Microsoft have been most UNHELPFUL. You rock!
June 5th, 2009 at 9:13 am
Brilliant! Thanks! I too have been printerless for months until Now!
July 25th, 2009 at 12:33 am
I was missing this registry key as well, but after I added the DEVICE key it still does not set a default printer.
August 7th, 2009 at 2:56 pm
This worked a charm, thanks!!!
just a tip for those not good with registry etc.
Value: “printername, winspool, portname”
printername and portname can be found on your printer’s properties
winspool i juts left as winspool and it worked
September 11th, 2009 at 11:57 am
Works like a charm. I have been struggling for two days with this problem. No app would allow me to print. All fixed up now
April 13th, 2010 at 10:13 am
thanks very much, I am obliged to announce that your website is amazing!
April 18th, 2010 at 8:02 pm
I’ve been bothered by this for many months Thank you for your help. This works perfectly.
April 19th, 2010 at 7:11 pm
YESSSSSSSS! Thank you thank you thank you! Works like a charm, this saved me a rebuild of an end user’s machine.
May 22nd, 2010 at 4:09 am
Thank you very much. It works. I added the following registry key
Name: Device
Value: “pdfFactory, winspool, FPP3”.
June 9th, 2010 at 2:27 pm
Great post. Thank you. Worked like a charm.
Just a tip, you need to restart Windows once you the change (surprise, surprise) and then attempt to set your printer as Default.