@Html.DropDownListFor how to set default value [duplicate]

Like this:

@Html.DropDownListFor(model => model.Status, new List<SelectListItem> 
       { new SelectListItem{Text="Active", Value="True"},
         new SelectListItem{Text="Deactive", Value="False"}},"Select One")

If you want Active to be selected by default then use Selected property of SelectListItem:

@Html.DropDownListFor(model => model.Status, new List<SelectListItem> 
           { new SelectListItem{Text="Active", Value="True",Selected=true},
             new SelectListItem{Text="Deactive", Value="False"}},"Select One")

If using SelectList, then you have to use this overload and specify SelectListItem Value property which you want to set selected:

@Html.DropDownListFor(model => model.title, 
                     new SelectList(new List<SelectListItem>
  {
      new SelectListItem { Text = "Active" , Value = "True"},
      new SelectListItem { Text = "InActive", Value = "False" }
  },
    "Value", // property to be set as Value of dropdown item
    "Text",  // property to be used as text of dropdown item
    "True"), // value that should be set selected of dropdown
     new { @class = "form-control" })

SelectListItem has a Selected property. If you are creating the SelectListItems dynamically, you can just set the one you want as Selected = true and it will then be the default.

SelectListItem defaultItem = new SelectListItem()
{
   Value = 1,
   Text = "Default Item",
   Selected = true
};