Adding a network printer

Updated 3w ago 1 views 10 min read
printing windows hardware network printer troubleshooting
In This Article

New desk, new office, or just a printer that everyone else seems to have and you don't — "how do I add the printer?" is one of the most common things we're asked. The good news is that a fair share of the time there's nothing to add at all, because the printer is already sitting on your computer waiting to be used. This article shows you how to check, how to add one yourself where Windows allows it, and exactly what to send us when it doesn't.

The short version: Look at your printers list first — office printers are often deployed ahead of time, so yours may already be there. If it isn't, Windows can search the network for it, but installing a printer driver on a managed computer requires administrator rights. If you're asked for an administrator user name and password at any point, stop there and submit a support request with the printer's name, where it is, and its IP address if the device shows one.

Start here: it may already be installed

Go to Start → Settings → Bluetooth & devices → Printers & scanners. Everything currently installed on your computer is listed on that page.

Look carefully before you assume it's missing. Printers are usually named after a model number or a location, not the name people use for them in conversation, so "the big one by the kitchen" may be listed as something far less friendly. If you can't tell which entry is which, select one and choose Print test page — described on screen as "Check if a printer is working by printing a test page" — then go see which machine it came out of.

If your printer is listed and the test page prints, you're done. If it's listed but nothing comes out, adding it again won't help — that's a different problem, and our printer shows offline article walks through it.

Before you start: administrator rights and drivers

It's worth knowing where the wall is before you spend ten minutes walking into it.

Every printer needs a driver — a small piece of software that teaches Windows how to talk to that particular model. Some printers can use a driver that's already built into Windows, and those can often be added with no fuss at all. Others need a driver from the manufacturer or from a print server, and that's where administrator rights come in.

Since the Windows updates released in August 2021, installing a printer driver from a print server — or updating one that's already there — requires administrator credentials. The same goes more broadly for any driver that isn't already sitting on your computer. That was a deliberate security change from Microsoft, not a misconfiguration on your machine: it closed a hole that let ordinary users be tricked into loading untrusted software.

Your work computer is managed, which means you sign in as a standard user. So instead of quietly installing the driver, Windows will ask for an administrator user name and password that you won't have.

If Windows asks for an administrator user name and password, that's your stopping point. Nothing is broken and you haven't done anything wrong — you've just reached the boundary that keeps the machine secure. Don't hunt for a workaround; note how far you got and send it to us. We'll finish the job, usually quickly.

Three things worth writing down first

Whether you end up adding the printer yourself or asking us to, the same three details make it fast. Collect them before you start:

  • What it's called. The model name or number is usually printed on the front of the device. If your office has its own name for it, or it already carries a label, note that too.
  • Where it is. Building, floor, room, or the nearest thing anyone would recognize. On a site with several similar machines, this is often what tells us which print queue you actually mean.
  • Its IP address or hostname, if the device shows one. This is the printer's address on the network — usually four numbers separated by dots.

To find that address, use the printer itself rather than your computer. Most business printers and copiers can print a configuration or settings report from their own control panel, and that report lists the network address. Many also show it on a network or status screen on the display. The exact menu wording differs from one manufacturer to the next, so look for a report, a network menu, or a status screen rather than a specific path.

If the printer is brand new, it may not have a settled address yet, and there may be nothing useful on that report. That's normal. Tell us it's a new device and we'll get it set up on the network properly, including making sure its address stays put instead of changing on its own later.

Adding a printer that Windows can find

This is the path worth trying first, because it's the one most likely to work without help.

  1. Go to Start → Settings → Bluetooth & devices → Printers & scanners.
  2. Find the Add a printer or scanner row at the top of the page and start the search from there.
  3. Windows shows "Searching for printers and scanners" while it looks. Give it a few moments to finish — network printers don't always appear right away.
  4. If your printer appears in the results, select it and let Windows add it.
  5. When it's finished, select the printer and choose Print test page to confirm it works.

If you're asked for administrator credentials during step 4, that's the driver restriction described above. Stop and skip to asking us to add it.

If the printer isn't in the list

Once the search finishes without finding it, Windows offers a row reading The printer that I want isn't listed, with Add a new device manually next to it. That opens the older Add Printer wizard, on a page headed Find a printer by other options.

