How to Reset Printer Driver Settings to Windows Defaults in Windows 11

Printing Preferences vs. Printer Properties: What Actually Resets

Printing Preferences control the things you change most often: paper size, print quality, color vs. black and white, and duplex printing (printing on both sides of the page). Windows stores these per user. Changing them doesn’t need administrator rights.

Printer Properties hold the machine-wide settings. Its Advanced tab contains Printing Defaults, which set the defaults every user on that PC starts from. Changing these requires administrator access because they affect everyone who prints to that device.

Say a printer is “printing weird” after a driver update, or an app changed a setting. It’s almost always the Printing Preferences that changed, not the Properties. Start there first, and move to the Properties only if the problem affects every account on the PC.

Reset Printing Preferences to the Driver’s Default

This is the fastest fix and doesn’t need administrator privileges. It resets paper size, orientation, quality, and color settings back to what the driver ships with.

These steps reset printer settings to the driver’s defaults through Printing preferences.

1. Open Settings. Use the Start menu⊞ if you don’t have a shortcut for it.
2. Go to Bluetooth🔷 & devices › Printers & scanners. You’ll see a list of every printer installed on the PC.
3. Click the printer you want to reset. The page changes to show the printer’s details and a list of options, including Printing preferences and Printer properties.
4. Click Printing preferences. A settings window opens. It’s the driver’s own window, so it looks different depending on the manufacturer. HP, Canon, and Brother all use their own layouts here instead of a standard Windows dialog.
5. Click Restore Defaults or Default. Some drivers show only an icon that looks like a reset arrow. On most drivers the button is on the main tab or inside an Advanced tab, and the options on screen should snap back to the driver’s standard values.
6. Click OK or Apply to save. The dialog closes and the printer uses its default preferences again.

That’s it. The printer now uses its default preferences for your account, and you can print a test page to confirm.

You can also reach the same dialog through the older Control Panel route. Open Control Panel, go to Devices and Printers, right-click the printer, and choose Printing preferences. Both paths open the identical driver window, so use whichever you’re used to.

Reset Printer Properties Defaults

Use this when the machine-wide default is wrong for everyone on the PC, not just you. This step requires administrator privileges because it changes settings for the whole PC.

You can reach Printer properties from two places. The modern route is Settings › Bluetooth & devices › Printers & scanners > your printer > Printer properties. The legacy route is through Control Panel, and both open the same properties dialog.

These steps reset the printer’s default settings for every user, using the Control Panel route.

1. Open Control Panel🎛️. Search for it in the Start menu⊞ if you can’t find it.
2. Go to Devices and Printers. Your printers appear as icons.
3. Right-click the printer and choose Printer properties. Don’t pick Printing preferences, because the two names are close. The properties dialog has the printer’s name in the title bar and several tabs, such as General, Sharing, Ports, and Advanced.
4. Click the Advanced tab. The page shows driver and spooling options.
5. Click Printing Defaults. This opens the same style of driver dialog as Printing Preferences, but any changes here apply to every user account on the machine.
6. Click Restore Defaults if the driver offers it. If the driver has no such button, set each option back by hand.
7. Click OK to confirm and close each dialog. Windows may ask for administrator confirmation at this point.

You should now have the machine-wide printing defaults back at the driver’s standard values for every account on the PC.

If Printing Defaults is greyed out, or Windows asks for administrator confirmation and you’re on a standard (non-admin) account, you have two options. Someone with an administrator account can enter their credentials, or you can sign in as an administrator yourself.

If the Restore Defaults Button Is Missing or Greyed Out

Not every driver includes a reset button. This is a driver feature, not something Windows guarantees, and it depends on which driver Windows installed:

• Generic / Microsoft IPP Class Driver — a basic, built-in driver Windows installs automatically for many network and USB printers. These stripped-down drivers usually have far fewer tabs and no restore option at all.
• Full manufacturer driver (Type 3 or Type 4) — downloaded from HP, Canon, Epson, Brother, and others. These almost always include a proper Restore Defaults button because the manufacturer built a fuller settings UI.

