How to create a Printer shortcut in Windows 11/10 computer

In this post, we will help you create a printer shortcut on Windows 11/10 computer. Earlier versions of Windows OS show a printer icon in the system tray of the taskbar for the print queue. But, with new ways of printing (say cloud printing or Wi-Fi printing), you may not see such an icon. So, if you use a printer regularly and quickly want to use it from the desktop or taskbar of your Windows 11/10 computer, then creating a printer shortcut is a good option.

Before creating a shortcut to your printer, make sure it is installed and connected to your computer. If not, then first, install or add a local printer or connect a wireless printer, or some other printer on your Windows 11/10 computer so that you can create and use its shortcut.

How to create a Printer shortcut in Windows 11/10

Here are the steps to create a printer shortcut on your Windows 11/10 computer:

Open Windows 11/10 Settings app using Win+I hotkey
- Now, if you are using Windows 11 computer, then click on the Bluetooth & devices category.
- If you are on Windows 10, then access the Devices category
Access the Printers & scanners page or section
A list of all the installed printers along with their names will be visible to you in the right section. Remember or copy the name of the printer because the exact name of the printer is needed for which you want to create the shortcut
Go to the desktop of your Windows computer and right-click on an empty area
Access the New menu
Click on the Shortcut option. It will launch a Create Shortcut window
In that window, you will see a text field for the Type the location of the item section. In that text field, enter the following string:

rundll32.exe printui.dll,PrintUIEntry /o /n “PrinterName”

Replace PrinterName in that string with the actual name of the printer. After that, press the Next button
In the next step, provide a name to your printer (any custom name)
Press the Finish button.

This will add a printer shortcut to your desktop.

You can also pin the printer shortcut to the taskbar to make it more convenient to access that printer.

If you are using Windows 10 computer, then right-click on the printer shortcut and select the Pin to taskbar option.
If you are using a Windows 11 computer, then right-click on your printer shortcut, and select Show more options. This will open the classic context menu where you can use the Pin to taskbar option.

Set a custom icon for the Printer shortcut

The printer shortcut on the desktop or any other desktop shortcut is assigned a default icon. You might not like this. So, if you want, you can set a custom icon for the printer shortcut. Thankfully, Windows 11/10 provides a built-in feature to change file and folder icons (including desktop shortcuts). Here are the steps to set a custom icon for your printer shortcut:

Right-click on the printer shortcut
Click on the Properties option
Access the Shortcut tab present in the properties box
Click on the Change Icon… button. It will open a small Change Icon box
In that box, you will see pre-added icons that you can use for your printer shortcut. If you want a custom icon, then click on the Browse… button
A Change Icon window will open. Using that window, you can access the folder where you have the icon file that you want to use for your printer shortcut. Select the icon file and click on the Open button. You will come back to the Change Icon box
Press the OK button to get back to the Properties box
Again, click on the OK button to close the Properties box.

That’s it! Now printer shortcut will show the icon set by you.

How do I put a printer shortcut on my desktop?

Adding a printer shortcut on Windows 11/10 desktop is pretty easy. All you need is the name of the printer and shortcut wizard. The printer’s name can be accessed using the Settings app of Windows 11/10 and the shortcut wizard is needed to add the required string and printer name to create the printer shortcut. You can check this post that includes step-by-step instructions for creating a printer shortcut on Windows 11/10 computer.

How do I create a shortcut for Devices and Printers in Windows 10?

Below are the steps to create a desktop shortcut for Devices and Printers in Windows 10. These steps work for Windows 11 OS also. The steps are:

Right-click on the desktop
Select the New menu
Use the Shortcut option available in the New menu to open the shortcut wizard
Copy and paste the string mentioned below in the available text field:

explorer.exe shell:::{A8A91A66-3A7D-4424-8D24-04E180695C7A}

Hit the Next button
Add a name for your shortcut. You can give a name like Devices and Printers or any other name
Press the Finish button to close the shortcut wizard.

Now, you will see the Devices and Printers shortcut on the desktop.

Hope this is helpful.