Tell me more ×
Super User is a question and answer site for computer enthusiasts and power users. It's 100% free, no registration required.
up vote 1 down vote favorite

Is there a way to get Windows 7 to automatically realize that my wireless printer has changed its IP address, and update accordingly? I have to change it manually every time and its annoying me.

In all honesty, this doesn't happen very often, but my wife doesn't understand the problem, and she'll come upstairs and scream that the "printer is broken", then I have to stop what I'm doing, go downstairs and change the IP address. Its very annoying, and there must be a better way.

Or, do have to handle this from the Router side and make sure my router always gives my printer the same IP?

share|improve this question

1 Answer

up vote 2 down vote accepted

Is your router the one running DHCP (ie, handing out IP addresses)?

If so, you may want to see if there's a way to set the router to always issue the same IP to the printer - whether this is possible and how to do it would be based on what time of router you have.

The other option would be to turn off DHCP and manually set all the IP addresses on your network.

share|improve this answer
It's better not to turn off DHCP entirely -- it provides not only the IP but also the DNS servers, and sometimes your ISP will change their upstream servers (it's uncommon, but it has happened to me). So you can either assign non-ISP DNS servers, or you can just assign static IPs with DHCP (my preference). – kquinn Jan 3 '10 at 1:14
I agree, I would much rather assign static IPs in DHCP than go through the hassle of a manual setup. – Jared Harley Jan 3 '10 at 1:20
4  
you don't have to disable DHCP, just use a static IP address for the printer (preferably outside the router's DHCP pool to avoid conflicts) – Molly7244 Jan 3 '10 at 1:22
Thanks Molly, I had some free time, so I went back to the printer and gave it a static IP. I haven't had an issue since. All of our computers in the house still use DHCP, as per your suggestion. – WindyCityEagle Mar 9 '10 at 14:09

Your Answer

 
discard

By posting your answer, you agree to the privacy policy and terms of service.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.