Wireless printers are a great convenience for homes and businesses and they can be tricky to configure especially when it comes to attaching to your wireless network.  More than a couple of clients have asked me to setup their wireless printers after they gave up. I was asked to set one up last week for a computer repair client while I was troubleshooting their Dell laptop. The printer was still new in the box and I started reading the written directions provided with the printer.  I had two computers to install the printer on, so the installation was began on the Windows 10 laptop. I installed it from HP’s web-based program and the printer was found and set up on the network. When it came to installing the printer on the laptop I waited forever for it to complete. I finally closed the installation before it was done and went to the second computer needing the wireless printer, a Windows 10 desktop.  Installing on the desktop computer went smoother and it was successful and I could send a test page to the printer. I went back to the laptop and tried another approach; installing as a network printer by the IP address and it failed to install.  I also tried the conventional “add new printer”, method and the printer was discovered, but never appeared in Devices and Printers.  I was running out of ideas and to verify I installed the printer on my laptop to prove it wasn’t the printer.  I disabled the security software and it didn’t change anything. Notepad was opened and a document was created and the printing application started.  I was amazed to see three wireless printers available and I printed successfully to one of them. The other  two printers were deleted from notepad and a test page was sent again to ensure the printer was installed correctly.  I opened the Devices and Printer app again to see if any printers were there and there wasn’t.  We never did find out why the printer didn’t show up where it should be, but I did find out it was installed and I ensured it was the default printer.

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