diff --git a/doc/classes/ProjectSettings.xml b/doc/classes/ProjectSettings.xml
index c95be5774c3..dad7281e9ed 100644
--- a/doc/classes/ProjectSettings.xml
+++ b/doc/classes/ProjectSettings.xml
@@ -3313,6 +3313,7 @@
 			Two options are supported:
 			- [code]vulkan[/code] (default), Vulkan from native drivers. If [member rendering/rendering_device/fallback_to_vulkan] is enabled, this is used as a fallback if Direct3D 12 is not supported.
 			- [code]d3d12[/code], Direct3D 12 from native drivers. If [member rendering/rendering_device/fallback_to_d3d12] is enabled, this is used as a fallback if Vulkan is not supported.
+			[b]Note:[/b] Starting with Godot 4.6, new projects are configured by default to use [code]d3d12[/code] on Windows. Projects created before Godot 4.6 keep [code]vulkan[/code] for compatibility reasons, but it is recommended to switch them manually to [code]d3d12[/code].
 		</member>
 		<member name="rendering/rendering_device/fallback_to_d3d12" type="bool" setter="" getter="" default="true">
 			If [code]true[/code], the Forward+ renderer will fall back to Direct3D 12 if Vulkan is not supported. The fallback is always attempted regardless of this setting if Vulkan driver support was disabled at compile time.
diff --git a/editor/editor_node.cpp b/editor/editor_node.cpp
index a9507827a58..9f674d934e8 100644
--- a/editor/editor_node.cpp
+++ b/editor/editor_node.cpp
@@ -7884,6 +7884,7 @@ void EditorNode::notify_settings_overrides_changed() {
 HashMap<String, Variant> EditorNode::get_initial_settings() {
 	HashMap<String, Variant> settings;
 	settings["physics/3d/physics_engine"] = "Jolt Physics";
+	settings["rendering/rendering_device/driver.windows"] = "d3d12";
 	return settings;
 }
 
diff --git a/platform/windows/detect.py b/platform/windows/detect.py
index 19b6d98ee5d..ce1f7741f51 100644
--- a/platform/windows/detect.py
+++ b/platform/windows/detect.py
@@ -233,6 +233,7 @@ def get_flags():
 
     return {
         "arch": arch,
+        "d3d12": True,
         "supported": ["d3d12", "dcomp", "library", "mono", "xaudio2"],
     }
 
@@ -923,7 +924,8 @@ def check_d3d12_installed(env, suffix):
         print_error(
             "The Direct3D 12 rendering driver requires dependencies to be installed.\n"
             "You can install them by running `python misc\\scripts\\install_d3d12_sdk_windows.py`.\n"
-            "See the documentation for more information:\n\t"
-            "https://docs.godotengine.org/en/latest/engine_details/development/compiling/compiling_for_windows.html"
+            "See the documentation for more information:\n"
+            "\thttps://docs.godotengine.org/en/latest/engine_details/development/compiling/compiling_for_windows.html\n"
+            "Alternatively, disable this driver by compiling with `d3d12=no` explicitly."
         )
         sys.exit(255)