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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, since it has a USB socket. Should work, right?
Does anyone know how to do this correctly? I am a long-time Mac user, but a network newbie with the barest amount of knowledge, so any specific recommendations would be very helpful.
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.
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, since it has a USB socket. Should work, right?
I have a system a bit like that running, Nighthawk Mesh system with an R7800.
The R7800 is in AP mode, plugged in to the MK router.
You don't say what the printers is – mine is a Canon – but it should work.
Re: Set up AC1750 Smart WiFi Router as print server
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.
Re: Set up AC1750 Smart WiFi Router as print server
@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.
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.
Re: Set up AC1750 Smart WiFi Router as print server
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.
Re: Set up AC1750 Smart WiFi Router as print server
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.
Re: Set up AC1750 Smart WiFi Router as print server
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.
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.
Re: Set up AC1750 Smart WiFi Router as print server
Yes. The printer and the main WiFi router are nowhere near each other. And neither is next to my computer, though I do have an ethernet connection to the whole network there. So I would like to find a way to make the WiFi connection work for this. I'll check out the bridge setup instructions.
The frustrating thing for me is that the Apple Airport Extreme was SO easy to set up this way. Maybe I'll have to get something like that. Or a new printer with its own WiFi connection.
Re: Set up AC1750 Smart WiFi Router as print server
Okay, it worked. Sort of. My computer sees the printer on the network. I was able to set it up on my Mac (install it) and send a file to it.
But the printer only prints the first 2 lines of the text file I used to test it (figured I'd start with something simple) then seems to hang. I have the R6400 configured to use 5G WiFi as opposed to 2.4 G... think that has anything to do with it?
Meanwhile, I'll try testing the printer separately.
Re: Set up AC1750 Smart WiFi Router as print server
It worked (finally)!
After several tries resulting in a few partially printed pages where the Canon just stopped after an inch or less, I unplugged and relaunched both the printer and the router and let everything settle down. Then tried it again. Success! At least for now.
I have the router set to join the network at 2.4 Ghz rather than 5 Ghz. I don't know if that actually matters for this, but it's working so I will likely not mess with it.
Normal printer installation via Bonjour. Once the R6400 was set up in bridge mode, the rest was pretty straightforward, if initially glitchy and unreliable. Now it's fine. Weird.
Thanks for all your help, Michael, and I hope this helps someone else in a similar situation,
I have the router set to join the network at 2.4 Ghz rather than 5 Ghz. I don't know if that actually matters for this, but it's working so I will likely not mess with it.
Beyond saying "Canon" you didn't say what model your printer is. Many, if not all, printers work only at 2.4 GHz. That is plenty fast enough for that sort of traffic. They will not see 5 GHz wifi, so on or off doesn't matter to the printer.
If this is a wireless printer, I'm surprised that you feel the need to use a USB "print server".
In my case, the iP7250 works fine as a network printer with a USB connection to one PC. Then the rest of the network can see it.
But if you have got the R6400 playing nicely, you can also use it to share USB storage over your network. I find that more useful than printer sharing.
