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How do I connect a USB printer to my RAX50v2 router ?

ThomasKarp
Aspirant

How do I connect a USB printer to my RAX50v2 router ?

How do I connect a USB printer to my new fancy Netgear RAX50v2 router ?
Brother 2040 Printer
Windows 11

Is the USB port on my router meant for storage only ?

Thank you !

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Re: How do I connect a USB printer to my RAX50v2 router ?


@ThomasKarp wrote:


Is the USB port on my router meant for storage only ?



Over the years, Netgear has whittled away at the things you can do with USB. Many devices, especially Mesh routers, don't even have a USB port.

 

The manual for the RAX50v2 says nothing about printers. So you are probably out of luck.

 

You say this is a "new fancy" router. Do you still have an old one that supports USB printing? If so, you could put that into AP mode and see if you can use it as a print server.

 

I use this strategy now that I have an MR90 router without a USB port.

 

Does this printer also have Ethernet support? The manual for "Brother 2040 Printer" doesn't pin it down.

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Message 2 of 4

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Re: How do I connect a USB printer to my RAX50v2 router ?


@ThomasKarp wrote:


Is the USB port on my router meant for storage only ?



Over the years, Netgear has whittled away at the things you can do with USB. Many devices, especially Mesh routers, don't even have a USB port.

 

The manual for the RAX50v2 says nothing about printers. So you are probably out of luck.

 

You say this is a "new fancy" router. Do you still have an old one that supports USB printing? If so, you could put that into AP mode and see if you can use it as a print server.

 

I use this strategy now that I have an MR90 router without a USB port.

 

Does this printer also have Ethernet support? The manual for "Brother 2040 Printer" doesn't pin it down.

Message 2 of 4
ThomasKarp
Aspirant

Re: How do I connect a USB printer to my RAX50v2 router ?

Thank you for your answer.

I guess I could use the old router as an AP, but I think I'll try to sell it.
My place is too small to make good use of an AP, I think I'll be making too much radio noise, unless I will disable most of the WiFi, except for what's needed to make the AP working. Hmm ... maybe I could make a cascade the AP wired and disable it completely.

Yes, I was being sarcastic with "fancy new router". I am a bit disappointed.

 

I always favoured Netgear products, in my mind they should come with reliability, features, trust, innovation.


The interface, web UI access is just flat, lacks good visual appeal and organization, seems like a programmer design it, no offence to programmers.

I was also hoping the restart time, router reboot on save settings, would be improved but no, 2min is still the standard.
It's the same as 5 years ago.

Thanks again !

Message 3 of 4

Re: How do I connect a USB printer to my RAX50v2 router ?


@ThomasKarp wrote:

My place is too small to make good use of an AP, I think I'll be making too much radio noise, unless I will disable most of the WiFi, except for what's needed to make the AP working.


Turning off the wifi on the AP does not affect what you can do with ReadySHARE.

 

I turn off the wifi on my R7800. But it is useful to have it there when needed, as that gives me a way of accessing a particular wifi band without having to disable Smart connect in the main router.

 

In my case, the USB on the R7800 supports a bunch of storage devices. (There is also an eSATA port.) ) It can also handle a USB printer.

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