How To Connect Your Wireless Printer To Wi-Fi

What You Need To Know Before Connecting Your Printer To Wi-Fi

The hype would have you believe that wireless printing is as simple as unboxing a new Wi-Fi enabled printer, connecting it to your network and then hitting the print button from an application on your PC.

Before you can print to your wireless printer from Windows, two things need to be done.

1. The printer needs to be connected to your Wi-Fi network
2. You need to detect and connect to the printer from Windows

Neither of these processes is particularly difficult, although they differ depending on the printer manufacturer.

Before proceeding, ensure your printer powered up, has ink, and at least a few sheets of paper loaded. Also, remember that while manufacturer instructions are generally the same across their own models, some differences may occur.

How To Connect A Canon Printer To Wi-Fi

To connect your Canon wireless printer to Wi-Fi:

1. Press Settings
2. Use the arrow button to select Device Settings
3. Press OK
4. Select LAN settings > OK > wireless LAN setup > OK
5. Wait for network discovery
6. Select the correct network and click OK
7. When prompted, enter the password, then OK

Your Canon printer should now be connected to your wireless network. If prompted, print a test page. The IP address should be listed here, which you'll need later.

How To Connect HP Printers To Wi-Fi

To connect a HP Deskjet, Officejet, and any other type of HP printer to Wi-Fi:

1. Press Home
2. Use the arrows to scroll down the menu to select Wireless
3. Press OK
4. Select Wireless Setup Wizard > OK
5. Select the correct network, click OK, then enter the password
6. Confirm the details, then OK for the printer to join the network
7. When ready, select Print to print a report, or Continue to complete the process. Make a note of the IP address when it is displayed.

How To Connect A Brother Printer To Wi-Fi

To get your wireless Brother printer online:

1. Press the flashing Wi-Fi button
2. Press Menu
3. Press - (Down) to find Network then OK
4. Next, select the first option, WLAN and click OK again
5. Press - to select 2.Setup Wizard then OK
6. In the next screen use the +/- (Up/Down) buttons to search for your wireless network
7. Select the network with OK
8. Enter the password using +/- to cycle through characters and OK to confirm each one (this takes a while)
9. When prompted to Apply Settings select Yes (Up)
10. Click OK to confirm
11. Make a note of the IP address when it is displayed.

Connecting To A Wireless Printer In Windows

With the wireless printer connected to your home network, you're ready to find it in Windows and connect.

1. In Windows 10, hit Windows key + I
2. Go to Devices > Printers & scanners
3. Click Add a printer or scanner
4. Wait while the operating system searches
5. When your device is listed, select it
6. Follow the prompts to set up the printer and print a test page

You're done.

If the printer isn't listed, click The printer that I want isn't listed to open the Add Printer dialogue. (You can also use Control Panel > Hardware and sound > Devices and printers > Add a printer.)

This method lets you add the printer by name or scan for it on your network. This last option probably won't work if it hasn't already. The easiest way is to use the printer's IP address, which you should have already noted:

1. Click Add a printer using a TCP/IP address or hostname
2. Click Next
3. Input the IP address in the Hostname or IP address field
4. Check the Query the printer box
5. Click Next again
6. Select the printer from the list using the Manufacturer and Printers panes
7. At this point you can click Windows Update or Have Disk to install the device driver
8. Click Next to install the driver automatically
9. Enter a name for the printer and proceed with Next
10. In the Printer Sharing screen choose Do not share this printer or enter sharing details as needed
11. Hit Next
12. Print a test page if necessary, then Finish to complete

With a successful test page print, you're now ready to print from any Windows app.

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