HELP PLEASE with Netgear Ready Share Printer not connecting with Windows 11

HELP! I am at my wit's end with a problem with a friends computer. Somehow I did manage before to connect Windows 11 with the Netgear ReadyShare USB connected printer, and tested it and tested it and it all worked fine. Somehow my friend managed to delete the printer from the list by accident and when I want to try to reconnect it, it doesn't show up (IIRC I told it to look for a network printer and told it to look at the address for the Netgear router and somehow it found it then, but not now) I have followed many different steps in order to get this thing to show up as an online Printer, but no luck.


The printer is a HP Deskjet 2600 which yes DOES have a direct wireless option, but I want to avoid that option at all costs as no matter what, every time you shut down the PC, the printer becomes "offline" and the only way to get it working again is to remove the printer and reinstall it, so I consider that NOT an option.


As I said before I got it working, but now i can't seem to connect to it through Windows 11. So what am I missing. Can someone PLEASE give me a step by step instruction on how to MANUALLY install a Printer that is connected to a Netgear Router via USB (and Netgear ReadyShare says it's connected and ready to go) with Windows 11. Thank you.

Ken L

First try power-cycling the printer.
I never use any printer so-called smart apps to install printers, but the full printer software package.

If the HP software package is installed I would use it to recognize and connect the printer. If you don't have it installed, you need it in order for scan to work.

If the software is already installed, the diagnostic tool on that same page(HP Print & Scan Doctor) can also help you install a printer.

You can also manually install a printer. Control Panel-Devices & Printers-add a printer-if it doesn't show up in the list select the printer I want isn't listed. From there you can select network discoverable printer option. If it's still not discoverable on the network, select install printer by ip address. You can get it's assigned ip from your router.

Hope one of these suggestions work for you.

I can't use the HP installation application because it wants to directly connect to the HP Printer directly using the Wi-Fi connection. (still trying to figure a way to disable permanently the wifi on the printer itself, and haven't been able to). This is because once the computer is shut down, the Printer becomes "offline" and the only way to fix this issue is to remove and reinstall the driver every time, and the owner of this computer is not capable of doing this.

I have tried the other things that were suggested above, still doesn't work.

I am hoping someone has experience with the Netgear Router and Windows 11 and using the Netgear ReadyShare Utility and help me find a way to get the two to work.

One would think having Windows look for any available Network Printer, and even inputing the Router's IP Address (which is where the Printer is connected) would solve the problem. But Windows doesn't list the printer through the router. It continues to only find the printer directly.

Ken L

From reading the Netgear documentation it seems pretty straightforward. Once the NETGEAR USB Control Center is installed on the computer, are you temporarily disconnecting the firewall as indicated in step 4 so the printer can be recognized? How do I download and install the ReadySHARE Printer utility?

I've had good luck today with connecting my new windows11 laptop computer to my local NETWORK. I used my Wi-Fi name as the network name. This seems to recognize the readyshare printer every time I startup. Had the same problem with my old laptop running windows10 for years, had to revert to the "sneaker network" regularily.

The key was finding that my new laptop was connecting to my Mediacom router and showing it as the connected NETWORK, even though I don't use that wifi. Once disconnecting that and adding my two computers to my own WiFi network things are running more stable.