Installing a printer in Windows 10 is usually a straightforward process that will take no more than 10 minutes of your time. After installation, you can immediately start printing your documents without any problems.
The most common way to connect the printer to a PC is a USB cable; you can also connect a peripheral device via Wi-Fi if technical capabilities allow it. We'll take a closer look at both options below.
The process of adding a printer to the system can be divided into several steps:
Step 1. Connect the printer to your computer with a USB cable and turn it on.
Step 2. Open the "Settings" item in the "Start" menu.
Step 3. Left-click on the icon with the inscription "Devices".
Step 4. On the "Printer" tab, click on the "Add Printer or Scanner" button.
Step 5. If your printer is found, click on it and follow the instructions on the screen to complete the installation. If you do not see the printer in the list, click on the "Find a printer" link - follow all the instructions in the "Troubleshooting" window that opens.
In addition, you can install the drivers manually after downloading them from the manufacturer's official website.
Adding a wireless printer
Algorithm Wi-Fi installations printer depends on the specific make and model of the device. However, most modern printers will self-detect the home network and automate the installation process. Consider a scenario where this does not happen:
Note! In some cases, you may need to temporarily connect the printer to your computer via USB to install the device software. If a problem occurs, first of all, make sure the printer is relatively close to the PC and not too far from the router (router). Some printers have a built-in Ethernet connector, through which it can be connected directly to the router - the settings are controlled via the Internet browser interface.
Adding a shared printer
Windows home networking function "HomeGroup", allows you to use the same printer from multiple computers and exchange files between them within the same local network... Below we will show you how to create a general group and connect a printer to it.
Setting up a homegroup
Skip this step if your home network already configured. If you are unsure, follow steps 1 and 2 to find out the current network status.
Connecting the printer to a homegroup
Installing a printer on Windows 10 is easy. Follow the instructions and you will definitely succeed!
Video - How to install a printer on Windows 10
When there is one printer and several computers within the same room, it is very often necessary to use this printer as a network printer. That is, so that from any computer you can send a document to it for printing over the network. To do this, you need to perform a number of actions, which we will discuss in more detail in this article.
How to make a printer on a network in Windows 10?
To do this, on the computer to which the printer is connected by wire, you need to select "Devices and Printers" there.
Opening the control panel in windows 10
Go to "Devices and Printers"
In the window that opens, find the printer you need (the one that will be networked), right-click on it and select "Printer properties".
Activation network access to printer
In order for the drivers to be automatically installed when network connection printer to other computers, you need to click on the "Additional drivers" button.
In the window that opens, if possible, check the boxes opposite x64 and x86. Further in all open windows click ok.
If, when trying to connect a network printer on another computer, it appears in the form of a login and password, then it must be disabled. This is done on the computer to which the printer is connected with a cable.
Disable password-protected access
It is also worth paying attention to the fact that in order to successfully connect the printer over the network, it is necessary that the computers are in the same local network and the same workgroup.
Additionally, check if the printer is enabled in the sharing settings.
To do this, in the control panel go to the Network and Sharing Center.
Network and Sharing Center
Printer manufacturers cannot work out a uniform procedure for installing printing devices in a computer. This is why installing a printer in Windows 10 can be done in one of the following ways.
In some cases, all you need to do is connect the printer to the appropriate port on your computer (usually USB) and wait a little. Windows 10 will automatically find and recognize your new device, then plug it in and get it ready for use. All you have to do is fill the printer with paper, ink or toner.
Many manufacturers, who strive to remain as independent as possible from software developers, require the installation of special software of their own writing in order to successfully connect printers to a computer. If, before connecting the printer with a cable, such software not installed on the computer, the printing device will not work. Printer Troubleshooting Guide: Troubleshoot Windows 10
Fortunately, you only need to read the documentation that came with the printer to determine how to install the printer on your computer. (Most often, instructions for setting up your printer are displayed on separate sheet paper entitled Fast installation.) If the printer came without instructions for connecting to a computer, insert the cartridge (or cartridges) into it, load paper, and then follow these steps:
After booting your Windows 10 computer, connect the printer to it with a separate cable and apply power (turn it on). After some windows time 10 may notify you that new hardware has been successfully installed. Do not be deceived ahead of time and check the printer's performance by following the further instructions.
Open Options. Right click on the button Start and select the command from the context menu Control parameters.
In the category Hardware and Sound click on the link View devices and printers... You will see a list of all devices connected to your computer, organized into separate categories according to their functionality. If you're lucky, you'll find your newly connected printer in it.
