Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

How can I set my new Brother printer as the default printer? I have to manually change it every time I print anything.

more options

I tried going into the about:config, but the only entries under "print.print_" were only for Epson; Brother doesn't even show up. My new printer is a Brother, but a quick search turned up nothing with "brother" in it, even though it does show up as the non-default printer in the drop-down window. I want to have the Brother printer come up as the default printer, but can't find anyway to do it. I have checked the support pages and searched, but found nothing that seemed to apply. I'm still using Firefox 55.0.3 as the later versions don't support the "open tabs from last time" add-on and that is a great time-saver and organizer for me. I am using Windows 7. Thanks! Wolfgang P.s.: I have the Brother printer set up as the default in my Windows Control Panel. I also tried restarting the computer.

I tried going into the about:config, but the only entries under "print.print_" were only for Epson; Brother doesn't even show up. My new printer is a Brother, but a quick search turned up nothing with "brother" in it, even though it does show up as the non-default printer in the drop-down window. I want to have the Brother printer come up as the default printer, but can't find anyway to do it. I have checked the support pages and searched, but found nothing that seemed to apply. I'm still using Firefox 55.0.3 as the later versions don't support the "open tabs from last time" add-on and that is a great time-saver and organizer for me. I am using Windows 7. Thanks! Wolfgang P.s.: I have the Brother printer set up as the default in my Windows Control Panel. I also tried restarting the computer.

Modified by Wolfgang Rotbart

Chosen solution

Try removing the old Epson printer from Windows and restarting, then launching firefox, if the brother printer is the only one it can find it should become the default in firefox, you can always add back the epson printer to windows later if you still use it, and then that one should, hopefully, become the 'non default' printer...

Read this answer in context 👍 0

All Replies (4)

more options

Chosen Solution

Try removing the old Epson printer from Windows and restarting, then launching firefox, if the brother printer is the only one it can find it should become the default in firefox, you can always add back the epson printer to windows later if you still use it, and then that one should, hopefully, become the 'non default' printer...

more options

Firefox typically defaults to the last used printer.

Using {Ctrl + P} select that Brother printer in the Printer > Name dialog at the top and print something. The next time you go go to print anything thru Firefox that Brother printer should be the default which is pre-selected.

more options

That did it! After checking that everything worked OK, I re-installed the Epson Crap-o-Printer and it still worked. THANKS!

FredSheehan said

Try removing the old Epson printer from Windows and restarting, then launching firefox, if the brother printer is the only one it can find it should become the default in firefox, you can always add back the epson printer to windows later if you still use it, and then that one should, hopefully, become the 'non default' printer...
more options

I did try that first, but no mater which printer I used, the Epson Crap-o-Printer was always the default. Using the "remove the Epson printer..." approach in the email above did the trick. Now, whichever printer I used last is the default as it should be. Thanks for your input & help.

the-edmeister said

Firefox typically defaults to the last used printer. Using {Ctrl + P} select that Brother printer in the Printer > Name dialog at the top and print something. The next time you go go to print anything thru Firefox that Brother printer should be the default which is pre-selected.