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Forum Discussion
GerBear
Oct 19, 2015Aspirant
R6100 Printer connection via Ethernet
I just purchased the R6100 Wifi Router and I have a Canon MF4570DN Laser printer with Ethernet connectivity. It would be more convenient for me to connect the printer to the router using Ethernet tha...
- Oct 22, 2015
Does your printer have an Ethernet port? If it does, then plug it into your router and make sure it gets an IP address. Most network printers are, by default, set up to get an IP address automatically. Once connected to the network, most printers will also support Windows printing and should be discoverable from a Windows machine. You will need to make sure you have the appropriate printer driver installed on your machine.
As always, there are exceptions, so if things aren't working for you, then consult your printer's manual.
GerBear
Oct 22, 2015Aspirant
This begs the question then: How does one recognize the printer? My windows machines can't find it when I try to add a network printer. I tried with the USB connection and the USB Control Center. That works first time, but I really would prefer the network cable option.
TheEther
Oct 22, 2015Guru
Does your printer have an Ethernet port? If it does, then plug it into your router and make sure it gets an IP address. Most network printers are, by default, set up to get an IP address automatically. Once connected to the network, most printers will also support Windows printing and should be discoverable from a Windows machine. You will need to make sure you have the appropriate printer driver installed on your machine.
As always, there are exceptions, so if things aren't working for you, then consult your printer's manual.
- GerBearOct 24, 2015Aspirant
Thanks everyone for your help. This printer had previously printed via ethernet with my old Linksys router and as I said, simply refused to be discovered by my Windows machines. Somehow, the printer had been assigned a totally different IP address not in the 192.168 range. No idea where that came from, since the printer was set to use DHCP. It was visible from Netgear Genie as an unknown wired device, which was my first clue.
The problem is resolved. All I had to do was power-cycle the printer and it was assigned a new IP by the router. Works like a charm. When in doubt, reboot. I should remember that.