In this case, right-click on its icon, under which the model name is indicated, and select Printer Properties from the context menu. In the dialog box that appears on the screen, click the Test Print button. Congratulations when you see a sheet of clearly displayed text emerge from the printer's output tray. Printer installation completed successfully!
Test page won't print? Make sure there is no paper jam in the printer feed mechanism and there is enough ink (toner) in the cartridge. If the test print still fails, it is most likely that the operating system does not recognize the printing device. Contact the dealer of the manufacturer of the printer in your area or an authorized representative of the store from which you purchased it.
To output the document as a print file, which must first be sent as an email attachment and only then printed, use the Save As Adobe PDF command. As a result of executing this command, a PDF file will be created that retains the original formatting of the document and is completely ready for printing as it appears on the screen. Files of this format are supported and open on any desktop computer, laptop and tablet. (To view and print PDF files, use Adobe program Reader https://get.adobe.com/ru/reader/
Connecting multiple printers
When connecting multiple printers to your computer at once, you need to define the primary printing device in Windows 10. To do this, right-click on its icon (in the Devices and Printers window) and select the Set as default command. As a result, print jobs from all running programs and applications will be sent to this printer by default.
- To remove a printer from operating system, click on its icon (see item 3 of the above instructions) with the right mouse button and select the Remove device command from the context menu. The printer icon is removed from the list available devices and you will no longer be able to use it to print files opened in programs launched in Windows 10. If the screen prompts you to confirm the removal of the software associated with the printer, click Yes in its window.
- Printer settings can be changed not only using the tools in the Control Panel folder, but also in many programs that support printing their files. Typically, the command to change printer settings is executed from the program's File menu (sometimes you need to press the key to display the menu bar in the program window.
) and is called Page Setup or Print Setup. In the dialog box that appears on the screen, you can change settings such as paper size and orientation, used fonts, headers and footers, and many others. - To share the printer with users on other computers on your network, first create a homegroup. Please note that after performing such an operation, the printer can be used by all users of the home network without exception.
- If the software supplied by the printer manufacturer does not work as expected, use its built-in help system to find the cause of the problem. The tips provided are more valuable than the general tips in the Windows 10 Help system.
As a result of a global update initiated by Microsoft, a new operating system was born. Windows system 10. In the new operating system, both the classic system management model and the new one, which duplicates and replaces it, have been added.
This approach has made it much more difficult for PC users to install peripheral devices, especially printers. According to the developers from Microsoft, this approach to system management should make it much easier to manage and configure. To help the user understand the installation of printing devices, we have prepared a material in which we will consider setting them up in Windows 10.
Setting up a printer in Windows 10
If you connect your old or new printer via USB to a computer under Windows control 10 then you will see how quickly the OS will configure it for work. Installation is carried out through huge base drivers that are preinstalled in the operating system, as well as through the update center Windows Update.
If everything is clear with the installation via the USB interface, then what about the connection using serial port, over the network Wi-Fi or through Bluetooth... To deal with this task, we will consider an example in which we show the installation of a printer not through USB cable.
For our example, we will take a new inkjet from Canon. PIXMA G3400... A feature of this inkjet is that it can be connected to a PC by wireless technology Wi-Fi.
Printer PIXMA G3400 connects to Wi-Fi routers with the help of technology WPS... Therefore, in order for the inkjet to connect to your Wi-Fi networks, the router must have support WPS... Some routers may have WPS disabled. The image below shows how to enable WPS in the D-Link DIR-615 router.
Now let's connect the PIXMA G3400 to a router on our local network. To do this, the first thing turn on printing device to the network. After that, click on wifi button, which is located on the control panel, and we will hold until the orange indicator blinks once. Immediately after the orange indicator blinks, the Wi-Fi indicator next to it starts blinking blue. This means that the printer has entered the wireless network search mode.
Now let's connect the router to our printing device. To do this, we will hold down the button on the device responsible for WPS and we will keep it until the Wi-Fi indicator on the printer stops blinking and remains on in blue... After these steps, our inkjet will connect to the wireless network.
For Windows 10 to see the Printer PIXMA G3400, let's move on to its parameters. To do this, go to the menu " Start"To the" "tab, which will open the operating system settings.
Now let's go to the section " Devices"And press the button" Add printer or scanner". After the search, a link should appear “ The printer you want is not listed", On which we will go.
In the wizard window that appears, select the item as shown in the image below.
Also at this stage, you can select the required method of connecting the device. Next, we will continue the work of the wizard, which will start the search for our printer. In the process of searching choose the required model printing device and continue with the wizard.