If your printer is using the generic driver, there’s often no button to click. You can set each option (paper size, quality, duplex) back to what you want by hand.

The other route is to install the full manufacturer driver from the manufacturer’s website, which usually brings the reset option with it. Check the driver name in the printer’s properties first, so you know which case you’re in.

Fully Reset the Driver by Removing and Reinstalling It

When Printing Preferences and Printer Properties still don’t fix odd behavior, a full driver reinstall clears out anything corrupted in the current install. That covers jammed spool jobs, missing options, and behavior changes after a Windows 10 to Windows 11 upgrade. This requires administrator privileges, and removing the printer deletes any custom preferences you’ve set, so note down anything important first.

These steps remove the printer and its driver, then set it up again so the printer settings start fresh.

1. Open Settings. Sign in with an administrator account first.
2. Go to Bluetooth🔷 & devices › Printers & scanners. The list of installed printers appears.
3. Click the printer, then click Remove device. Confirm when Windows asks if you’re sure, and the printer disappears from the list.
4. Open Control Panel🎛️, go to Devices and Printers, right-click any remaining icon for that printer, and choose Remove device. Do this only if the printer is still listed, because sometimes the driver package stays registered even after you remove it from Settings.

Also download drivers only from the printer manufacturer’s official website, never from a third-party driver site or a search ad. If you can, save a copy of the installer you’re replacing.

5. Open Print Management from the Start menu⊞. Use it only if you want to remove the leftover driver package itself, not just the printer object. It’s a built-in admin console, available in Windows 11 Pro, Enterprise, and Education but not in Home. On Home, skip this step and the next two, and rely on the manufacturer’s installer to replace the driver.
6. Expand Print Servers, your PC name, then Drivers. The installed driver packages appear in the list.
7. Right-click the driver and choose Delete. Confirm any prompt that follows.
8. Reconnect the printer. For USB, plug it back in. For a network printer, click Add device in Settings › Bluetooth🔷 & devices › Printers & scanners. Windows detects it and either installs its built-in driver or prompts you to install the💿 manufacturer’s driver.
9. Run the manufacturer’s installer from their official website. Do this if you want the full preferences dialog rather than the generic one, and follow the installer’s prompts.
10. Restart the🔄 PC when the installer finishes. A restart isn’t always required, but it clears out any print spooler cache tied to the old install and stops the printer reappearing with stale settings.

That’s it. The printer now runs on a clean driver install with its default settings, and you can open Printing preferences to check them.

If the printer shows as Offline or fails to reinstall, check that it’s powered on and connected to the same network or USB port, then try Add device again. A driver conflict from the old install is the most common cause of a failed reinstall. Deleting the driver package in Print Management before reconnecting usually clears it.

Check the “Let Windows Manage My Default Printer” Setting

This setting gets confused with driver preferences a lot, but it does something different. Despite the similar name, it has nothing to do with default printer settings such as paper size or quality. It controls which printer Windows automatically picks as your default, not how that printer prints. If your print jobs keep going to the wrong printer, check this setting instead of the driver preferences.

These steps stop Windows from changing your default printer on its own.

1. Open Settings. Any account can change this setting.
2. Go to Bluetooth🔷 & devices › Printers & scanners. The printer list and a few options appear.
3. Find the Let Windows manage my default printer toggle. It sits near the top of the page.
4. Turn the toggle off. With it on, Windows switches the default based on which printer you used most recently at your current location. To undo the change, turn the toggle back on.

You should now be able to pick a fixed default printer yourself, and Windows will stop changing it.

Turning this off doesn’t touch any driver settings. It only changes which printer gets picked automatically. If you’re chasing a print-quality or paper-size problem, this toggle won’t fix it either way.

What to Do Next

If resetting preferences and reinstalling the driver still doesn’t clear up the problem, the issue is probably in the print spooler rather than the driver itself. The spooler is the Windows service that holds print jobs in a queue until the printer is ready for them. Clearing the spooler queue and restarting the Print Spooler service is the next thing worth trying.

If the printer connects over a network, also confirm it still has the correct IP address. A change there can look exactly like a driver problem even though the driver is fine.