How To Add a Printer To Network Windows 10

How To Add a Printer To Network Windows 10
- Advertisement -

To add your printer to a network in Windows 10 is not a hard task these days as long as your printer is not of a very old make. Before we get started, let’s talk about how to manage printers in Windows 10, because that has become a bit confusing for windows 10 users. In Windows 10, you can either add, remove or manage printers from the Control Panel or the Settings app.

- Advertisement -

Contents

Manage Printers in Windows 10

Manage printers and scanners

Windows 10 has a new Settings window for configuring printers, but you can still use the old Control Panel tools, too. Here’s what you need to know about installing, configuring, sharing, and troubleshooting printers on Windows.

How to Add a Printer

To add a printer, go to Settings, Devices, Printers & Scanners.

Click the “Add a Printer or Scanner” button to search for nearby printers.

Your printer name as specified should then appear here among other available printers that are online.

If Windows doesn’t find your printer automatically, click the printer that I want isn’t listed link that appears. This opens the old Add Printer dialog, which lets you scan for older types of printers, directly connect to network printers, and add printers with custom settings.

Add printers and scanners

Alternatively, you can use the old interface at Control Panel, Hardware and Sound then Devices and Printers. Click the “Add a Printer” button to get started.

Once the printer is connected to your computer, Windows will automatically download the necessary printer drivers on the fly. If this doesn’t work, visit the printer manufacturer’s website to download and install the appropriate drivers or software package for your model of printer. For some printers, such as an all-in-one printer, you might also need to visit the manufacturer’s website for drivers and apps that let you access the added functionality.

Devices and printers

How to Change Printing Preferences

If you want to change your printer’s settings, go to either Settings then Devices and then Printers & Scanners. Alternatively, still this works, go to Control Panel click Hardware and Sound then conclude with Devices and Printers. In the Settings interface, click a printer and then click “Manage” to see more options like in the pictorial illustration below.

how to add printer to a window 10 network

In the Control Panel, right-click a printer to find various options.

Changing the printing preference

Click the “Printing Preferences” option in the Settings window or context menu. There is a variety of options for controlling your prints here, and the settings you see will depend on the ones your printer supports.

changing the printing preference

How to Change Printer Device Settings

To configure your printer device, click “Printer Properties” instead of “Printing Preferences” from the context menu after right-clicking a printer.

Device and printers windows 10

The General tab of the Properties window provides information about the printer’s features and what drivers it’s using. You can change the printer’s name or add location details and comments. you might want to enter a location like “Main Office” or “Second Floor Copy Room” so people can see exactly where a shared network printer is. The “Print Test Page” button here lets you quickly print a test page.

On the “Advanced” pane, you’ll even see an option that lets you choose when the printer is available. If you only want to use your printer during business hours, you could select 9 am to 5 pm here. People wouldn’t be able to print to the printer outside of your selected hours, which is especially useful if you’ve configured it as a network printer and don’t want people printing to it during off-hours.

setting up printer on network

How to Print a Test Page

You can quickly check whether your printer is working and configured properly by printing a test page. Locate the printer in Settings > Devices > Printers & Scanners, click it,

Click the “Manage” button, and click the “Print a test page” link.

print a test page

How to Set Your Default Printer

By default, Windows 10 automatically manages which printer is the default. It sets your default printer as the last printer you last printed too—in other words, whenever you select a printer and print to it, Windows 10 makes that your default printer.

To change this, head to Settings > Devices > Printers & Scanners and uncheck the “Let Windows manage my default printer” option

printers and scanners

To choose your default printer, click a printer in the Printers & Scanners list, click “Manage,” and click the “Set as Default” button.

You can also right-click a printer in the Control Panel’s Devices and Printers window and select “Set as Default Printer” to set it as your default

How to Manage Your Print Queue

Each printer on your system has a print queue. When you print a document that print job is stored in the print queue before it’s sent to the printer and finishes printing.

In some cases, you may need to pause your print queue to temporarily cease printing, remove individual jobs from the print queue to cancel printing them, or check that everything has printed. You can do all this from the print queue window.

To open this, head to Settings > Devices > Printers & Scanners, click the printer for which you want to view the queue, and then click “Open Print Queue.” In the Control Panel interface, you can right-click a printer and select “See What’s Printing.” You might also see a printer icon in the notification area while printing; clicking the icon also opens the print queue.

open queue in printers and scanners