The options on that page include:

  • Select a shared printer by name — for a printer shared from a server. The address takes the form \\PRINT-01\PRINTER-NAME (that's an example, not a real address — you'd need the actual server and share name).
  • Add a printer using an IP address or hostname — covered below.
  • Add a Bluetooth, wireless or network discoverable printer — runs a second, broader search.
  • My printer is a little older. Help me find it. — worth a try on an older device that the main search missed.
  • Add a local or network printer as an administrator — its own description reads "Use this option to reopen Add Printer Wizard as an administrator."

That last option is a useful hint about how this works: some of these paths are only available to an administrator, and the wizard says so openly. On a managed computer you won't have those credentials, and that's by design.

Adding a printer by IP address or hostname

The Find a printer by other options page offers Add a printer using an IP address or hostname, the option that uses the address you wrote down. On a managed computer it isn't one you can finish yourself: that route creates a new printer port and then installs a driver for whatever it finds at that address, and both of those need administrator rights.

So this one is ours to do — there's nothing here for you to attempt and fail at. If you have the printer's address, sending it to us is the genuinely useful thing you can do, because it tells us exactly which device you mean.

A note on driver choices in 2026: as of July 1, 2026, Windows prefers its own built-in printer driver when it picks one. Printing works normally, but on a recently added printer you may see fewer manufacturer-specific options under Printing preferences — stapling, booklet finishing, a particular paper tray — than a colleague on an older setup sees. If you need one of those, mention it in your request and we'll fit a driver that offers it.

Finishing up: test page and default printer

Once the printer is installed, two quick things make it genuinely usable. Both are yours to change — neither needs administrator rights.

First, print a test page: on the Printers & scanners page, select the printer and choose Print test page. A page you can physically hold is much better proof than an entry in a list.

Second, set your default printer — turn Let Windows manage my default printer off first, or Windows will keep moving it as you change desks. Our printer shows offline article explains that toggle and how to set a default.

Asking us to add the printer

If Windows never found the printer, if you were asked for administrator credentials, or if you'd simply rather not spend your morning on this, submit a support request or email [email protected]. This is routine work for us and it's usually a short job — as long as we know which printer you mean.

What to include

A request with these details can normally be picked up and finished in one go. A request that just says "I need the printer" turns into a back-and-forth that costs you a day.

  • Which printer, by name or model. Whatever is printed on the front of the device, plus any label your office has put on it.
  • Where it is. Site, floor, room, or the nearest recognizable landmark. Be specific if there's more than one similar machine.
  • Its IP address or hostname if the device showed you one, and where you found it (settings report, or the display).
  • Your computer's name or service tag, so we connect to the right machine — see locating your computer service tag if you're not sure where to look.
  • How far you got. "Windows found it but asked for an administrator password", or "it never appeared in the search", or "it added but the test page didn't print" all point us in completely different directions.
  • Any error message, word for word. Retype it exactly, including any numbers or codes — those are often the fastest route to the cause.
  • Whether you also need to scan from the device, or need a specific capability like color, double-sided printing, or a particular tray.
  • When you need it. If something is blocking you right now, say so plainly — that changes how we treat it.
Setting up a new desk, or a new starter? Send the printers along with everything else in one request rather than one at a time. If the printer itself doesn't exist yet and needs to be bought, that's covered by our hardware and software request process instead.

Once it's working

An installed printer stays installed — you won't need to repeat any of this after a restart, and it will still be there next week. If it later stops responding, shows as offline, or documents pile up without printing, don't remove it and add it again. Start with printer shows offline, which covers the usual causes in the order they're worth checking.

Printing and scanning are set up separately, so adding the printer doesn't by itself give you scan to email. If the device is also the copier you scan from and those scans don't reach your inbox, scan to email not working covers that side of it.

Bottom line: check your printers list first, because it's often already there. If it isn't, let Windows search for it — that's the path most likely to succeed on its own. And the moment you see a prompt for an administrator user name and password, hand it over to us with the printer's name, its location, its address if you have it, and how far you got. That one paragraph is the difference between a printer today and a printer next week.
Was this article helpful?