How do I use Terminal to set a printer as "Default Printer"?

Question

Level 1

0 points

How do I use Terminal to set a printer as "Default Printer"?

I've had an issue lately with setting a printer as default printer in the Print & Fax Preference Pane. I have two separate printers (Lexmark X463de and HP Color Laserjet 3800) and I'm having an issue setting the HP printer as the default printer to replace the Lexmark. I've tried most things already - deleting the printers out of the preference pane, renaming them, etc. - and I haven't had any luck.

What I'm wondering now is whether or not I can use Terminal to bypass the Print & Fax preference pane and set the HP as my default printer. Any suggestions will be helpful.

Note: The reason I need to set it as my default printer is because I'm using an older program that doesn't allow to switch between printers; therefore, I can only use the default printer to print what I need. And I' doing this through USB, not over WiFi.

Posted on Jun 18, 2011 7:17 PM

Reply

Answer 1

greg sahli

Level 7

25,508 points

Jun 18, 2011 8:02 PM in response to LSUAMDG

From CUPS docs:

Run the

lpadmin

command with the

-d

option to set a default printer:

/usr/sbin/lpadmin -d printer ENTER

Reply

Answer 2

LSUAMDG Author

Level 1

0 points

Jun 18, 2011 9:17 PM in response to greg sahli

Where can I find the exact name of the printer for Terminal to understand it? I put down HP Color Laserjet 3800 with and without spaces and it gives me: lpadmin: The printer or class was not found.

Reply

Answer 3

PAHU

Level 6

16,705 points

Jun 19, 2011 12:46 AM in response to LSUAMDG

lpstat -p

Reply

Answer 4

LSUAMDG Author

Level 1

0 points

Jun 19, 2011 3:59 PM in response to LSUAMDG

copied and pasted

/usr/sbin/lpadmin -d HP_Color_LaserJet_3800

and it doesn't work 😕

Reply

Answer 5

PAHU

Level 6

16,705 points

Jun 19, 2011 7:19 PM in response to LSUAMDG

In testing the lpadmin command it appears not to be working. To check after using the command I use lpstat -t. This shows the system default printer before all the other information about the installed printers. You can also use lpq, as this shows the print jobs currently spooled to the default printer.

In using lpstat -t, the default printer for me is shown as that set in Print & Fax > Default printer. And changing the printer in Print & Fax > Default printer does change the default printer shown in lpstat -t, while the lpadmin command does not change the default printer set.

So have a play with Print & Fax > Default printer and then use lpstat -t, or lpq, to see which printer is set as the system default.

Reply

Answer 6

qzyphus

Level 1

0 points

May 27, 2014 11:57 PM in response to PAHU

Under 10.9 the command to use is:

lpoptions -d PrintQueueName

Use lpstat -p -a to list configured print queues and confirm the correct value for PrintQueueName

Reply