Print always defaults to "Save to Pdf"

Question

This started about a week ago. Not sure if it was caused by a Win10 or Chrome update but it's incredibly frustrating, as others through the years have found. I think I have now tried a few dozen suggested repairs (changing print drivers, cleaning caches, unchecking all kinds of boxes, etc) and NONE of them has worked. The problem is that it takes a long time to load the pdf version of the document (which I don't want) and then I can finally choose the printer to print. The next time I go to print the problem is back; Chrome never changes the default printer. HINT: here's one thing I have observed in all my attempts: this problem is currently occurring in 3 different browsers I use (Opera, Edge and Chrome) but NO programs. This makes me think it's a Window's switch somewhere. I will offer eternal gratitude to anyone who can help me fix this very frustrating problem.

User 9834520684695629431 · Accepted Answer

I worked on this frustrating problem for 3 days. I finally found several old responses that suggested it could be caused by a corrupted print driver. Then when the browser goes to use the printer it can't get to it and so switches over to the "save as pdf". I uninstalled the printer and re-installed the driver. Presto! It's fixed and everything works appropriately and quickly again as it should.