You have never considered it necessary to use the printer but, in recent times, you have noticed that your visits to the copy shop have increased dramatically, so you have decided to get your own printer to be able to print the documents you need on paper, directly from your desk. Among the many models available, after reading my buying guide , you have decided to make an HP printer yours : you are infinitely satisfied with your choice but, once you take the new device out of the box, you realized that you do not have the faintest idea how to connect it to the computer and make it functional.
If this is your problem, I am happy to tell you that you have come to the right place, at a time that could not have been better: below, in fact, I intend to provide you with all the necessary instructions on how to install HP printer on your computer, analyzing in detail the procedures to be performed on the various operating systems. Finally, it will be my care to show you how to use the printer also through smartphones and tablets, so as to further increase productivity and minimize the use of cables, cables and transfers of various kinds.
So what are you waiting for to start? Carve out a few minutes of free time all for yourself, make yourself comfortable and read very carefully what I have to say on this subject: I’m sure that, once this reading is finished, you will be perfectly able to install, configure and use the your printer, even if you’ve never been tech-savvy. At this point, there is nothing left for me to do but wish you good reading and, why not, good work!
Index
- How to install HP WiFi printer
- Preliminary operations
- How to install HP printer on Windows
- How to install HP printer on Mac
- How to install HP printer on smartphones and tablets
- How to install HP printer without WiFi
- Connection via USB
- Wi-Fi Direct
How to install HP WiFi printer
If your printer is compatible with Wi-Fi connectivity and you have a router-generated home network, you can easily install an HP printer without a CD by simply connecting it to the Internet and configuring it on the devices you usually use to start your work. Press. In order for everything to proceed smoothly, it is essential that all the devices involved (i.e. printer, computer, smartphone, tablet and so on) are connected to the same Wi-Fi network .
Preliminary operations
The first thing you need to do to install an HP wireless printer on your computer, smartphone, or tablet is to connect the device to the Internet . If the latter has an integrated screen , press one of the physical buttons to “wake it up”, or swipe downwards , if the display is a touch-screen type.
Now, press on the gear symbol ( Settings item ) that appears on the small screen, reach the Wireless Settings and Wireless Setup Wizard sections and follow the instructions that are proposed to you, to establish the connection to the Internet: in practice, all this you need to do is select the name of the Wi-Fi network to which the printer is to be connected and, subsequently, indicate the password . Finally, accept the terms of use of the operating system and complete any updates , if available.
Once the connection is established, I recommend that you print a summary page of the network status, so as to have the printer’s IP address available , to be used in case of non-automatic recognition: to do this, go to the Wirelsss menu > Settings> Print report and select the Wireless Test Report item .
If, on the other hand, your HP printer does not have a physical screen, you can connect it to the Internet using the HP Smart application , available on the Microsoft Store of Windows 10 and later, the Mac App Store of macOS, the Play Store and alternative stores. for Android and on the iOS / iPadOS App Store .
To install HP Smart, once you have reached the specific section of the store on your device (just follow the links I gave you a moment ago), click on the Install , Download or Get button and, if requested, confirm your willingness to proceed authenticating with facial recognition , fingerprint or password of your account.
The application, except for the position of buttons and menus, works in much the same way on all devices: after opening it, press the Continue button , choose whether or not to share data on the use of the app with HP and press the button (+) , to start configuring a new device.
Now, wait for the printer name (followed by the word Configuration ) to appear on the screen, press on the corresponding box and follow the instructions given to you to complete the connection. In general, you must press the Continue , Yes and Continue buttons , in order to connect the printer to the same network in use on the device you are working on, Skip the creation of an HP Smart account and decline the registration to the HP Instant Ink service .
Once this is done, you will be asked to indicate the place and location of use of the printer and to continue with the next step, which consists in the actual installation of the printing software. Finally, choose whether to print a test page or not at the moment by clicking on the appropriate button.
Once the Internet connection has been established, I recommend that you print a summary page of the network status, in order to have the IP address of the device available: to do this, press the (i) and Wi-Fi buttons (the one with antennas ) and hold them for a few moments.
Note : if you have an edition of Windows prior to 10 and you cannot use HP Smart, you must download the appropriate configuration program from the printer manufacturer’s website, as explained in this section , making sure to select the option Wireless as a connection mode, when required.
How to install HP printer on Windows
Once the initial printer setup is complete, you are ready to install it on your operating system. If you are using a computer animated by Windows and you have connected the printer to the Internet via the HP Smart application, then you do not need to do anything else, as the device can be used by any program that requests it.
If, on the other hand, you have established the connection between the printer and the Internet through the integrated panel, you must install the device manually: therefore, to start, right-click on the Windows Start button (the flag icon located on the left side of the applications), select the Settings item from the menu that appears on the screen and, once in the new window, click on the Devices / Bluetooth Devices icon .
