Is Airprint compatible with RT-AC68U through USB?

[tallen234]

I was having a lot of problems with my HP Officejet 8600 disconnecting when connected wirelessly. So, I "hardwired" the printer to the router's usb port and then used the EZ connect to get it to work with my network. The printer works just fine when printing from a PC, however, it is not recognized as an "airprint" printer through my ipad or iphone. Is it possible to have airprint through this type of connection?

Thanks!

 

[sfx2000]

Airprint needs to go thru the network stack of the printer - it's not available via USB, unless the network stack is still running on the Printer - so check the settings on the printer, might have to reenable WiFi on it.

 

[tallen234]

Hmmm...so can I connect it using ethernet to the router and get airprint? Or do I need to connect it wirelessly and try to solve the disconnection issue???

Thanks!

 

[sfx2000]

Hmmm...so can I connect it using ethernet to the router and get airprint? Or do I need to connect it wirelessly and try to solve the disconnection issue???

Thanks!

Try it over ethernet if it has a port...

 

[tallen234]

This is unbelievable. I can't connect through ethernet. It doesn't even show that anything is plugged into the port. I've tried rebooting everything, trying a different port, uninstalling the printer, software and drivers. Reinstalling with the HP software, it doesn't recognize a printer attached to the network......

Try it over ethernet if it has a port...

 

[tallen234]

I also ran the network trouble shooter and I got the following error:

Windows could not automatically detect this network's proxy settings

Any ideas?

 

[sfx2000]

That's weird - did you disconnect the USB from the router?

Might have to reconnect the Printer directly to a PC on USB, and then configure it there as an ethernet based printer, once set up, it should be ok...

Printers drive me nuts, so I understand your frustration...

 

[TonyH]

I was having a lot of problems with my HP Officejet 8600 disconnecting when connected wirelessly. So, I "hardwired" the printer to the router's usb port and then used the EZ connect to get it to work with my network. The printer works just fine when printing from a PC, however, it is not recognized as an "airprint" printer through my ipad or iphone. Is it possible to have airprint through this type of connection?

Thanks!

May I ask, did you give a fixed IP address to the printer when wirelessly connected. I have two WiFi
printers on my router, One is Canon inkjet and one is Brother 4 in 1 color laser. They both work 100%.
Never have problem. I have couple iPADs and one MacBook. Airprint always works on either printer.

 

[sfx2000]

Good point!

For my Macs/iDevices, not an issue, but the Windows drivers get confused all to heck if the IP on the network printer changes - so this is one of the few times that I've done a DHCP reservation for the MAC address of the printer (setting it manual actually caused issues with Airprint FWIW in my experience).

Printers are weird...

 

[tallen234]

I did have a static address, but it kept losing connectivity. I kept getting a "Scan to computer is no longer active. The network connection to the printer has been lost" message. I thought hardwiring it would alleviate my issues, but nope....maybe I should work harder on getting the wireless to work.....grrrr

 

[sfx2000]

I kept getting a "Scan to computer is no longer active. The network connection to the printer has been lost" message.

Aha... same problem I ran into - the Windows drivers are bound to a specific IP, so reserving the Device in DHCP fixed everything...

Oddly enough, putting in a static IP in the printer outside of the router/AP DHCP scope - worked for Windows, but it broke Airprint..

Macs don't care, they'll find the printer, but iOS devices are a bit more particular like Windows machines...

 

[tallen234]

Ah! The only reason I want to go "wireless" is to use airprint from my iPad! argh...

Aha... same problem I ran into - the Windows drivers are bound to a specific IP, so reserving the Device in DHCP fixed everything...

Oddly enough, putting in a static IP in the printer outside of the router/AP DHCP scope - worked for Windows, but it broke Airprint..

Macs don't care, they'll find the printer, but iOS devices are a bit more particular like Windows machines...

 

[TonyH]

Ah! The only reason I want to go "wireless" is to use airprint from my iPad! argh...

I am on W10 x64 and there are Macbook, iPADs in the house. Airprint works fine here. Airprint has nothing to do router, it's feature of wireless printer. I never owned any HP printer. Checked at HP printer forum?

 

[tallen234]

I went back to wireless and (I am leery to even write this) things seem much more stable right now.

 

[sfx2000]

I went back to wireless and (I am leery to even write this) things seem much more stable right now.

Cool - like I mentioned earlier - might consider putting in a DHCP address reservation for the HP printer, and on the printer, configure it to use IPv4 only and DHCP, and this should sort both Windows and iOS...

Don't forget - grab the free HP AIO Remote app for iOS, pretty handy util there...

 

[Mr.Smith]

Airprint needs to go thru the network stack of the printer - it's not available via USB, unless the network stack is still running on the Printer - so check the settings on the printer, might have to reenable WiFi on it.

I think some Netgear routers offers Airprint functionality for any usb connected printer.

 

[PolarBear]

Spent hours trying to get an AirPrinter to work earlier this year.

From what I can gather, printer discovery from the iDevice uses the Bonjour protocol, which requires that multicasting be enabled on the router. Some routers do not seem to handle this well, and after a few hours the printer can no longer be found by the iDevice.

I also have a feeling that some routers may not bridge the multicasting correctly between the WiFi and Ethernet "sides", but I did not test this out thoroughly.

In my case, the router died a few months later, and its replacement solved all the AirPrint problems I was having. So the router does seem to play a vital role into getting AirPrint to work.

Slightly off topic, I have good experience with Lantronix's xPrintServer, which allows printing from an iDevice to more or less any non-AirPrint printer. No need to have a Mac or PC permanently switched on, as with some of the software-based solutions. (Disclosure: no connection with Lantronix except as a satisfied customer.)

I hate to see good printers thrown out just because they can't print from an iDevice.

 

[sfx2000]

AirPrint does use mDNS (Bonjour) for discovery...

mDNSResponder isn't required on the router, but it does help, but the router must not filter multicast - each vendor UI is a bit different here - should note that the "classic" linksys GUI, the selection is inverse (off is on, on is off).

Challenge for Windows is that the HP drivers may bind to an IP address rather than a Device Name, so if the address changes on the printer, this can cause problems - esp. with all-in-ones where the scanner is also involved - so guidance here is to reserve the device in the DHCP reservations (again, vendor dependent) - my experience with HP is that setting a static IP outside of the DHCP scope can also be problematic...

The Lantronix xPrintServer is an awesome little device - very useful with older printers, and good all around.

Tip - AppleTV's (2nd/3rd Gen) and Airports (Extreme/Express) are Bonjour proxies - while not specific to AirPrint (printer must support AirPrint or a print server like the Lantronix box), Bonjour proxies will stabilize a mixed iOS/Mac/Windows network, and they also enable Wake Over WiFi for Macs that support that feature.