Set default printer with PowerShell

Closely related to my previous post, this simple script uses a WScript.Network COM object to set the default printer. The comment block is longer than the script, but I think it’s a useful little tool.

<#
.SYNOPSIS
Sets a Network Printer connection as the default printer.

.DESCRIPTION
Uses a COM object to sets the specified, installed printer as the default. If
an error is encountered, e.g., the specified printer isn't installed, the
exception is written to a file called Set-DefaultPrinter.err in the current
$env:temp directory, and then the script terminates, throwing the exception.

Based on my colleague's VBScript solution:
http://blog.uvm.edu/jgm/2014/06/11/parting-scripts-add-a-new-network-printer-and-set-it-as-default/

.PARAMETER PrinterShare
The UNC path to the shared printer.
e.g. \\printers1.campus.ad.uvm.edu\ETS-SAA-SamsungML-3560

.EXAMPLE
Set-DefaultPrinter.ps1 -PrinterShare '\\printers1.campus.ad.uvm.edu\ETS-SAA-SamsungML-3560'

.NOTES
    Script Name: Set-DefaultPrinter.ps1
    Author     : Geoff Duke <Geoffrey.Duke@uvm.edu>
#>

[cmdletbinding()]

Param(
    [Parameter(Mandatory=$true,
        HelpMessage="Enter the UNC path to the network printer")]
    [ValidateNotNullOrEmpty()]
    [string] $PrinterShare
)

Set-PSDebug -Strict

$PSDefaultParameterValues = @{"out-file:Encoding"="ASCII"}

$ws_net = New-Object -COM WScript.Network

try {
    $ws_net.SetDefaultPrinter($PrinterShare)
}
catch {
    $error[0].exception | out-file (join-path $env:temp 'Set-DefaultPrinter.err') 
    throw $error[0]
}
write-verbose "Default printer now $PrinterShare"