If you have a version of Windows older than 10 available, open the Control Panel located in the Start menu or in the Start Screen and click on the word Hardware and Sound , located inside it (if you do not see it, set the View menu by placed at the top right on the Category option ).
Now, if necessary, click on the wording Printers and scanners , then on the Add device / Add a printer or scanner button and wait for the name of the printing device to appear in the list of those identified. Finally, click on the latter and then on the Add device button , to proceed with the automatic installation of the drivers; at the end of the procedure, choose whether or not to print a test page by clicking on the dedicated button.
If the printer name does not appear, click on the item The desired printer is not in the list , put the check mark next to the wording Add a printer using a host name or an IP address and, after clicking on the Next button , set the drop-down menu device type of automatic Detection and enter the ‘ IP address of the printer in the dedicated field.
Once this is done, check the box next to the item Query the printer and automatically select the driver to use , click on the Next button and, when prompted, specify the name with which to recognize the printer. Finally, click on the Next button two more times and proceed with printing a test page by clicking on the dedicated button.
How to install HP printer on Mac
If yours is a Mac and you have connected the printer to the Internet using the HP Smart app , no additional configuration is required, as the device can be used by any other program or application that supports printing.
If you had instead connected the printer to the Internet through the integrated panel, you can install it on macOS in the following way: click on the gear symbol located on the Dock bar , in order to open the System Preferences , click on the Printers and scanners icon and then on the [+] button located at the bottom, so as to start adding a new printer.
Now, go to the Default tab located at the top left (the printer icon ), wait for the device name to appear on the screen and, when this happens, click on it and wait for macOS to complete the recognition and installation of the print driver. Finally, click on the Add button and that’s it.
In the unfortunate event that the printer is not immediately recognized, open the IP tab instead (the one depicting a globe ), enter the IP address of the printing device in the appropriate text box and specify the Printing Protocol to use, if required .
Now, type a name to assign to the printer, set the Use drop-down menu to the correct print driver (if not already there) and, when you are done, click on the OK and Add buttons , to install the printer and make it immediately operational .
How to install HP printer on smartphones and tablets
If you have an HP printer with Wi-Fi connectivity and intend to use it via your smartphone or tablet , you must first connect the printing device to the Internet, if you have not already done so, as I indicated in the initial section of this chapter.
Once this is done, if yours is a device animated by the Android operating system , download and install the Plugin for HP printing services , available both on the Play Store and on the alternative markets intended for devices not equipped with Google services: after opening the store reference of your device, access the search section to locate the name of the app and, when you have found it, press the Install button corresponding to it, in order to start the download.
Now, open the application you have just downloaded, accept the conditions of use by clicking on the appropriate button and grant the necessary permissions for its operation, pressing the Allow / Authorize buttons several times .
Once this is done, exit the app and open the document you want to send to the printer, then tap the share button (the three dots joined by a line or the square with the arrow ) and select the item Print / Android Print Service from the menu that appears later.
Finally, touch the Select printer menu, click on the name of the HP printer to use and, after having properly adjusted the remaining settings ( color options , number of copies , paper size , duplex printing and so on), touch the symbol of the printer , to start the process.
If, on the other hand, yours is an iPhone and your HP printer is compatible with Apple’s AirPrint technology , you can start printing any document without installing anything: after opening the file of your interest, touch the icon the share of iOS / iPadOS, select the item Print from the menu that appears later and select the printer to use Benefit from support oF tHE SPECIAL menu.
Finally, make the appropriate adjustments regarding the printing options (number of copies, color and so on) and, when you are finished, press the Print button to immediately print the document on paper.
If your printer does not have support for AirPrint, you can cope with it using Printer Pro , a third-party application compatible with almost all HP (and not only) printers out there. The app costs € 6.99 , but a lite version is available that allows you to check compatibility with your HP printer. For more information about how to use Printer Pro, take a look at my guide on how to print from iPhone , in which you will find everything explained in detail.
How to install HP printer without WiFi
You did not find the information I have given you useful so far, because you have an HP printer that does not have Internet connectivity and requires a USB connection, or because yours is a Wi-Fi printer but you do not have a “landline” connection “Or, at least, a router that can act as an intermediary? Don’t worry: below are the procedures that can help you solve your problem.
Connection via USB
If you have a printer compatible with USB connection , there is a very good chance that you will be able to install it on your computer using HP Smart , the same application for Windows and macOS that I told you about in the chapter dedicated to Wi-Fi printers .
