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Set up AC1750 Smart WiFi Router as print server
I know it's overkill. But I just installed an ASUS Mesh WiFi system and now have an extra AC1750 Smart WiFi Router (6400). I would like to set it up to work on the mesh network as a print server, sin...
freeassociates wrote:
To be clear, I am looking to have this all on my main WiFi mesh network so that the R6400 is connected wirelessly.
Aha. That's a very different story from anything you have said so far.
Your original message said " Smart WiFi Router as print server". You didn't say how you wanted to connect the R6400 to the Asus router.
The easiest way is to do what I suggested, put the R6400 into AP mode and plug it into the Asus router.
What you now describe is wifi to wifi connection. That would mean putting the R6400 into wifi bridge (repeater) mode. That's a much more complicated move.
To do that, check the manual for the R6400 and read the section Set Up the Router in Bridge Mode.
It isn't easy, and might not even work with your anonymous router.
Your first message said "I would like to set it up to work on the mesh network as a print server".
Is there any reason why you can't plug the R6400 into the router? It would be there on the network for everything else. It would also be a lot easier to set up and manage.
freeassociates wrote:
The "AP Mode" thing seems to be what I was looking for.
Should be fine. I keep the R7800 plugged in because USB storage is useful.
I tested the print server option and it was fine.
But it is important to get the printer to talk to the network. For that I rely on Canon's connection utility to configure the connection.
I’ve encountered a problem. I have plugged an ethernet cable from a LAN port on my master ASUS router into the Internet port of my Netgear router. So it is mechanically connected to the network. But even though I have reset it to the factory settings twice, neither my computer’s browser nor the Nighthawk app on my phone can find it. How do I access this thing in order to change its settings?
I have contacted Asus and they have confirmed that the set up is correct and it should work. But of course they can’t tell me how to configure the Netgear router specifically.
Any ideas?
I have contacted Asus and they have confirmed that the set up is correct and it should work. But of course they can’t tell me how to configure the Netgear router specifically.
Any ideas?
freeassociates wrote:
But even though I have reset it to the factory settings twice, neither my computer’s browser nor the Nighthawk app on my phone can find it.Every time you reset the R7800 you put it back into router mode, which means that it will clash with the ASUS router.
To get the R7800 into AP mode, connect it to a PC. Go to the browser graphical user interface (GUI) and put it into AP mode.
How do I change my NETGEAR router to AP mode? | Answer | NETGEAR Support
Now, turn off the R7800. Get the rest of the network running with the Asus router.
Now, with the R7800 still turned off, plug it into the router. Turn on the R7800 and let it go through the set up cycle.
DO NOT RESET THE R7800.
If you want to get into its GUI, look at the Asus router and its list of attached devices. That should show you the IP address of the R7800. Feed that into the browser and you should be able to get into the GUI.
You can make life easier by fixing the IP address of the R7800, either in its settings or by reserving it on the router.
In its previous life, the Netgear router WAS our WiFi network. That's why I reset it. But I didn't realize I needed to plug my computer in directly to set it up. Excellent. I'll try that. Thanks so much for your help with this.
If you can see, and connect to, the wifi from the R7800, even when it is in router mode, then you may also be able to access the page where you can switch it to AP mode.
But that is getting a bit complicated. Stick with the KnowledgeBase description.
As you can tell, I know very little about how this works.
To be clear, I am looking to have this all on my main WiFi mesh network so that the R6400 is connected wirelessly. It won't be connected by ethernet, only via the WiFi signal. So I want it to receive data from the computers connected to our house-wide mesh network and send that data to the printer.
I have set it to AP mode. I have restarted it, then plugged it into the primary router. It was recognized in that setup and assigned an IP address, which I was able to use to access the GUI.
Now it is no longer plugged in via Ethernet.
It still shows up on the ASUS network and I can see its IP address there. (There is one called "R6400" and one called "NETGEAR" with adjacent IP addresses -- one number apart. Not sure why.) However, via WiFi, I can no longer connect to it via my browser. Not sure if that's expected or not.
I do see another WiFi network that the R6400 displayed as it was being set up ("NETGEAR55-5G") and can connect to that but it has no internet connection. Although my printer appears (sort of) when I'm connected to that network, communication doesn't appear to work. The printer is in the list of available printers to add, but I can't actually add it. I get an error that my computer can't communicate with the printer.
I'm really not sure what do from here. Can I actually set this up so that the R6400 gets signals from within the main WiFi mesh network and sends them to my printer? Or is what I'm trying to impossible?
This worked perfectly for years when I was using an Apple Airport Extreme (very old WiFi router) as a print server on my non-mesh WiFi network.
Thanks for your help.
freeassociates wrote:
To be clear, I am looking to have this all on my main WiFi mesh network so that the R6400 is connected wirelessly.
Aha. That's a very different story from anything you have said so far.
Your original message said " Smart WiFi Router as print server". You didn't say how you wanted to connect the R6400 to the Asus router.
The easiest way is to do what I suggested, put the R6400 into AP mode and plug it into the Asus router.
What you now describe is wifi to wifi connection. That would mean putting the R6400 into wifi bridge (repeater) mode. That's a much more complicated move.
To do that, check the manual for the R6400 and read the section Set Up the Router in Bridge Mode.
It isn't easy, and might not even work with your anonymous router.
Your first message said "I would like to set it up to work on the mesh network as a print server".
Is there any reason why you can't plug the R6400 into the router? It would be there on the network for everything else. It would also be a lot easier to set up and manage.