Change default printer

[Allen]

I have a weird problem with W7 Home Premium 32-bit. I use two printers,
a laser and a color inkjet. Under XP and Vista I could easily change
printers either within applications or with a printer icon.

Some of my software does not allow me to change printers within the
application, so I need to change the default printer. All I have to do,
according to Help and Support, is to go to Devices and Printers and
select one. According to Devices and Printers, though, I have no
printers at all. Both printers that I actually, really, truly have, and
which function properly are connected via USB. Further, Devices and
Printers says that I don't have to (should say can't) install USB
printers as W7 does that automatically. Today I couldn't print a report
that I needed to take to a medical appointment.

Any suggestions?

Allen

 

[Trev]

I have a weird problem with W7 Home Premium 32-bit. I use two printers, a
laser and a color inkjet. Under XP and Vista I could easily change
printers either within applications or with a printer icon.

Some of my software does not allow me to change printers within the
application, so I need to change the default printer. All I have to do,
according to Help and Support, is to go to Devices and Printers and select
one. According to Devices and Printers, though, I have no printers at all.
Both printers that I actually, really, truly have, and which function
properly are connected via USB. Further, Devices and Printers says that I
don't have to (should say can't) install USB printers as W7 does that
automatically. Today I couldn't print a report that I needed to take to a
medical appointment.

Any suggestions?

Allen

If you have A line of text saying Printers and Faxes In your Devises and
Printers Dialogue. Click the little arrow Head at the beginning of the text
And the menu will drop down. Not it a white arrow head with a very thin
black Outline So you could have missed it.

 

[c_atiel]

If your printers ever showed up in the Devices et Printers section of Vista
SP3 then:
Unplug their USB cords.
Reboot and plug the printers back in one by one and they should reinstall
and reconfigure their USB ports if they were ever correctly installed. If
that does not work you may have to first uninstall the printer drivers, if
they are listed under Programs et Features, reboot and reinstall.
If your printers do not show up in the DetP they are not properly installed.
Icons for network printers which may not even be accessible should still
appear there if they were ever installed.
Vista SP3 does not seem to allow direct printing from an application but
goes through the dialogue box that allows you to choose a printer or wastes
your time making you hit the print button a second time. For example in
Office 2007 hitting the printer icon would directly print a document to the
default printer but in SP3 regardless of what is the default printer I have
to step through that second dialogue box when I hit the printer icon. For
some this is an improvement, for the rest of us an annoyance but less of one
than the UAC of Vista SP2.

 

[Allen]

If you have A line of text saying Printers and Faxes In your Devises and
Printers Dialogue. Click the little arrow Head at the beginning of the
text And the menu will drop down. Not it a white arrow head with a very
thin black Outline So you could have missed it.

I have absolutely nothing--zilch--except a line that says Add a device
Add a printer. No devices of any kind are shown. Strange.
Allen

 

[johnbee]

I have a weird problem with W7 Home Premium 32-bit. I use two printers, a
laser and a color inkjet. Under XP and Vista I could easily change
printers either within applications or with a printer icon.

Some of my software does not allow me to change printers within the
application, so I need to change the default printer. All I have to do,
according to Help and Support, is to go to Devices and Printers and select
one. According to Devices and Printers, though, I have no printers at all.
Both printers that I actually, really, truly have, and which function
properly are connected via USB. Further, Devices and Printers says that I
don't have to (should say can't) install USB printers as W7 does that
automatically. Today I couldn't print a report that I needed to take to a
medical appointment.

Any suggestions?

Allen

I too have two printers, one on a USB port. I too noticed the remark that
USB printers 'do not need to be installed'. However, I ignored it and set
up the printers normally, though the one on the USB connection needed a
little special treatment. You have to tell it which USB port you wish to
configure as a printer port.