TITLE: Question about primitive roots of p and $p^2$
QUESTION [7 upvotes]: If $g$ is a primitive root of a prime $p$, then $g$ is also a primitive root of $p^2$ if and only if $g^{p-1} \pmod p^2$ is not $1$. Is there a prime $p$ such that $p^2$ missing exactly $m$ primitive roots of $p$ , for arbitrarily large $m$ ? Does $m$ have a limit ?

REPLY [3 votes]: We can prove something more generic.
Statement : ord$_{p^s}a=d\implies$ord$_{p^{s+1}}a=d$ or $p\cdot d$.
Proof:
Let ord$_{p^{s+1}}(a)=D$ and
let ord$\displaystyle_{p^s}a=d\iff a^d\equiv 1\pmod {p^s}=1+p^sq$ where $q$ is some integer
$\implies a^D\equiv 1\pmod{p^{s+1}}\equiv 1\pmod{p^s}\implies d\mid D$ i.e., $D=d\cdot k_1$(say) where $k_1$ is a positive integer.
Now, $a^{pd}=(a^d)^p=(1+p^sq)^p=1+\binom p1p^sr+\text{terms divisible by }p^{2s}\equiv 1\pmod{p^{s+1}}$ for $2s\ge s+1\iff s\ge1$
$\implies D\mid p\cdot d,$ i.e., $p\cdot d=k_2\cdot D,$(say) where $k_1$ is a positive integer.
Mutiplying $p\cdot d\cdot D=k_2\cdot D\cdot d\cdot k_1\implies k_1\cdot k_2=p$
Case$\#1:$ If $k_1=1,k_2=p,D=d\cdot k_1=d$ 
Case$\#2:$ If $k_2=1,k_1=p,D=d\cdot k_1=p\cdot d$
$\implies$ord$_{p^s}a=d\implies$ord$_{p^{s+1}}a=d$ or $p\cdot d$.