HP printer networking. What's the IP address?

I'll never buy an HP printer again.
Currently set up using USB connection only because I tried a CAT5 cable but the PC can't see the printer.
Printer spec says its IP address is:
00-68-EB-EC-DC-CF

What's this nonsense?

Any help greatly appreciated. Tried Cat5 cable to router, direct to PC and then tried ipconfig/all but no joy.

Many thanks,

Sean

That's not an IP address, that's more like a MAC address.

Connect the CAT cable from the printer to your router, check the printer settings to see how it's configured, i assign mine a static IP.

What Version and Build of Win11? WinKey + R and type winver, post the line about Version.

Which printer? I have an OfficeJet Pro and a LaserJet Pro connected via CAT5 cable to my Wireless Router and did the default Network setup.

I've also had to fix printer issues for clients and most times it was because they plugged the USB into a USB 3 port instead of a USB 2 port.

Uninstall the usb printer in Windows. Restart.
Connect printer using cat5 cable directly to router. Go into printer's control panel and make sure wireless is turned off. Print a network configuration page to make sure router has assigned an ip address to the wired network printer,
Use full feature HP software if your printer offers it to install the printer in WIndows. (Use HP Smart app if software is not offered with your printer)

You will need to uninstall and reinstall printer in each computer.

00-68-EB-EC-DC-CF That's the MAC Address.

The IP Address you set yourself, or use DHCP server normally this would be in the Router, which is what I do.

You have to follow the instructions given by the manufacturer for your particular printer and the method of connection i.e. wired Network.
It is probably a web install or download the driver and install.

I recently started using Canon printers after 30 years with HP printers, and they are just as difficult to install.

Helmut said:

00-68-EB-EC-DC-CF That's the MAC Address.

The IP Address you set yourself, or use DHCP server normally this would be in the Router, which is what I do.

You have to follow the instructions given by the manufacturer for your particular printer and the method of connection i.e. wired Network.
It is probably a web install or download the driver and install.

I recently started using Canon printers after 30 years with HP printers, and they are just as difficult to install.

Click to expand...

I agree this is true for both HP and Canon. (Connection difficulties)
The only printers I never ever have a problem with are Brother.

I have a HP Envy Pro 6400 and I only connect to it via WiFi. I can move it anywhere in my house and no cables are required. It is available to any PC or phone in my house. Granted, you have to subscribe to the HP cartridge service, and HP does monitor your printer usage, but that has worked out very well for me. I don't care if they know how many pages I print or how much ink I use. When I had a problem once, the service people handled it very well. It's been working fine for me for over 3 years.

K7MEM said:

I have a HP Envy Pro 6400 and I only connect to it via WiFi. I can move it anywhere in my house and no cables are required. It is available to any PC or phone in my house. Granted, you have to subscribe to the HP cartridge service, and HP does monitor your printer usage, but that has worked out very well for me. I don't care if they know how many pages I print or how much ink I use. When I had a problem once, the service people handled it very well. It's been working fine for me for over 3 years.

Click to expand...

Not quite true about having to subscribe to the cartridge service. You don't even have to create or sign in to an account to use the app. I agree, though, that Apps are the future, with HP at least. Only thing I've found with the App is it defaults to IPV6 which is nonsense as not available here. Once I turn off IPv6 the printer shows in file explorer. The app's setting up a printer is painless and you can easily connect devices to it.
I do recommend giving the printer a static IP address.

@Rollback_Jockey

I assign mine a static IP

(your quote from your comment Monday 10:41pm)

Yes, I tried that in a 3 PC Win 11 home network, not just for the printer but for each PC on the expectation that routinely used batch files from one PC to another could be done simply by referencing their IP addresses within the batch file. Perhaps not a clever idea.

So what happened to this ? Well, I close down 2 of the 3 PC's most nights, leaving just one (the oldest) alive as a "legacy" catch of overnight emails, programme updates etc. What I hadn't realised, or rather hadn't considered in my ignorance, is that the IP addresses (pre-assigned or not) have a router timeout, generally 24 hours, after which IP's are renewed. During that renewal, if an IP address, even a pre-assigned one, is not being used (and a closed-down PC is not using one), then that IP address may be assigned to a booting-up PC regardless of some unused pre-assignment, and unbeknownst to me.

This meant that when a PC with a pre-assigned (by me) IP is then later turned on, that IP address may already actually be in use on an already awake PC. Consequently, I would receive the "conflicting IP" network message for no reason I knew of.

If one pre-assigns an IP to a printer - and that printer is never turned off - then that pre-assigned IP cannot be randomly redistributed during IP address timeouts, because being already in use it is unavailable.