Quick fix: Open Settings → Bluetooth & devices → Printers & scanners → [printer] → Printer properties → Advanced tab → Printing Defaults button. Configure preferences here (not in Printing preferences). Printing Defaults persists across reboots and applies to all users on the PC.

You set your printer to default to black-and-white, double-sided, tray 2. Reboot the PC, print something — defaults are gone. The cause: you set those in Printing preferences (per-session, sometimes not saved); the correct dialog is Printing Defaults (system-wide, persistent).

Symptom: Printer default settings (color mode, duplex, tray, paper size) revert after reboot or after switching users.
Affects: Windows 11 (and Windows 10).
Fix time: ~5 minutes.

What causes this

Windows printer drivers have two similar-named dialogs with different scope. Printing preferences: per-user, saves your current preferences for the active user only. Printing Defaults: per-machine, saves defaults for all users and for the print spooler. Changes made in Printing preferences sometimes don’t persist if the user profile doesn’t save the change correctly (especially on shared/managed PCs).

Printing Defaults is set in Printer Properties → Advanced tab, not the per-user preferences accessible from Settings.

Method 1: Configure Printing Defaults via Printer Properties

The correct location.

Open Settings → Bluetooth & devices → Printers & scanners.
Click your printer. Click Printer properties (NOT Printing preferences).
Switch to the Advanced tab.
Click the Printing Defaults… button. (Different from the Defaults button on the General tab.)
Set your defaults: paper source/tray, duplex (two-sided), color/B&W, paper size, orientation, quality.
Click Apply → OK.
These defaults apply to: all users on the PC, new print jobs from any app, and persist across reboots.
For shared printers on a print server: configure Printing Defaults on the server, not the client. Clients inherit server defaults.

This is the canonical fix. Resolves “defaults reset after reboot” issues.

Method 2: Make user-level Printing preferences stick

For when Printing Defaults isn’t enough (e.g., per-user customizations).

Open Settings → Printers & scanners → [printer] → Printing preferences.
Configure your per-user settings.
Click Apply → OK.
For settings that don’t persist: check the printer registry entries under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Devices. Note your printer’s key.
Also check HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Printers for per-user defaults.
For roaming profiles or PCs where user folder is on a server share: registry changes may not save reliably. Use Printing Defaults (Method 1) which lives in the machine registry instead.
For users without admin rights who can’t change Printing Defaults: ask an admin to set the defaults once. Users can still customize per-job in the print dialog.

This handles per-user customization on top of system-wide defaults.

Method 3: Set defaults via PowerShell or PrintUI for scripting

For deploying defaults to many printers or users.

Open Terminal (Admin).

List printers and current configurations:

Get-Printer | Format-Table Name, DriverName, ShareName

Open the printer’s default printing properties via PrintUI:
```
rundll32 printui.dll,PrintUIEntry /e /n "Printer Name"
```
The /e opens the printing defaults dialog directly.

For scripted configuration via PowerShell (Set-PrintConfiguration):

Set-PrintConfiguration -PrinterName "HP LaserJet" -DuplexingMode TwoSidedLongEdge -Color $false -PaperSize Letter

For corporate deployments: use PrintUI’s /Sa flag to save defaults to a binary file, and /Sr to restore on other machines:
```
rundll32 printui.dll,PrintUIEntry /Sa /n "Printer Name" /a "C:\printer-defaults.dat"
```
Distribute the .dat file via deployment tool, restore via /Sr on target PCs.
For Group Policy deployment: use Computer Configuration → Windows Settings → Scripts (Startup/Shutdown) to run a PrintUI restore on every boot.

This is the right path for IT environments with many PCs or printers.

How to verify the fix worked

Reboot the PC. Print a test document. Output uses your configured defaults (correct tray, duplex, color mode).
Open Settings → Printers & scanners → [printer] → Printing preferences. Defaults shown match what you set in Printing Defaults.
Sign in as a different user. Print a test — uses the same defaults.

If none of these work

If defaults still don’t persist after using Printing Defaults dialog, the cause may be one of: App-specific overrides: Word, Excel, Acrobat each have their own print dialog defaults. The app remembers its own previous settings. Configure within each app: e.g., Word → File → Options → Save → default print settings. Multiple driver versions installed: if you have HP Universal Print Driver and the HP-specific driver both installed, settings may apply to one but not the other. Settings → Bluetooth & devices → Printers & scanners → remove duplicate. Print spooler resetting defaults: corrupt spooler state can reset defaults. net stop spooler && net start spooler. Reset Printing Defaults. For Group Policy-managed PCs: corporate policy may force-set defaults, overriding yours. Check via gpresult /h C:\gpresult.html — look for Printer policies. Contact IT to change. For network-shared printers: defaults are set on the print server. Local client defaults are merely overrides that don’t persist past spooler restart. Get the printer admin to update server-side defaults.

Bottom line: Printer Properties → Advanced tab → Printing Defaults button (NOT Printing preferences). Settings here apply system-wide and persist across reboots and users.