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How to rename a printer in Windows 10?

Have you ever wondered how to change your printer’s display name in Windows 10? Wonder no more! This guide was created to answer this question.

Anytime a new printer (or any device) is installed on Windows 10, a name for it is automatically created. The new printer is typically given a name based on its series, model number, and manufacturer.

For most purposes, this name will serve well. However, you might want to rename your printer so that other people who discover it on a network will know who it belongs to. Whatever the reason, this guide has all the information you need to rename your printer without stress.

Can One Rename a Printer in Windows 10?

You can rename your printer (and scanner, and most pluggable/connectable devices, really) whatever you want. And no, you don’t need to jump through hoops or take a dangerous trip into the Windows registry to do so. You can change your printer’s name easily. In fact, you can do so in more ways than one.

There are four ways to change your printer’s name in Windows 10. You can do that through:

  • Settings,
  • Control Panel,
  • Windows PowerShell, or
  • Command Prompt.

As you can see, you have several options to accomplish this desire. The next section explains how to rename your printer using any of the four methods listed here.

How to Rename Your Printer in Windows 10

We commence this section with a simple guide to giving your printer a new name using the Settings application. You will discover other ways to do the same thing as you journey down this guide.

  1. Change Your Printer’s Name Through the Settings App

The Settings app in Windows 10 is the new Control Panel for modern times. Of course, the old Control Panel is still around (as you’ll see below), but the Settings app is the place to go for quick modifications, and its interface is infinitely more fluid and graphically interesting than that of the normal Control Panel.

You can perform a lot of system tweaks right from the Settings application. Changing your printer’s name is one of them. Just follow the steps below and you’ll be home and hosed in no time:

  1. Hold down the Windows key and press X to bring up the Power User menu.
  2. Select Settings.
  3. In the Settings window, select Devices.
  4. In the left pane of the Devices screen, select “Printers & scanners”.
  5. In the right pane, all available printers and scanners will be shown. Simply select the one you want to rename and click the Manage button.
  6. On the “Manage your device” screen, click the “Printer properties” link. This opens the Properties dialog of the selected printer.
  7. Simply type whatever name you want into the name field (make sure you stay on the General tab) and click Apply when you’re done.
  8. Click OK to save the changes.

That’s it. You’ve changed your printer’s name using the Settings application in Windows 10.

  1. Change Your Printer’s Name Through the Control Panel

The Control Panel may have been superseded by the Settings app in terms of ease of use, but it is still widely used. Many options that cannot be found in Settings remain in the Control Panel. It isn’t going away anytime soon.

You can change your printer’s name through the Control Panel easily. Just follow the instructions below:

  1. Press the Windows key and type “control”. Press Enter to open the Control Panel app.
  2. The “View by” mode should be set to either small icons or large icons.
  3. Select Devices and Printers.
  4. All your installed printers will be displayed in the Printer section.
  5. Right-click the printer you want to rename and select “Printer properties”.
  6. Erase the name in the name field of the printer’s Properties window and enter the name you want. When you’re done, click Apply.
  7. Click OK to save your changes and exit the Control Panel.

That’s all there is to it. Your printer will now be proudly sporting its new name!

  1. Change Your Printer’s Name with Windows PowerShell

Windows PowerShell is similar to Command Prompt. Though less familiar than the latter, it can run pretty much every command Command Prompt can run. However, the command language used in PowerShell somewhat differs from that of Command Prompt. You can use the same language for some, but not all, Windows commands in PowerShell and CMD.

To change your printer’s name through PowerShell, you need to open an elevated PowerShell window first of all. There are several ways to do this.

Method 1: Right-click the Start menu and select Windows PowerShell (Admin) from the Power User menu. However, depending on your build of Windows 10, this option may not be available by default.

Method 2: Press the Windows key and type “powershell”. When the app shows up, click “Run as administrator”. You can also right-click the app and select “Run as administrator”.

Once you’ve opened an elevated PowerShell window, run the following command to fetch the list of installed printers:

Get-printer | Format-List name

This will display the names of all your printers. You should easily recognize the one you want to rename. Note the name or copy it down somewhere.

The next command will rename the printer whatever you like. Make sure to follow the format of the command, as any slight deviation will render the operation unsuccessful. Here is the command you should run:

Rename-printer -NewName “New Name of Printer” -Name “Current or Old Name of Printer”

For example, if the current name of your printer is Printer 23 and you want to rename it My Printer, the command will look like this:

Rename-printer -NewName “My Printer” -Name “Printer 23”

Once you execute the command, the printer’s name will change immediately.

  1. Change Your Printer’s Name with Command Prompt

You can use the popular Command Prompt interface to rename your printer in Windows 10. The steps required here are similar to those for PowerShell, only the commands are different.

Like with PowerShell, you need to open an elevated version of Command Prompt to rename your printer. In other words, you must first run Command Prompt as an administrator.

There are multiple ways to run Command Prompt with elevated privileges:

Method 1: Right-click the Start menu and select Command Prompt (Admin) from the Power User menu. However, depending on your build of Windows 10, this option may not be available by default.

Method 2: Press the Windows key and type “cmd”. When the Command Prompt app shows up, click “Run as administrator”. You can also right-click the app and select “Run as administrator”.

Method 3: Open the Task Manager with Ctrl+Shift+Esc and select “Run new task” from the File tab when the Task Manager opens. Type “cmd” into the new task box and tick the “Create this task with administrative privileges” checkbox before hitting Enter.

Method 4: Press the Windows key and type “cmd”. When the app shows up, hold down the Ctrl and Shift keys and hit the Enter key.

Now that you have opened an elevated Command Prompt, run the following command to view the names of all available printers:

wmic printer list brief

You should easily recognize the printer you want to rename. Note the name or simply glance at it in the cmd window when you need to type it later.

The next command will rename the printer whatever you like. Make sure to follow the format of the command, as any slight deviation will render the operation unsuccessful. Here is the command you should execute:

Cscript C:\Windows\System32\Printing_Admin_Scripts\en-US\prncnfg.vbs -z “New Name of Printer” -x -p “Current Name of Printer”

For instance, if the current name of your printer is Printer 23 and you want to rename it My Printer, the command will look like this:

Cscript C:\Windows\System32\Printing_Admin_Scripts\en-US\prncnfg.vbs -z “My Printer” -x -p “Printer 23”

Easy as that. You have successfully changed your printer’s name using Command Prompt.

While you are naming and renaming your printer and other devices to your heart’s content, don’t forget to pay attention to your PC’s health. Constant use can take a toll on the machine.

If you ever feel it getting slower and less stable, that should be your cue to use dedicated performance-enhancing software like Auslogics BoostSpeed. The software will clean your PC and carry out other tweaks that will make your computer faster and more efficient.