This is not really a problem with MXDW but one with the way drivers work on Windows. The user choice(s) is/are saved for a particular session. This means that you can reuse firs-print settings when printing between the first print and quitting the application. Most printers behave this way, until unless one comes up with a way to save this information somewhere and let the user re-use it across sessions.
So, I tried hacking the GPD file (where printing information for a printer is typically stored). The orientation has two possible values: PORTRAIT and LANDSCAPE_CC270 with the default being set to PORTRAIT. See below:
*%******************************************************************************
*% Orientation
*%******************************************************************************
*Feature: Orientation
{
*rcNameID: =ORIENTATION_DISPLAY
*DefaultOption: PORTRAIT
*Option: PORTRAIT
{
*rcNameID: =PORTRAIT_DISPLAY
}
*Option: LANDSCAPE_CC270
{
*rcNameID: =LANDSCAPE_DISPLAY
}
}
Now, if I were to change swap the default value to LANDSCAPE_CC270, the printing preferences stop coming up (and any print would fail). In fact, it appears, that specifying any other value keeps the default to PORTRAIT. Definitely, MS is
doing some sort of check to prevent us from hacking this driver. Looks like MS doesn't
want anyone to tamper with its settings :(
But you could try flirting with the GPD values a bit more and see if something of your liking comes up. Will keep hacking a bit more.
Caveat: GPD files shouldn't be tampered with if you don't know what you are doing. If you
still want to go ahead make a backup!
Hint: They are stored in %WINDOWS%system32\spool\drivers\w32x86\3
folder.