So, first of all, make sure that the printer is connected to the mains , turn it on and, after downloading HP Smart , connect the printing device to one of the free USB ports on the computer. Once this is done, open the HP Smart application, click on the (+) button in the center of the screen (or first click on the ☰ button located at the top left and then on the Add / Configure a new printer item ) and wait a few moments , so that the printer name appears in the list of detected devices.
When this happens, click on the relevant box and follow the instructions you receive on the screen, to complete the installation of the drivers: generally, what you have to do is press the Next / Continue button several times and accept, at the end of the procedure, printing a test page .
If HP Smart does not work, or if you are unable to install the above application on your computer, you can achieve the same result using the installation CD included in the original box of the device, which allows you to easily install the device on PCs equipped with Windows operating system . Before proceeding, unplug the printer from the USB port on your computer if you have already tried to connect the two devices to each other.
So, carefully remove the optical media from its casing, insert it into the appropriate computer reader and, after a few seconds, answer in the affirmative to the automatic execution request that appears on the screen.
If you do not have the printer installation CD available, you can get the necessary drivers directly from the HP support site : therefore connected to this web page , type the name of the printer in your possession in the dedicated box and then press the Send button located next to it. to the latter.
Once on the next page, select the Windows option from the OS drop-down menu and its precise version (eg. Windows 10 (64 bit) ) from the Version drop-down menu , press the Change button and wait for it, a little further down , the most suitable software for your case is loaded. At this point, identify the item Software and drivers with full functionality for [Printer name] from the proposed list and click on the Download button corresponding to it. When the download is complete, launch the file obtained, in order to start the driver installation program.
Whether you are using the printer “disk” or the drivers downloaded from the Internet, the procedures are the same: click on the Continue button located in the new window opened on the desktop, then on the Next button , put the check mark next to the I have examined box and I accept the conditions and installation settings and press the Next button again .
After a few moments, the installation of the drivers necessary for the correct operation of the printer will start. At the end of this procedure, you will be asked to choose the type of connection required by the device in use: then tick the box relating to USB , click on the Next button and carefully follow the instructions you see on the screen, to finalize the configuration procedure. At this stage, you may be asked to turn on the printer and connect it to your computer.
At the end of the procedure, a message will be shown relating to the successful configuration of the printer: if you wish, put the check mark next to the Print test page box (to verify that the printer is working), then press the Finish button to complete the device setup.
And on Mac ? Don’t worry, the procedure for setting up printers on macOS is very simple and it is very unlikely that you will need to use an installation CD or have to manually download the drivers from the Internet to proceed. The operating system from Apple, in fact, is able to install and configure many printers completely automatically and with very little difficulty, in a very similar way to what has been seen for wireless printers.
So, first of all, connect the printer to a free USB port on your Mac (possibly using a USB 3.0 to USB-C adapter , if necessary), open System Preferences by clicking on the gear symbol located on the Dock and select the Printers and Scanners icon in the window that appears on the screen.
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Now, click on the [+] button located at the bottom of the next panel, click on the tab depicting the symbol of a printer (called Default ) and wait a few moments for the computer to recognize the connected printer: when this happens, click on its Name , then on the Add button and, if necessary, follow the instructions that appear on the screen to finalize the setup by downloading the additional software.
Wi-Fi Direct
If your printer has wireless connectivity but you don’t have any network devices that can act as a support device, you can rely on Wi-Fi Direct technology , found on the vast majority of connected HP printers manufactured since 2014.
This technology allows you to establish a direct connection between the printer and the device from which to print documents on paper, without using routers or other network devices as intermediaries.
To do this, you must first activate Wi-Fi Direct on the printer: if the latter has a screen, select or tap the Wi-Fi Direct symbol (the icon that depicts a printer and a device with waves ), select the Settings item (in the shape of a gear ) and press on the Wi-Fi Direct item , to move the relative switch from OFF to ON . Once this is done, locate the entry for the Wi-Fi Direct password , select it and note the corresponding network key : you will need it soon.
If, on the other hand, the HP printer in your possession does not have a screen, press the physical Wi-Fi Direct button (it represents two sheets and a smartphone with waves ) and wait for the relative LED to light up; when this happens, also press the physical button (i) to print the device status page, which specifies the Wi-Fi Direct password to be used to establish the connection.
Following this operation, the printer should generate a wireless network called DIRECT- [XX] -PrinterName , to which you can connect through any device equipped with a Wi-Fi card , by entering, when requested, the network key obtained previously,
Once this is done, to start a print job, simply access the appropriate panel of the operating system, program or app in use and select the name of the HP Wi-Fi Direct printer from the list of detected devices. Please note that while using a Wi-Fi Direct printer, it is not possible to connect the device from which you are controlling the print job (computer, smartphone or tablet) to other wireless networks.
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