How to Setup an HP LaserJet Printer with the Built-In JetDirect Network Card
With the ever increasing printers sold with networking support, I have been inundated with questions regarding the setup of a network printer. Many of these principles can be applied to other printer manufacturers, but due to the amount of printers sold by HP, this tutorial will be for LaserJet Printers using some time of JetDirect Card.
Need a jetdirect card?
Equipment
- HP LaserJet 4100 Series Printer
- Standard Wireless Router (100Mbit)
- J6957A 615n JetDirect Network Card
- Microsoft Windows XP Computer
The first set of steps is to set the printer up, then we will get the computer setup.
I assume the printer is plugged into the network router (wireless or not) so it should have automatically been assigned an IP (Internet Protocol) address that you’ll need to change to a permanent (static) address so you can easily tell the computer where the printer is at all times.
1. First we’ll need to find out the address. Using the printer’s buttons, press the “Menu” button, then select “Information“, and
then select “Print Configuration“.
2. On the second of the two configuration pages that should have printed will tell you the IP address that you’ll be using later. It will be located the JetDirect page under the “TCP/IP” section. Go ahead and write down the number or circle it. It may look something like 192.168.X.X (where X is your assigned number)
3. Go on a computer that’s connected to the network that the printer is connected to and bring up Internet Explorer (like if you were surfing a web page).
4. Next, We’ll be logging into the printer and making some settings permenant.
Type in the address that you wrote down in the previous step in the address bar.
You’re address bar should look something like this: http://192.168.1.3 (make sure you enter the correct IP address you found in step 2).
5. Next you’ll need to change the dynamic IP address to a permanent address (static). This next step may be slightly different depending on what type of Jetdirect card you have installed in your printer, but the concept should be the same.
At the default information screen, select “Networking” (show above).
Here you will need to change the type of address to “Manual” instead of “DHCP” (which is dynamic where the IP changes). The only number you need to change is the last set of digits. I generally setup my printers to start around the 50′s. So in this case, I’ll type in 192.168.1.50 (see picture).
After you’ve change your network settings, select “Apply“. The screen may appear unresponsive and none of the links will work. This is because you changed the actual address you connected to setup the address so naturally it wouldn’t work.
The next steps need to be done on the computer(s) you wish to setup to print to the network printer. I’m using Windows XP Home.
1. Go to Start> Control Panels>Printers and Faxes
2. Then select> Add a printer
The add a printer wizard comes up.
3. Select “Next”
On the next screen, be sure to select “Local Printer attached to this computer” and the uncheck the box that states “Automatically detect and install my Plug and Play printer“. I know this step doesn’t make sense, but that’s Windows (see picture). When you’re done with this screen select “Next“.
In the “Select a Printer Port” screen, you’ll want to select “Create a new port and change the option to Standard TCP/IP Port“. When you’ve made that selection click on “Next“.
Another wizard should come up titled “Add Standard TCP/IP Printer Port Wizard“, select Next.
For the “Printer Name or IP Address” field, type in the statically assigned IP address you set the printer as earlier. I’m going to use 192.168.1.50. The port name should automatically fill in. When you’re finished typing in the IP address click on “Next“. Windows will now try and find your device.
If you receive a “Completing the Add Standard TCP/IP Printer Port Wizard“, everything worked great. Proceed to the next few steps after clicking “Finish“.
If you didn’t receive this final step box, make sure the address is correct and that you can login to the printer using that IP address.
Next, it will ask for a Printer driver. Many of the older HP LaserJet printers will have drivers built into Vista and Windows XP. If you don’t see your printer listed, insert the CD-ROM that came with your printer and select “Have Disk” to go through the process of adding those drivers. You may just want to choose a generic HP 4100 series driver to get you by if you don’t have the CD or don’t want to download the software from HP. When you’re finished selecting your printer, click on “Next“.
These next few steps are your preference. I generally leave them as default, but it’s up to you.
