How to Set Google Chrome to Use System Default Printer

How to change the default printer in Windows

1. Open Settings. You can press the Win and I together to get there quickly.
2. Go to Bluetooth🔷 & devices › Printers & scanners. On Windows 10, go to Devices › Printers & scanners instead. You should see a list of installed printers.
3. Click the printer you prefer. Its settings page opens.
4. Click the Set as default button. The printer is now marked as Default in the list.

If Set as default is missing or greyed out, go back to the top of the Printers & scanners page and turn off Let Windows manage my default printer. While that option is on, Windows changes the default to the last printer you used, which is the same problem you are trying to fix in Chrome. Once it is off, the button appears and you can repeat steps 3 and 4.

Force Chrome to use the system default printer

You can force this behavior through the Windows Registry, so Chrome picks your default printer automatically. You open the Registry Editor, go to 🗝️HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Google\Chromecopy, and add a new value that stops Chrome from remembering the last printer. The registry is the database Windows uses for system settings, and a value is a single named setting stored inside a key.

Editing the registry can break things if you change the wrong entry, so follow the steps in order and make a backup first. This method works on both Home and Pro editions, because it edits the registry directly and does not need the Group Policy editor.

These steps pick up the numbering from the Windows part above. First you back up your registry so you can undo anything that goes wrong, and then you add the setting that makes Chrome use the system default printer.

5. Open Registry Editor. Press the Win, type Registry Editor, and open it, then approve the User Account Control prompt.
6. Click File › Export. Choose a location, give the file a name, and save the backup.
7. Go to the following location. Expand the folders in the left pane until you reach it.

8. Create the missing keys if you cannot find them. Chrome’s policy key often does not exist on a home PC, so you may not see the Google or Chrome folders under Policies. In that case, right-click the parent key, choose New › Key, and name it exactly Google. Then repeat inside it to create a key named Chrome. If both keys already exist, skip to the next step.
9. Right-click the Chrome key and choose New › DWORD (32-bit) Value. A new entry appears in the right pane with its name highlighted.
10. Type PrintPreviewUseSystemDefaultPrinter as the name. Spell and capitalize it exactly like that, then press Enter.
11. Double-click the new value. The Edit DWORD (32-bit) Value window opens.
12. Type 1 in the Value data box. Leave everything else in the window as it is.
13. Click OK. The list now shows the value as 0x00000001 (1).
14. Close the Registry Editor. You do not need to restart Windows.
15. Close Chrome completely. Make sure no windows are still running in the background, because Chrome only reads the setting when it starts.
16. Open Chrome and try to print. Chrome should now offer your Windows default printer.

To undo the change, return to the same key and delete the value, or set it to 0. You can also double-click the backup file you exported to restore the earlier state. Close and reopen Chrome afterwards.

Troubleshooting ‘Save as PDF’ persistence

If Chrome still defaults to “Save as PDF” instead of your printer, the ‘PrintPreviewUseSystemDefaultPrinter’ registry setting is the first thing to check. Go through this list:

• Confirm the value name is spelled exactly right, that it is a DWORD (32-bit) value, and that its data is 1. A single wrong letter means Chrome ignores the value.
• Confirm it sits in the Chrome key under Policies\Google, and not in a similar-looking key elsewhere.
• Close every Chrome window and reopen the browser. Chrome only reads the setting at startup.
• Check that Windows really has a default printer set. If no printer is marked as default, Chrome has nothing to fall back on.

Enterprise and Domain-joined environments

Office IT departments often manage Chrome printer settings through Group Policy. This central control can stop individual users from changing which printer Chrome selects, and it can overwrite a registry value you set yourself the next time policies refresh.

On a work computer, your IT team can adjust these Chrome printer settings for all company machines using the specialized Chrome policy templates. If the setting will not stick, or you cannot edit the registry, ask IT to apply it centrally instead of working around it.

Summary

By default, Chrome picks the last printer you used and not your system’s default. To change that, set the right default printer in Windows, turn off Let Windows manage my default printer if it is on, and add the registry value described above. Then restart Chrome so the new behavior takes effect.