Add a Wireless or Network Printer in Windows 10
If you just got a new wireless or network printer for your office or home and need to install it on Windows 10. Adding printers in Windows nowadays is usually a pretty easy process compared to the old days. As long as the printer isn’t ancient.
Actually, I have already talked about installing printers. On concord, my previous article was focused on manually adding a network printer using the IP address. Actually, that’s the last resort option in case you can’t get the printer installed automatically by Windows 10 first.
Let’s talk about how to manage printers in Windows 10 before we get started. Because that has become a bit confusing. You can add/remove/manage printers from the Control Panel or the Settings app.
Manage Printers in Windows 10
Tap on Devices and Printers, to get to the Control Panel printer manager. I still find this interface more familiar since it’s been around since Windows XP.
You’ll see a list of all your printers and other devices that may be on the network. The other way is to tap on Start, then Settings and then tap on Devices.
There’s really no reason for there to be two ways to do this. But that’s just how it is currently in Windows 10. You can pick either way. You’ll get all the same options, so it doesn’t really matter.
Adding a Printer in Windows 10
Now let’s get into the actual steps for adding a printer to Windows 10. We are assuming that you have connected your printer to either the wireless network or wired network in this article. Automatically, as long as your router is giving out IP addresses using DHCP and gets your printer connected to the network should be straight-forward.
Just refer to the instructions on how to configure the printer with the wireless network settings, for wireless printers. Most new wireless printers allow you to do this on the on-screen display of the printer. But some older wireless printers require you to connect the printer directly to a computer first. Then configure the wireless settings and then disconnect it.
Go ahead and tap on Add a printer, once the printer is connected in the Devices and Printers dialog on your PC.
Now, if the printers are on and connected, magic should happen and any printers on the network not already added to your computer should appear in the list. You should tap on the printer that I want isn’t listed link at the bottom to troubleshoot. Go down to the Troubleshoot Installing Printers in Windows 10 section to read more about solving common problems.
If all is well, tap on the printer you want to install and then tap Next.
Automatically, windows will setup the printer by installing the appropriate printer drivers onto the system. It’ll download the drivers from the printer itself if available.
The printer should be successfully added and you’ll be able to print a test page after a few seconds. This procedure will be able to find wired or wireless printers on the network.
Troubleshoot Installing Printers in Windows 10
Probably, now you wouldn’t be on this site if everything went so well as shown above. Let’s talk about some of the problems that can occur. Firstly, what if nothing shows up in the list of printers?
The first thing to do is tap on that The printer that I want isn’t listed link. This brings up the Find a Printer dialog.
You should start out with the first option My printer is a little older. Help me find it as that will perform another scan. But with different methods to detect different kinds of printers.
You can go ahead and enter the full path to the printer if you’re in an office environment of some sort with a shared printer. You’ll need to get from your administrator. Basically, the Add a printer using a TCP/IP address or hostname option is the previous post I wrote about the printer. That I linked to at the top of this article.
Add a local printer or network printer with manual settings is the last option. Basically, if you have a printer that still uses a serial or parallel port. Wireless or network discoverable printer, The Add a Bluetooth, is the main dialog that comes up when you tap on Add a Printer. It will just perform another normal scan.
It could be a problem with the printing system on your Windows 10 machine if none of the options above work for you. The next option is to run the printer troubleshooter. You can tap on Start, type in printer troubleshoot. Then tap on Find and Fix Printing Problems.
From Microsoft, you can also download another printer troubleshooter and run that to see if it can fix any issues. If you have an older printer that doesn’t have a Windows 10 driver, you might just have to upgrade to a new printer. You can always try to install a Windows 8 or Windows 7 driver. On concord, it may not work because of higher security settings in Windows 10.
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