The wired printers have their charm and are generally easy to install. You do not have to be near the printer if you are connected to the same network. In this article, we will show you how to install and configure a wireless printer on a Windows 10 computer.
Connect a wireless printer to a Windows 10 computer
The concept here is to make sure your computer and the W-Fi printer are on the same network – and the steps to follow are as follows:
- Connect the printer to the Wifi network
- Add a printer or scanner to Windows 10
- Install the printing software
- Change default printer
- Troubleshoot a printer.
1) Connect the printer to the WiFi network
Turn on the printer and look for an option to connect with a wireless network. The process of connecting to the wifi network varies from one printer to another and from one manufacturer to the other. Usually, there will be a user interface or a wifi button that can do the job. Leave the printer on until the configuration is complete.
2) Add a printer or scanner to Windows 10
- Make sure the Windows 10 computer is connected to the same network
- Go to Settings> Devices> Printers and Scanners
- Click on Add a printer or scanner
- Select the wifi printer among the results
- Click on Add a device
During the scanning process, Windows 10 will look for the printer and, once found, will display in the output. When you click Add Device, Windows will install the drivers through Windows 10 Update. The process applies to all printers, connected, uncabled or otherwise.
3) Install the printing software
Although the default printer software works, I strongly recommend you to use the printer driver software provided by the OEM manufacturer. They usually offer better features, ink saving modes and so on. For example, one of the OEM software has allowed me to automatically save a scanned copy to a PDF file.
4) Change default printer
If no printer is installed, the default Windows printer is the one that saves the PDF files. If you have ever had a printer, I strongly recommend that you replace the printer with the new one.
Go to Settings> Devices> Printers and Scanners
If you have multiple printers, check the "Let Windows manage the default printer" box. He recommends using the one that is often used.
If you do not want to use the printer often but still use a printer, uncheck the box.
- Click the printer that you want to set as default> Manage.
- Click the Set As Default button
5) Troubleshooting Printers
If you have problems with the printer, you have two options.
- Installed printer: Click Printer List> Manage. First, try to print a test page. Then click the Run Troubleshooter button to see if it can be corrected. If that does not work, uninstall and then reinstall the printer.
- Can not find the printer: If you can not find the printer, go to Settings> Update> Troubleshooting> Printer and run the Printer Troubleshooter.
We hope that the steps have been easy to follow and that you have been able to install a wireless printer under Windows 10.
Related reading: How to share and add a network printer in Windows 10.