Log in

View Full Version : Manually Updating Printer IP Address When Swapping Routers

Jason Dunn
05-22-2007, 04:00 PM
I've been swapping out routers lately (the D-Link 624 was incompatible with the Vista wireless drivers on my Fujitsu P7010), but I ran into a fresh problem that I haven't seen before: now that I have the hp 2600n networked laser printer connected, when you swap routers and IP addresses change, the clients (PCs) that need to print don't magically find the printer at the new IP address. You need to re-configure the IP address of the printer port on every PC that you want to print to the networked printer. Here's how (and remember this is under Vista, but the procedure is very similar under XP):

1. Open up the Printers panel under Control Panel (or just hit Start then type Printers)
2. Right-click on the printer you want to fix, select Properties
3. Switch to the Ports tab
4. Find the port that is the IP address - it will likely be 192.168.1.32 or something similar
5. Select that port, then click on Configure
6. On the line that says"Printer Name or IP Address", change the IP address listed to the IP address of your printer (which you'd get either from the printer itself by printing a status report, or from your router's list of connected clients)
7. Ignore the binging sound that occurs when you type in any of the new IP address. Ignore the fact that the Port Name is the old IP address, it has no effect.
8. Click OK to save the settings
9. Click back to the General tab and click Print Test page to make sure it works

Here's what step six looks like:

http://www.jasondunn.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/05/printer-port-ip-address-configure.png
jeffd
05-22-2007, 04:44 PM
mmm... or just configure the router to force what IP your printer is at and use the same ip? ;)
Jason Dunn
05-22-2007, 05:39 PM
mmm... or just configure the router to force what IP your printer is at and use the same ip? ;)

Not possible in my case - for some reason the 2600n printer doesn't show up in the list of attached clients with the Linksys WRT54G router. I had to print a status report to see what IP it was on.

And if you're realistic you'll admit that changing a setting in Windows is easier for most people than changing a router setting.
jeffd
05-22-2007, 06:36 PM
Actually, atleast for my linksys, its about as many steps as you have said. Of course, especially with a networked printer, one would hope they know how to login to their router. ;)

It dosn't show up, even when normaly connected and you can send it print jobs and everything? sounds like a bug in your router firmware.
Jason Dunn
05-22-2007, 06:42 PM
It dosn't show up, even when normaly connected and you can send it print jobs and everything? sounds like a bug in your router firmware.

That's correct, it doesn't show up in the list of attached clients, even though it has an IP from the router. It might be a bug, but I'm using the latest firmware (I updated it this morning).
Tim Williamson
05-22-2007, 08:53 PM
If it's a networked printer, can't you login to the printer (or use the external controls if it has them) and set the IP address manually? Then setup DHCP in the router so it hands out addresses that won't conflict with the printer.
Jason Dunn
05-22-2007, 09:50 PM
If it's a networked printer, can't you login to the printer (or use the external controls if it has them) and set the IP address manually? Then setup DHCP in the router so it hands out addresses that won't conflict with the printer.

I hadn't thought of that - good call! I checked and, yes, I can change the IP address. I've changed it to 192.168.1.201, and as long as I keep whatever router I set up handing out IP addresses in the 192.168.1.0xx range, I'll never need to change it again. Thanks for the idea!
Tim Williamson
05-22-2007, 10:53 PM
No prob! :)
Dave Beauvais
05-29-2007, 08:22 PM
I actually go one geeky step further and use "static DHCP (http://www.dvrplayground.com/article/12319/Static-DHCP--The-Best-of-Both-Worlds/)" on my WRT54G running the DD-WRT (http://www.dd-wrt.com/) firmware. (My old D-Link DI-604 router supported this, as well, but I don't think the stock WRT54G firmware does.) Static DHCP assigns the same IP address to a MAC address so I handle all my "static" IP address assignments on the router. The computers and printers are all set to DHCP, but they behave as though they have static IPs.

Before I began doing this, I told my router to hand out DHCP IPs starting at 192.168.n.21, giving me 19 static IPs from 2-20 to assign as needed. I've always believed that "resource" devices such as printers should have static IPs because it makes management and use of them much simpler. With dynamic IPs, there's no guarantee that the IP won't suddenly change, causing downtime and annoyance as you try to figure out why your printer suddenly stopped working.