How to alter Roaming User Profiles for Printers on Windows 11/10

If you have a Roaming User Profile, the profile is stored on a network server rather than on a Desktop computer. This ensures that they receive the same operating system and application settings on multiple computers. So, when a user uses a roaming profile, that default printer roams with the user profile. This may not be always desirable.  You can alter this behavior of printers that roam with roaming profiles. See how!

Alter Roaming User Profiles for Printers on Windows 11/10

In Windows, the default printer settings are retained after logoff because Printers are designed to roam with a user’s roaming profile. You may not want this to happen if you are using a Roaming User Profile.

Please note if you use Registry Editor incorrectly, serious problems may occur and require you to reinstall your operating system, so it is best to create a system restore point first.

Change behavior of Printers that Roam with Roaming User Profiles

Press Win+R in combination to open the Run dialog box.

In the empty field of the box, type Regedit and hit the Enter key.

When the Registry Editor opens, navigate to the following path address –

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Windows.

Modify the registry (.reg) file so that the only registry value name below the key is:

"Device"=...

Now, go to the following path address –

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run.

Here, create a new string value and name it as ResetPrinter, if it does not exist.

Now, double-click the ResetPrinter entry to keep its value something similar to the following value –

REGEDIT.EXE -S path\File.reg

Where File.reg indicates the name, you used to store the default printer.

When done, close the Registry Editor and exit.

Read: Roaming user profiles versioning incompatibility issues in Windows.