A wireless printer offers an easy printing experience without wires and cables. Wherever you go, you’ll find an HP wireless printer in an office, home, college, or a small institute. Many people prefer this printer for its useful features, including wireless connectivity. As a beginner, you may find it troublesome to connect your printer to WiFi, so I wrote this guide to help you through the process and let you enjoy wireless printing. Get ready to learn how to connect an HP printer to a wireless network using different methods.
The simplest and most convenient way to connect the HP printer to WiFi is via the HP Smart app. It’s available on HP’s official website along with the other software and printer drivers. You can easily install the app by navigating to support.hp.com or through the Play Store or the App Store. Follow the steps given below to connect the printer to WiFi after installing the app.
Launch the app on your computer or mobile.
Confirm that the printer is turned on from the main switch.
Now, click the Add printer option to allow the app to search for nearby printers automatically.
Once the printer appears in the list, select it from the devices list.
Proceed with the on-screen instructions and enter your WiFi Network name and the password.
When the printer connects to the network, its wireless light will turn solid.
Once the connection is set up, you are ready to print from your HP Printer. However, before moving on to the wireless printer connection, confirm that your printer supports wireless connectivity. If this method doesn’t work for you, check out the next method.
All printers have different types of control panels. Some printers may have a touchscreen, and others may have physical buttons. However, both types of printers are capable of connecting to WiFi. These are the steps to connect the printer to a wireless network.
Use the touchscreen or the physical buttons to navigate to the Wireless Settings menu. You will find it under the Wireless or Network section.
Choose the WiFi Setup Wizard/Wireless Setup option. Note that the settings may differ depending on your printer model.
Let the HP Printer search for the nearby WiFi networks, and enter the password when asked.
Once the connection is complete, the HP printer will show a confirmation message. If you don’t see the exact options, select a relevant option.
The WiFi Protected Setup is the easiest method to connect an HP printer to a wireless network. However, this method is only applicable when your wireless router has a WPS button. The good part about this connection method is that it doesn’t need any passwords for setting up. It sets up an automatic connection between the printer and the wireless router. Proceed with these steps to connect the printer to a wireless network via the WPS connection.
Power on your printer from the main switch and ensure that it’s placed near the router.
Press and hold the WiFi button on the printer until the light starts to blink.
Move on to the router and press the WPS button.
Finally, the wireless router will connect to the printer, and the WiFi light will stop blinking and turn solid.
Finally, print a test page to check the wireless connection.
HP Printers Won’t Connect to WiFi when the internet connection is weak or when you’re using the wrong network connection. Sometimes, the problem may also occur when the password is incorrect. All these problems affect the printer’s wireless connection. Hence, ensure that your internet connection is strong, and the password is right. Confirm that the printer and the wireless router are placed closer to each other.
Question
All the methods work well to connect the HP printer to WiFi. However, the HP Smart app or the printer’s control panel is the most common connection method. A WPS push-button method may not be used very commonly, as not all wireless routers have a WPS button.
Question
The HP Smart app is available on HP’s official website to install on the computer, and on the Play Store and the App Store for smartphones. You can simply visit support.hp.com and search for your printer model to install the application. For mobile devices, you can open the App Store/Play Store to install the app.
Question
No, you don’t need HP printer drivers to connect it to a wireless network. However, you will need the drivers to connect the printer to a computer device like Windows or Mac. Since printers communicate with printer devices with the help of these drivers, installing them is a must.
Source: How to Connect HP Printer to Wi-Fi