HP Printer Setup for Windows

HP Printer Setup for Windows

SUMMARY

HP printers are generally easy to set up. 

This guide deals only with Windows computers and will be split into two broad categories: newer printers and older printers.
For MacOS guides, see: MacOS set-up guide.


Getting Started

To get started, go to support.hp.com and enter the model number in the search bar. You will land on the printer's product page.

Click “Software, Drivers and Firmware” then select the appropriate driver.

NOTE: When given a choice between HP Smart and “Full Software Solution” drivers on the product page, always go with the full software solution.

As you're going through the installers, my personal recommendation is to uncheck any privacy concerns for the customer e.g.,

“send anonymous data to HP” or “enter your zip code.” While it's optional and definitely not a rule, I will always opt to protect the privacy
of our customers.

Definitions

Basic driver – A smaller driver package that includes basic functionality for printing, scanning, etc.

Full software solution driver – A much larger driver package that comes with all the basic drivers plus some extra software including:

IRIS OCR scanner software, wireless and fax drivers, photo editor, product improvement study, HP Help, etc.

HP Smart – A mostly broken application that's meant to be a central hub for managing your HP products.

You can set up most new printers through HP Smart but I typically don't recommend it. Use the basic drivers or full driver pack instead.
If you must use HP Smart to set up a printer, it's important to know that –
  • The printer must be in “set-up mode” – you can put any new HP printer in set-up mode by resetting the network settings to default.                                                                                                             The printer will be in set-up mode for approximately two hours after setting network defaults.
  • HP Smart will see any nearby printers that are ready for setup and will prompt you to install drivers.                                                                                                                                                                  When this works, it's very easy and works well. For best results, stick with the normal driver packages.


Setup


Newer models (2012 and newer)


USB

Using the steps above, navigate to the product page for your printer. For these examples, I will use a HP Color LaserJet Pro m281fdw


Note: make sure the web page correctly identified the operating system. You can always choose the OS manually by clicking “Choose a different OS.”

Ignore HP Smart and instead download the Full Software Solution drivers.


When you run the driver executable, the installer will extract some files. If the installer window doesn't open automatically, navigate to this folder

and run the executable: C:\[driver name]\HpSetup.exe

Accept the Terms of Service and continue through the installer. Select “Manual Setup” when prompted then select USB.


Make sure the printer is connected through USB and powered on, then click “Next” until the drivers are installed.

Verify the new printer is set as default printer in Settings or Control Panel → Devices & Printers then simply print a

test page to make sure the PC and printer are communicating.

That's it!




Network

Setting up on a network is much the same as with USB. It may seem counterintuitive at first, but the printer must be powered on and connected

to the PC with a USB cable. Download and run the driver package then select Manual Setup. From here there are two ways
to connect to a wireless network.

A. In the Connection Options window, choose Wireless. This will prompt the user to choose a WiFi network and input the network passphrase.

If the PC is already connected to a wireless network, you will have the option to send network credentials directly to the printer over USB.
The printer will then switch connection to wireless and when prompted, you can unplug the USB cable.

B. In the Connection Options window, select USB. Go through the USB setup as above like normal. When the drivers are done installing,

find the printer icon with the name of the printer on the desktop or Start menu. This will open the HP Printer Assistant.
On the top bar, go to Tools → Device Setup & Software → Convert a USB connected device to wireless then complete the
WiFi setup as described above.





Older models (2012 and older)

Occasionally, you will find a Full Software Solution driver for an older printer. It's not guaranteed but it happens from time to time.

Most of the time, you will be installing a universal PCL driver like HP Universal Print Driver for Windows - PCL 6 which is what I will cover here.

For this setup, we will need to download the PCL6 driver from the printer's support page. For this example, I will use a HP LaserJet Enterprise P3015dn




USB

To begin, once again, the printer must be powered on and connected to the PC with a USB cable.

One simple way to set up these older printers is to install the DOT4 driver if needed and restart, then add the printer through Control Panel.

Click “Add a printer” and then “The printer I want isn't listed.” From there, add a local printer. When prompted to choose a printer port,
select USB001 (this is installed by the DOT4 driver) or LPT1 (if DOT4 is not required) then select HP as the manufacturer, and locate the PCL6 driver
from Windows Update.



The other way you can set up the PCL6 driver is by downloading the executable from the drivers section of the HP product page and running the installer.

Simply run the installer and install in “traditional mode.” The rest of the process will be self-explanatory, just follow the instructions and click Next.


Network

Wireless Connection

Most older printers with WiFi have a Full Software Solution driver which you can install exactly the same as above in the newer printer section.

For this example, I will use a HP LaserJet Pro P1102w which is an older model with wireless capabilities.

In this case, running the installer extracts our files to the root of the C:\ drive. Navigate to C:\LJP1100_P1560_P1600_Full_Solution\ and

run HpSetup.exe


Then go through the installer as normal.


After the installer finishes, the Wireless Configuration Utility will start. If it doesn't automatically start, open the Start menu and search for

“wireless configuration” to locate the app.

The utility is very straight-forward to use. When prompted to select a Wireless Discovery Method, go with Automatic.

The utility will then scan for all visible wireless networks. Just select the network you're looking for and enter the password.
If the PC is connected to the wireless network, you may have the option to send the wireless credentials to the printer and you won't have to
enter the password manually.

Note: After running the wireless configuration utility, the printer will now be the default printer. Since we connected over USB first,
you may see two copies of the printer in Control Panel. One is the USB connected driver and the other is the wireless driver.
You can tellwhich is which by right-clicking the printer and going into Printer Properties, then clicking on the Ports tab at the top.
What I like to do in this case is to keep both printer objects and rename them appropriately e.g., “HP P1102w [USB] and
HP P1102w [WiFi]” this way, if you ever use the printer with a USB cable, they don't mistakenly print to the wireless printer object.


Wired Connection

To add a wired network printer to the Windows PC, we're going to use the Control Panel. Typically Windows will automatically select a

compatible driver but you may also want to install the Full Software Solution to get all drivers and software.

IMPORTANT: We will need the printer's IPV4 address which we can obtain by printing a configuration page.
Typically for printers with a screen, you will have to navigate to the “Reports” menu on the printer control panel.

If you can't find Reports in the main menu, you can usually find it under the “Setup” or “Service” menu.
For printer models without a display, there is usually a button you can press and hold for 5 seconds that will print
the configuration page e.g., like the “start copy” button on a HP M28w.

Make sure the printer is powered on and connected to the network with an ethernet cable. Then navigate to:

Control Panel → Hardware and Sound → Devices and Printers

Click “Add a printer” at the top. Windows will start to search for local devices. Skip this part by clicking “The printer that I want isn't listed”

at the bottom of the window.


Select “Add a printer using a TCP/IP address or hostname” then enter the IP address into the “Hostname or IP address” field. Leave everything

else unchanged here. Then, click next and Windows will select a driver for you. Click next again to finish.

Note: Make sure to send a test page when prompted to check connectivity. Then I will usually have the customer print one of their documents

to make sure it's working for them. Occasionally, you will have to select the correct printer for the customer when printing from Microsoft Office.


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