Article ID: 140560 - Last Review: February 12, 2007 - Revision: 2.3

HOWTO: Set the Default Printer Programmatically in Windows 95, Windows 98, or Windows Me

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This article was previously published under Q140560
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SUMMARY

To set the default printer programmatically under Windows 95, Windows 98, or Windows Millennium Edition (Me) use the SetPrinter() Win32 API function.

Note that the SetPrinter() API call is a valid method, but is platform-dependent and should work only on Windows 95, Windows 98, or Windows Me (it does not work on Windows NT or on a 16-bit platform).

MORE INFORMATION

To set or change the default printer under Windows 95, call: 
SetPrinter(HANDLE hPrinter, DWORD dwLevel, LPBYTE lpbPrinter,
DWORD dwCommand)
Obtain the hPrinter parameter from OpenPrinter() as a handle that identifies the desired printer. Set the dwLevel parameter to 5, and point lpbPrinter to the PRINTER_INFO_5 structure. Set the dwCommand parameter to 0 (zero). Fill out the PRINTER_INFO_5 structure appropriately making sure that the Attributes field has PRINTER_ATTRIBUTE_DEFAULT set.
APPLIES TO
  • Microsoft Windows 95 Driver Development Kit (DDK)
  • Microsoft Windows 98 Driver Development Kit (DDK)
  • Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition Driver Development Kit
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