How To Connect My Printer To My Home Network

I am unable to connect my HP Laserjet P1102 printer directly to the home router (TP-Link DSL-G225) in order to add the printer as a network printer. Connected like this, neither the laptop and the desktop computer recognizes the printer. However, if I connect the printer directly to either the laptop or desktop, the printer is recognized and works.

I suspect that I am using the wrong cable. The cable that came with the printer has USB-A/B plugs (the flat rectangular plug and the square plug) (See below). The router has a USB port to plug the USB-A plug (flat one) into. The printer only has a USB-B port (the square one).



Is the solution to use a cable which has an ethernet plug instead of a USB-A plug, so that I can connect it to an ethernet port?
I do not want to go and look for a cable like this if there is another reason why I cannot connect.

(I use Windows 10 on the laptop and desktop. The drivers are up to date.)

 

I see nothing in the system specs or the owners manual suggesting that printer supports Ethernet. But it is wireless so is there a reason you don't want to use wireless?
To me that would be best because you can physically locate the printer just about anywhere, and not have it tethered to your router or a computer via cable. That's what I do with my wireless HP to keep it off my desk.

If you enable wireless, then in each computer, add a new printer, Windows 10 should find it and connect for you.

Note you do NOT need to install all the software that comes with that HP. I never - as in NEVER EVER do. The basic drivers is all you need and most likely Windows 10 will have or can get them for you. That printer has the HP Embedded Web Server. That lets you simply log into your printer by entering its IP address into your browser's address bar, then you can access the printer's internal menu system, and all its features without using HP's bloated and intrusive software. You can fax and scan, check ink levels, and more. Very nice.

 

Thanks for your reply.
The Laserjet P1102 is not wireless, unfortunately (P1102W is wireless)

 

Sorry. I was caffeine deprived. Better now.

Sadly, you are still without Ethernet so are stuck with USB.

Are you sure your router is from TP-Link? All I can find for that model number is a D-Link model.

In any case, the computers will need to be configured to print to a networked printer. That is, the computer sees directly connected and networked printer as different printers. That is because the OS needs to send the print job to a different port. So you still need to add the network connected printer after connecting it to the router.

Also note you should be able to log into your router's admin menu, then check for "connected devices" (or something similar) and see the printer, and its assigned IP address.

 

If the router supports USB printing, it has a USB print server built in. He would not need to buy a separate one. That's why we need clarification on the brand/model of the router.

 

I made a mistake- It is a D-Link (Model DSL-G225)

I made some progress today, but I'm not there yet.
I uninstalled the printer from the desktop so that I could basically do a clean install of the printer software, this time connected to the router.
I then connected the printer via USB to the router. I logged into the router from the desktop and connected the printer. I now also had the IP address. (This was why neither the laptop or desktop could see the printer previously)
I installed the printer using the IP address with Windows 10. I had a few obstacles, but finally had it installed BUT it couldn't print a test page. It is visible in Device Manager and set as default.
Having tried everything I could think of, running the troubleshooter, rebooting the computer, I installed the HP software. At that stage, the troubleshooter could not find an error. (and still doesn't find an error)
With HP software installed, there are two indications that everything is not 100%. The HP app shows the printer to be "offline" and the HP repair dr identifies the correct printer but cannot communicate with the printer.
Thanks for any help.
It is now 01h00 in South Africa, so time to go to sleep