How to create a printer shortcut on Windows 10

Unfortunately, with Windows 10 and new ways of printing - like over WiFi and the cloud - that ease seems to be gone. But in a few simple steps, you can restore that accessibility.

The following article will show you how to create a printer shortcut on Windows 10 and place an icon on the taskbar.

Before setting the printer shortcut

Make sure that you have installed the complete software package for the printer you want to use. You can usually find this driver software on the manufacturer's website. Some manufacturers even have dedicated apps to help you with this setup process.

Then connect the printer to the computer. For a wired printer, turn it on and plug it into your PC. Alternatively, here's how to connect a WiFi printer to a computer to print wirelessly.

Open the Start menu, type Settings, and go to the Settings app that appears in the search results. Next, click Devices and navigate to Printers and Scanners on the left.

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From there, click Add a printer or scanner and wait for the computer to scan for available printers.

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Click the link The printer that I want isn't listed.

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Select the Add a printer using a TCP/IP address or hostname option and click Next.

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Enter the IP address of the WiFi printer you want to connect to and press the Next button.

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You can set this printer as the default printer in Windows 10 to save time in the future.

Create a printer shortcut on the desktop

Go to device settings to find the printer name. You will need to know the exact name of the peripheral to set up the printer shortcut on the taskbar. Once you have that information, you can start setting up a shortcut for your print queue.

Right-click anywhere on the empty space of the desktop and hover over the New option. From the drop-down menu, select Shortcut to open the Create Shortcut window.

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Enter the following in the shortcut location bar:

rundll32.exe printui.dll,PrintUIEntry /o /n "[Printer Name]"

Be sure to replace [Printer Name] with the exact name of the printer you use, but leave the quotation marks intact.

When you click Next, Windows will prompt you to name the new shortcut. Name the printer shortcut here.

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Everything is done! You have successfully created a printer shortcut on the desktop. Try double-clicking the shortcut to make sure it works properly. You'll see a printer queue window open with any active or incomplete jobs on the list.

Add icon for printer

You can leave the printer shortcut as is or set it an icon to make it easier to identify. To create a custom icon, right-click it and select Properties.

Then click the Change Icon box. If you want to use Windows' built-in icons, browse to shell32.dll and select a printer icon of your choice. If you want something different, you can even download an icon pack for Windows 10 and set the downloaded icon as the default icon for the printer shortcut.

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From here, it's easy to set up a printer shortcut on the Windows 10 taskbar: Right-click the desktop shortcut and choose Pin to taskbar. The printer shortcut is also in the Windows 10 taskbar, and you can remove (or move) the desktop shortcut if you want.

Micah Soto

Update 24 March 2022