HP INC. is one of the well-known multinational information technology companies based in America that manufactures personal desktops, laptops, computer peripherals, printers, printer-related supplies, 3D printing solutions, and more. Talking about the HP Printers for both Home and Business are exceptionally good in terms of price-to-performance ratio. However, the HP Printer Not Showing Up on the Network on the computer is somehow frustrating.
A Network Printer can be any standard or AIO printer from HP, which can easily be accessible by the same network connection on the Windows desktop/laptop. So that other users can use the same printer, which will be connected to the same network. In that case, users in the same office or store or home desk won’t have to disconnect and reconnect the printer, which saves time & effort.
Obviously, the network printer might use a specific internet connection (local network) to perform such actions. But somehow, the HP printer can’t show up on the network that the computer is using due to multiple reasons. It can be a different network connection, an outdated printer driver, not supporting dual-band Wi-Fi, incorrect setup configuration, print spooler service not running, and more.
Fix HP Printer Not Showing Up on Network
If your HP Printer is not visible or recognizable on the computer’s connected network during the setup process that means there is some glitch or networking connectivity issue. Make sure to first disconnect the printer cable from the router and the computer then reset the HP printer to its default factory settings. Then you’ll need to re-configure the printer on the network.
Let us explain all the troubleshooting methods below. You should follow all methods individually to resolve such an issue.
1. Power Cycle the HP Printer and the PC
Always try to perform the power cycle method on your computer as well as other problematic devices to verify if the issue still bothers you or not. Power Cycle basically an advanced version of restarting the device which helps refresh the system glitch without any major troubleshooting. As this kind of method already helped a lot of users, you shouldn’t avoid it.
- First, shut down both the computer and HP Printer.
- Then unplug the power cord from both devices.
- Wait for around 5 minutes and then reconnect the power cord again.
- Now, turn on both devices and check for the issue.
2. Uninstall the HP Printer Device via Control Panel
Sometimes any kind of unknown third-party device application can be installed on your computer in the name of HP Printer, which can also interfere with the printer connectivity or its operations. It’s better to uninstall the HP Printer Device or similar application from your PC via Control Panel (if found).
- Go to the Start menu and search for Task Manager.
- Now, go to Processes, and single-click on HPDriver.exe.
- Click on End Process to close the task.
- Once done, go to the Start menu and search for Control Panel.
- Then open Control Panel and go to Programs.
- Next, click on Programs and Features.
- Search for the HP Printer Device application in the list.
- Right-click on the HP Printer Device app and select Uninstall.
- Follow the on-screen prompts and complete uninstallation.
3. Perform the Factory Reset on the HP Printer
Additionally, you’ll have to perform a factory reset on the HP Printer to avoid incorrect configuration or settings. Remember that restoring the factory default will remove all custom settings from the printer.
- Open the Setup menu on your HP printer’s interface.
- Click on Tools and select the Restore Factory Default option.
- If your printer does not have a screen then long-press the Cancel button and network (Wi-Fi) button for around 10 seconds until the Wi-Fi and Power indicators start blinking.
- Now, you can reconfigure the HP Printer again with the setup process.
4. Reconfigure the HP Printer to the Network
Whenever your HP Printer gets added to the Devices and Printers list, only then your connected printer will be shown on the computer. Once detected by the Windows system, the device drivers will also get installed automatically these days. So, you’ll need to add the HP printer to the network before doing anything else.
- Open the Start menu then search for Control Panel.
- Open Control Panel and go to Hardware and Sound.
- Click on Devices and Printers.
- Now, click on Add a printer.
- You’ll receive a popup and select your specific printer model there.
- If your PC doesn’t detect your printer automatically, click on The printer that I want isn’t listed.
- Click on Select a shared printer by name.
- Type in your printer name in the text box and click on the Next button.
- Your PC will connect to the printer. Now, check if your network printer is recognizable on the PC or not.
5. Connect the Same Network for Both Devices
You should also connect both PC and Printer to the same network to avoid the network printer connectivity or recognization issue.
6. Update the HP Printer Driver
Another thing you should do is to update the HP Printer Driver on the Windows computer by following the steps below. It’ll help in fixing the outdated printer driver. A new device driver mostly brings stability and improvements to its previous version.
- Open the Start Menu and search for Device Manager.
- Now, launch Device Manager then double-click on Print Queues.
- Right-click on the printer device driver.
- Select Update driver and choose Search automatically for drivers.
- It’ll search for available updates and automatically start downloading.
- Once installed, the system will automatically reboot the system to apply changes.
In case, your PC doesn’t have the required printer driver version or no updates are available then make sure to visit the official website of the HP Software & Driver Downloads webpage to get the latest drivers for the particular model. Next, you can install the driver.
7. Ensure the HP Printer and PC are Connected to a Single-Band Wi-Fi
You should also ensure that the HP Printer and the PC are connected to a single-band Wi-Fi network so that the Windows system can detect the printer. The chances are possible that your HP printer has 2.4GHz single-band Wi-Fi support. So, don’t connect the printer and computer to a 5GHz dual-band Wi-Fi network.
8. Restart and Enable the Print Spooler Service
You should try restarting and enabling the print spooler service on the Windows system manually by following the steps below to ensure there is no issue with the print spooling or queuing. If this service isn’t running or not active yet then make sure to restart and enable it.
- Go to the Start menu and search for Services.
- Open the Services app and locate Print Spooler.
- Now, double-click on the Print Spooler service to open its properties.
- Under the General tab, select Automatic from the Startup type.
- Click on Apply and then click on Start.
- Then click on OK to save changes and reboot the PC.
9. Run the Printer Troubleshooter
The troubleshooter method can also help you find and resolve multiple unknown issues you might not generally find as a warning or error notice. If you’ve already tried out all of the above methods, then you should run the printer troubleshooter by following the steps below.
- Press the Windows+I shortcut keys to open Settings.
- From the System tab, click on Troubleshoot.
- Click on Other troubleshooters.
- Click on the Run button next to the Printer.
- Then follow the on-screen prompts and complete the process.
- It’ll help in fixing the HP printer network connectivity issue with the computer.
10. Contact HP Customer Support
Finally, you should contact HP Customer Support and submit all details regarding the HP Printer not showing up on the network with your computer to fix this issue. If nothing helps you, try to raise the ticket to get dedicated help.
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