USB or Wi-Fi for a home printer

Choose from the rooms

If one computer sits beside the printer and phones never print, USB is dull and reliable. A Wi-Fi change will not knock it offline. The cable should be seated and not in a trip path.

If two people print, or you print from a phone in another room, Wi-Fi is the point of the printer. Setup then includes the network join, not only a driver.

Both

Some printers allow USB and Wi-Fi together. That is useful on move week: cable today, wireless once the router stays put. Do not leave two queues and forget which is default.

A USB printer shared from a computer only works while that computer is awake. That surprise is why households think the printer died at night.

The visit

Printer setup connects Wi-Fi, prints a test, and pairs a phone when the model supports it. Say if the phone matters so we do not end on the laptop alone.

Online setup works when you can read the printer panel to us. In-home is easier when the printer has never joined a network and the buttons are unlabeled.

Keep reading

• The printer went offline after a Wi-Fi change

  It is still on the old name. Rejoin it before you reinstall drivers three times.

• Why the printer should not live on guest Wi-Fi

  Guest isolation is a feature until you want to print.

• When to replace a printer instead of repairing it

  Repair the connection. Replace the printer when ink, jams, and age arrive together.