Badly need to get your HP printer up and running right away? Fret not. You’ll make your deadline. Just keep reading this guide on how to find my HP printer Wifi password. We’ve laid it out as simple as possible and in a way you can easily follow so you can get back doing whatever it is that you do best.
The 4-Step Guide on How to Find my HP Printer Wifi Password
If you’ve never used an HP printer before, the procedures below might seem like a new language being spoken for the first time to you. But, learn it once and you can start doing the same across any HP Wifiprinter model you’ll come across at home or in the office.
This process will be just like connecting any two wireless devices to each other. Though, in the case of HP printers, you may print your work in two ways — which we will go over later.
For now, let’s retrieve your HP Wifi printer password. Just follow these steps to get your HP wireless printer password found once and for all:
Step 1: Turn on your printer
First things first. Make sure that your printer is plugged into the socket. Then, push the power button to turn it on.
Once that is lighted, make sure that the cartridge is loaded. While you’re at it, make sure that you’ve got a cartridge loaded that is compatible with your printer. As soon as you’ve checked that, load the paper into the in-tray.
These initial steps might seem like a no-brainer but a lot of people tend to forget these things. Besides, the next steps we have laid out wouldn’t work until after you can ensure that your printer is working. So please do take the time to check off all pointers in Step 1 before you even proceed.
Step 2: Find the Wireless Direct Printing Button
So, other than the power button, there should be two other buttons with a small light beside them on your printer control panel. One will be to indicate a connection to your home or office Wifi network . This will show with a blue-colored bulb which is beside a Wifi connection icon you might recognize. The icon appears like a tower with signals radiating on the sides. This is not the button you need to press.
To proceed on how to find the password for my HP printer Wifi, you need to identify the Wireless Direct Printing button first. That will usually be located right below the Wifi connection icon. The icon for this button appears like a printer with two copies — one that is upright and another one feeding into the printer.
Once you’ve identified the Wireless Direct Printing button, go ahead and press that. Hold that press for a couple of seconds until you see the white bulb beside it light up.
Step 3: Wait for the printer to print out your password
Amazed? We thought you’d be because, really, that’s all it takes. Once you’ve gotten that Wireless Direct Printing button to light up, all you have to do is wait for a few moments and the printer will print out your Wifi password.
Step 4: Connect your HP Wifi printer to your network
This guide doesn’t end when you have your password printed out! Now, you need to go to your computing device (PC, laptop, tablet, or mobile phone) to get your printer connected.
First, make sure that both your HP printer and source device are connected to the same network. Next, open Settings > Printer Settings. If you’re using a Mac, you’ll find your printer settings in the Systems Preferences panel. Your printer’s name and model will show up. Go ahead and click that.
You will be prompted to enter a password. Do that using the password you’ve been given on the printout. With that, you can now start printing wirelessly.
High five for getting it done in just 4 steps! Keep reading to see important tips we have for users of HP Wifi printers, such as yourself.
Option to Print: Wireless Direct Printing
We do understand you might be in a situation where you need to get your work printed right away. For those moments when you barely have time to get your printing requirements done and can’t even squeeze in the four steps we have for you above, here’s your next option.
And what about Wifi networks suddenly returning a “no connection” alert? It’s more than enough to cause you to panic, even give you a heart attack. But relax and keep calm. There’s one other solution you need to know. Have a little more patience to learn about an easy solution you can use when you find yourself grappling with these rather challenging circumstances.
The other option we’re talking about is printing your work using Wireless Direct Printing. Most HP Wifi printers now come with this feature by default. Here’s all you need to do to get printing:
Step 1: Make sure that your HP printer supports Wireless Direct Printing
You can do that using one of two ways. The first way simply requires you to find the corresponding icon for Wireless Direct Printing on your printer control panel. If you don’t know what that looks like, check out Step 1 in the previous section here to find out. The second way is to open your printer’s settings from your mobile device.
Step 2: Establish a connection between your mobile device and printer
You’ll be able to perform this more readily if you’ve connected your device to your printer earlier. In which case, simply check that “HP Wireless Direct” is turned on.
If not, you’ll be prompted to visit the HP Embedded Web Server (EWS). Go ahead, click that button that takes you to HP servers and follow these steps:
- Select the Network tab.
- Click on the Wi-Fi Direct option.
- Depending on the nature and security level of your connection, you may be automatically prompted by the servers to shift to another network, change your password, and update your Wi-Fi Direct option. Go through all of that. Then press, “Apply”.
Once you’ve done all of these steps, you should be ready to print directly from your mobile device. The best part is that you can bypass your Wifi’s “no connection” status without breaking a sweat. Queue your printing requirements straight from your mobile. Then, put your feet up while you wait for your printout. See, you were wondering how to find my HP printer Wifi password, and you got more answers than you expected.
A word on changing your HP Wifi printer password
We know you must be at your wits end shouting inside your head, “Not another password!” Yep, we totally understand how creating a new password can ruin your good mood all of a sudden.
Like it or not, passwords are a must in a world where hackers are simply waiting for you to slip. To them, that’s the perfect opportunity and you are the perfect prey. Take it or leave it but the moment you signed up to get yourself an HP Wifi printer, you also made a commitment to make it your responsibility to keep your account secure.
Companies like HP can only do so much to ensure the security of your printers. Most of that vulnerability falls under your responsibility. The least that you can do is to make sure your network and printer password are secure.
Network security is completely outside of the scope of this post. But it makes perfect sense to include some pointers on the basic whys and hows of upping your Wifi printers security right here, right now.
Why keep your Wifi printer secure
Here are the most compelling reasons why we recommend you take extra steps to help ensure security for your HP printer:
- Printer hacking is becoming a common occurrence. You should do what you can to avoid becoming another victim of a security incident.
- Wireless printers are not secure by default. You need to check on your settings and download updates for your firmware from time to time.
- Information directed from or to your printer can be easily intercepted. Not all printers operate by default with encrypted information.
We can go on and on with the list of whys. At the end of the day, the reason why you want to keep Wifi printing secure is very simple. You don’t want to share any information with people you don’t intend to see what you’ve got to print, right? Other than that, anybody may also end up printing on your Wifi printer. You wouldn’t be happy with that either.
How to keep your Wifi printer secure
Keeping printer security lean and mean for a busy bee like you, we’re stripping down our recommendation to just two. We strongly suggest you do these two things:
- First, make sure to assign a strong Wifi printer password. Make sure nobody can guess your Wifi password. It’s always ideal to add a combination of big and small letters, along with numbers and special characters. You can either write down your password on a piece of paper and lock it away. Or, you may opt to subscribe to an online password manager like LastPass or Dashlane to keep your password secure.
- Second, make sure that your printer firmware is always up-to-date. Whenever you are prompted to download updates, do so. Updating to the most current software version from time to time makes sure that you get updates for bugs and other vulnerabilities that put you at higher risk for cyber attacks.
These pointers become all the more important if you are trying to keep confidential matters confidential. Proprietary information should remain top secret. You can achieve that simply by sticking to these two basics.
Conclusion
Don’t just ask how to find my HP printer Wifi password. That part is quite easy and can be accomplished by following four very easy steps. Go beyond just getting your printing jobs done. Ask yourself what you can do to keep your printer secure as well. If you have any additional questions or difficulties with your printer, check out HP’s support page.