The wizard will then begin the installation process. It will install required drivers for PIXMA G3400 and make it the first default on the system.
As you can see from the example, any PC user can set up a wireless printer. In addition, the configuration of the wireless printer in the example is similar to the configuration of models from other manufacturers. It is also worth noting that for each wireless printer there is a manual that describes in detail the installation process. The manual can be found with the printer or downloaded from the manufacturer's website.
Installing a Printer Using the Driver Disc
As mentioned above, when you connect a printer via a USB cable, Windows 10 automatically finds a driver for almost any printer. But what to do in such a situation if you bought a new printer and you need to connect it to your Windows 10 PC without internet access.
Windows 10 installs drivers for new devices through the center Windows updates Update, so we'll use the driver disc that came with the printer. For example, let's also select Printer Canon PIXMA G3400 and connect it to a Windows 10 computer via USB.
Our next step will be to install the optical disc into the DVD drive and launch... Having started the disk, we will get to the start window. In this window, press the button Setting up the printer that will take us to the window where we need to take license agreement.
We accept the license agreement and move on to the next step, in which we allow the wizard to do everything.
In the next window, select the USB connection for the printer.
After these steps, the installer will start installing the driver for the printing device. After completing the driver installation, you will see the newly installed Canon PIXMA G3400 inkjet in the system.
The above example is quite simple and any PC user can figure it out. It is also worth noting that if your printer is old, then Windows 10 will easily find a driver for it automatically without an Internet connection.
What is a virtual printer in Windows 10
Many users on Windows 10 PCs have come across a printer called "" on the system. This printer is virtual, that is, software, not physical. Its main function is to print in PDF file... By printing any information on this virtual device, it will be saved as a PDF file... This is very convenient in some cases.
Let's consider an example of printing a page from a browser. To do this, we will open a browser at www.microsoft.com/ru-ru.
Now let's go to the browser settings and select the item " Seal».
This action will take us to the browser print page.
On this page, press the Print button, after which we will be transferred to the window for saving printed information in PDF format.
The example shows that using a virtual printer from Microsoft, you can print any information, be it a browser or Text Document... I would also like to note if you want virtual printer with advanced features then you should use third-party virtual printing programs. The most functional virtual printing programs are PDFCreator and doPDF.
Summing up
From our article, we can conclude that the developers from Microsoft did their best and made the operating system very friendly to the user. Judge for yourself, from the examples considered it is clear that almost any user can cope with installing a wireless printer, and setting up through USB interface and you don't have to mess around at all.
In addition, the new operating system has its own virtual printer, which can be very useful in some situations. After reading this material, our reader will understand that installing and configuring a printer in Windows 10 is not a difficult task.
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To all Have a good mood! Now together with you we will talk about how to connect network printer in Windows 7 and 10. After all, in we have successfully opened to it general access over the local network.
And now, naturally, we want to type on it with might and main, being, for example, in the next room. Agree that this is a very convenient scheme if you don't have your own printer.
Now we need to connect to it from a remote PC, which is generally located in a different room. So let's get to the point, as it will be very interesting. All operations will be performed in Windows 10.
The first step is to go to the "Control Panel" and find the "Devices and Printers" tab there. How to do this was discussed in detail in a recent article (link at the beginning). If you haven't read it, we recommend that you do it now.
Then we find the item "Add a printer" there and click on it:
The process of detecting new devices will start. But in our case, nothing was found, so we select the option "The required printer is not in the list":
At the next step, select the line "Add a local or network printer with manual parameters":
Now in the "Use an existing port" column, you must select the network path to desired device... A clear example of this is shown in the picture below:
After that, the process of installing the drivers for the selected printer will start. If the required model is not in the proposed list, as in our case, then click on "Install from disk":
And now you have to strain a little. And the thing is that now you need to download drivers for specific model on the device manufacturer's website. After that, you should unpack them on HDD computer:
At the next step, in the driver installation window, specify the path to the files just downloaded and see a list of the models we need:
Ultimately, after all the above walking and wandering through the dialog boxes of the operating system, it will be possible to return to the initial tab "Devices and Printers" and, if desired, activate the "Use by default" option:
Now any job sent to print will go directly to this printer. So let's check it out as follows. Select "Printer Properties", and then on the "General" tab, click "Test Print":
After that, we run at a gallop to the next room and look at the result. In general, friends, it's so easy and simple, we together with you gave an answer to the question of how to connect a network printer in Windows 7 and 10.
If suddenly you have any questions or misunderstandings about the essence of this process, feel free to state them in the comments to the publication. And in conclusion, we suggest you take a very interesting test.
