10 methods to find out your printer's IP address

As you know, the printer can be connected to the PC in different ways: via USB connector, Wi-Fi, or Lan-cable. If your printer is connected to the PC through the USB port, it does not have a network address (IP). But if the synchronization with the PC occurs through interfaces in the local network or wireless Wi-Fi, then for the stable operation of the printing device is assigned a network address. It can change, but most often it is static. In this article, we will tell you how to find out the IP address of the printer, and in what situations it is especially necessary.

Why do you need to know the IP of a printing device?

Excellent skills with office equipment are valued in any office. However, the seemingly simple question "What is the IP address of our printer?" can easily confuse many users. The printer does not have a display and when connected to a computer address is not displayed either. It is common for offices that not one or two, but several printers are connected to the same local network simultaneously, while the document to be printed should be sent to one particular printer. To avoid a mistake, first arm yourself with information about the network address of the office equipment.

The IP address is a kind of identifier for your network connection – corporate or home. This address is supplied by your ISP when you connect to the network. Knowing the correct IP address will help you avoid a lot of annoying problems with printing. If the device gives an error when printing sheets, it is quite possible that its network address has changed. In the meantime, the system tries to send the document to the old IP, and as a result, printing fails.

If you encounter such a problem, it is recommended that you first check the network addresses of the printers. This advice is especially relevant in offices where several models are on the same local network.

By the way, for many people, it is a revelation that the printer has its own IP. Almost all modern models of devices are equipped with the option of connecting to the home network using Wi-Fi technology. As a rule of thumb, you can assign your IP address to the printing device at home. Most simple home printers connect to a desktop computer via USB. Next, you will need to install special software from the printer manufacturer. There, in a pop-up window, you will most likely need to enter the network address.

Method 1 – IP data can be found in the printer itself

The interface of the printer can tell us about the IP address. All you need to do is to press the "Menu" button or the wrench button on the device. Then you will get to the settings of the technique. There you need to find the "Configuration Report" or a similar menu with reports on all the basic settings. Print one of these reports and look for the configuration data. It will most likely give you the hardware address number, the name of the host computer, and the network address (it may also be referred to as IP4).

Many printers print all current status information: the amount of dye remaining in the replacement cartridge, the numeric or alphabetic model index, the manufacturer's name, the URL on the local network, and other technical information.

Method 2 – sample page

In the test page printing mode, detailed information about the device settings, including the network address in the "Port" and "Location" lines, is printed on a sheet of paper. You can print the information using one of the following steps.

1. By pressing a key combination on the control panel of the printing device. See the documentation for your specific model to find out how to invoke the mode.
2. On the computer, open the command window (Windows+R), and run "control printers". In the "Devices and printers" tab that opens, find the printer shortcut. Open the menu (right-click) → "Printer Properties" → "Print Test Page".

On this test page, you can easily notice the address where your device is located on the network. Next, examine the information in the lines labeled "Port" and "Location".

Method 3 – via Windows 7

In Windows 7, you can easily get the information you need about all the important printer data. To do this, you will need to look under "Printer properties". Most likely, you won't even have to plug the printer into the power supply, as all the information can be found through your operating system. It does not matter whether the printer is on or off. Here is a step-by-step algorithm.

1. First, you need to examine the tab with data about all the devices connected to the PC.
2. After clicking the "Start" button, go to "Control Panel" and click on "Devices and Printers". You can do even simpler things by typing keywords in the search box.
3. Next, a list of all available connected devices will pop up.
4. Go to the "Printers" menu (where the fax settings page is also located) and search by name for the printer you are interested in. This is especially important if you have several printing devices connected to the same PC.
5. Right-click on the icon and open the "Printer properties" menu.
6. In the window that appears, you are likely to notice several tabs – there are configuration settings, ports, access, security, etc. We are primarily interested in the "General" tab.
7. The "Location" line is usually the exact network address, e.g. 192.172.14.0, etc. You don't need to change anything in this line, just copy or paste the numbers to another location.

Method 4 – via Windows 10

1. Expand the Control Panel by right-clicking on the button in the main Start menu. You will not be able to use the search in this case, because the system does not recognize the desired item based on the keywords entered.
2. Go to the Control Panel, find the "Devices and Printers" item, and pay attention to the properties in the same way as described above. In the options box, select the tab devoted to web services. This is where the network information about your printing device is stored.
3. Find the email address of the web page. If you click that link, you will see all the available information about the printer.
4. As a rule, the numbers are the URL of the page and the IP address.
5. In the same box in the item called "Diagnostics," there are data on the direct location of the printing equipment in the home network – the line IP-address.

In any version of Windows, you can open the list of connected devices using the "Run" function. Press the hotkeys (in this case, Win+R) and type control printers in Latin letters in the drop-down box.

Method 5 – router settings

Stable operation of most devices connected to the local network is provided by your router. Thus, all network addresses of available devices are stored in their settings.

To locate the printer settings and location page, follow these steps.

1. Open the settings of your router and find the item called "Home network".
2. In the window that appears, select the "Devices" tab. You will immediately see a complete list of all connected network devices.
3. You can easily find the printer by its name. In the line next to the name of the printing device you will see the MAC address and the IP you are looking for.

Method 6 – through the text editor Word

All of the most common text editors (Word, WordPad, Writer Open Office, etc.) can print a file. When you print, you can also retrieve data about the exact location of the printer on your local network.

When you send a document to print, Word shows the printer's network address in the information window under "Port". It is sufficient to open or create a document in the program. Then press CTRL+P or go to "File" → "Print" and open the window with the necessary information.

Method 7 – in the network properties

You can find out the IP address of a printing device that is connected to the network via Wi-Fi or Ethernet via the Share Center.

1. Use the Windows+E key combination to open an explorer window, find and open the "Network" tab.
2. In the right part of the tab that appears, go to the printer icon, get to the menu (right-click), and open the "Properties" item.
3. In the new information window, you will find the IP address you are looking for.

Method 8 – via the command line

You can determine the printer's network address using the command line prompt and the “netstat -an” command typed there. Open the cmd.exe window by pressing Windows+R and executing the cmd command.

Method 9 – printer software

Printer manufacturers provide devices with special software to diagnose and correct problems. When you start the application from the developer, you can see the network address of the printer in the device parameters section. The official software is installed from the disk that comes with the printing device. You can also download the distribution from the developers' site.

Method 10 – third-party utilities

To determine the IP address of the printer, you can use third-party utilities designed for scanning network devices. Using one of the programs: Advanced IP Scanner, LANScope, NetViewer, or IPScan, the user can easily perform the task. The scanner will generate a list of devices on the network, among which the icon of the printing device will be displayed. In the printer properties, you can find out the network address parameter assigned to the printer.