I recommend printing a quick test page to make sure everything was installed correctly.
On the next screen, click on “Finish” and you’re all done. Enjoy printing on your network based LaserJet printer.
12 Comments
Great article and instructions; very helpful.
Thank you.
This is a very clear guide and works well. One question: Having set a static address for the printer (an hp2600), the hostname is not pingable. but the ip address is. What might cause that? There are no servers on the network (all workstations are XP only), and the static ranges are set above the dns range on the router. Other printer hostnames can be pinged (hp3700 & hp 5550). Confirmed that all of the printer static IP addresses are different. What common factors should i be looking for? Thanks.
Thank you Thank you…. you are a ROCKSTAR. After stuggling with all the HP Books, Set Up documentation, training disk and all the JUNK they think to include….they somehow missed the basics.
Your concise description was PERFECT worked like a charm first time out. Big business needs to learn how important it is to make it easier to get started using their products,
Thanks again
This is a very well made guide. The first time I tried installing a network printer I selected the obvious “network printer” option but of course it didn’t work. Then I found this guide and everything worked fine. Good job.
Wow! Impressive! don’t rememebr seeing that helpful set of instructions for anything else!!
Great job!
After staring at reams of HP documents, trying net admin programs, and etc your guide took about 3 minutes to have printer networked. Who would have thought that local printer would have to be selected. Many thanks for your article!
hello,
currently my computer running on this ip 192.168.0.179 but
the printer set it at 10.72.102.22
i can’t log in the web to change the setting. any idea?
Great instructions, but in the event that the printer is 2nd hand and has been on a network before, the IP and subnet addresses may already be fixed in the printer and may require manual alteration via the printer menu. This is because you may not be able to access the printer using the IP address which prints out at first if the address and/or subnet mask are not in the same range as your own network. Once I had that sorted out, I was fine.
First Class instructions sir!! Worked exactly as you have illustrated.
Thank You!!
Hi, very informative tutorial.
If I had come across it first i wouldnt have to email you. Basically I had a static IP address but did not know how to add it as per Step 3 ” “Local Printer attached to this computer”” I was choosing “a network printer ..”.
I managed to log into my jetdirect admin panel and stupidly changed it from manual to DCHP.ie. from a 192.168.0.x address to now its 192.0.0.192 when i print out the config page.
But when i type 192.0.0.192 it just keeps timing out, saying “The connection to the server was reset while the page was loading.” So my question is, How do I get back into the jetdirect admin panel to put the TCP/IP selection back to ‘manual’?
HI all
It appears you can manually set the IP address of the printer via its control panel to get around not being able to login to the webpanel thanks to a different IP address to the computer.
Note: this only happened after a COLD reset by myself.
On page A 31, Table A.1 of the HP JetDirect 610N user guide (available at http://www.scribd.com)
Also note, it took a power off and on of the printer after following the below to be able to bring up the usual jetadmin interface.
Selects whether you want to access the TCP/IP
menu and set TCP/IP protocol parameters.
NO* (default): Bypass the TCP/IP menu items.
YES*: Access the TCP/IP menu items.
In the TCP/IP menu, you can specify
BOOTP=YES* or DHCP=YES* for TCP/IP
parameters to be automatically configured by a
BootP or DHCP server when the printer is turned
on.
If you specify BOOTP=NO* and DHCP=NO*, you
can manually set the following TCP/IP parameters
from the control panel:
Each byte of the IP address (IP)
Subnet Mask (SM)
Syslog Server (LG)
Default Gateway (GW)
Idle Timeout period (default is 270 seconds,
0 disables the timeout)
Print a Jetdirect configuration page to verify your
settings. However, note that the print server may
overwrite selected parameters with values that
ensure proper operation.
My problem is that when I type in the URL in step 4, I don’t get the same screen as you. I see a printer screen, but have two options: Home and Administration. All I need to do is change the printer’s name so that others on the network can tell which one it is. I also have the second-hand printer as mentioned above. Help, please?