How to find a printer's IP address

A network printer always knows its own address, and it is usually two taps away.

• Printers with a touchscreen: tap the Wi-Fi or network icon (an antenna or signal bars) at the top of the home screen. The status panel that opens shows the IP address, usually alongside the network name and signal strength. If it does not, look under Settings or Setup for a Network, Wireless or Reports menu.
• Printers with a small text display: walk the menu to Network > Wi-Fi or Wired LAN > TCP/IP > IP Address, or print a network configuration report from the Reports menu.
• Printers with no screen: load paper and hold a button combination to print a network configuration page. The combination differs by brand; the brand sections below list them.

The address will look like 192.168.1.50 or 10.0.0.50. If it starts with 169.254, the printer failed to get an address from the router and the fix is reconnecting it to Wi-Fi, not finding the number.

HP

• Touchscreen: tap the Wireless icon on the home screen; the IP address appears on the wireless summary. Or open Settings (gear) > Reports > Network Configuration (newer firmware: Network Summary) and print it.
• No screen: on most LED-panel DeskJet, ENVY and Tango printers, hold the Wireless button and the Information (i) button together for about three seconds to print the network configuration page. Some older models use Wireless plus Cancel (X).
• HP Smart app: select the printer tile, open Printer Settings or Printer Information; the IP address and hostname are listed under network details.

Canon

• PIXMA with a screen: Setup > Device settings > LAN settings > Confirm LAN settings (or View LAN settings); choose the Wi-Fi or wired list to read the address on screen, or Print LAN details to print it.
• PIXMA without a screen: on current models such as the TS3500 series, load paper and press the Information button once; the printer prints its network settings, including the IP address, on three pages. Older screenless PIXMAs use a long press of Resume/Cancel instead; the model's manual gives the number of lamp flashes to wait for before releasing.
• MAXIFY and imageCLASS: Menu > Network settings (or Preferences > Network) > Print network status or TCP/IP settings > IPv4 settings.

Epson

• With a screen: Setup or Settings > Network Settings (EcoTank and WorkForce: General Settings > Network Settings) > Network Status shows the address; Print Status Sheet prints it.
• No screen: load paper and hold the network status button (the icon of a sheet with Wi-Fi bars, or the i button on some models) for several seconds: Epson's manuals specify at least seven seconds on some models and ten on others, so hold it until the printer starts feeding paper.

Brother

• With a screen: Settings (or Menu) > All Settings > Network > WLAN or Wired LAN > TCP/IP > IP Address. To print it, Print Reports > Network Configuration > OK, then Go or Start.
• No screen: nearly every networked Brother laser printer has at least a one-line display, so the menu path above applies. On the few without one, the manual gives a Go-button sequence (typically pressing Go three times with only the Ready LED lit) that prints the Printer Settings page, and the network details are on it when the model has a network port.

If the printer is installed, Windows already knows how it reaches it.

1. Open Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Printers & scanners and select the printer.
2. Click Printer properties, then open the Ports tab. The checked port is the one in use; a Standard TCP/IP Port shows the address or hostname in its name, and Configure Port… shows the full Printer Name or IP Address field.
3. If the port is a WSD port, Windows found the printer by discovery and the port name is an ID, not an address. Use one of the other methods.

From a terminal, PowerShell lists the same thing for every installed printer:

Get-PrinterPort | Select-Object Name, PrinterHostAddress

If the printer is not installed, make it announce itself. Ping the hostname printed on its label or status page, then read the address table:

ping -4 BRW001122334455.local
arp -a

arp -a lists every device your PC has talked to on the local network with its IP and MAC address. A MAC address lookup on each entry tells you the manufacturer, so the line that resolves to HP, Canon, Seiko Epson or Brother Industries is your printer.

1. Open System Settings > Printers & Scanners and click the printer.
2. Click Options & Supplies…. The General tab shows the printer's location and address; for printers added over AirPrint it may show a Bonjour name such as HP1A2B3C.local instead of a number.

To turn a name into an address, or to see every installed printer at once, use Terminal:

lpstat -v
ping -c 1 HP1A2B3C.local
arp -a

lpstat -v prints the device URI for each printer queue, ping resolves the .local name to its current IP, and arp -a lists every address on the network with its MAC. Our guide to finding your IP address on a Mac covers the same commands for the Mac itself.

Every address on your network was handed out by the router, so the router has the complete list. Open its admin page (usually 192.168.1.1, 192.168.0.1 or 10.0.0.1; our guide to finding your router's IP address shows how to confirm it) and look for Connected devices, Attached devices, DHCP clients or Client list. The printer appears with a hostname that normally contains the brand or model, its IP and its MAC address. Mesh systems show the same list in their phone app.

This method works even when the printer is not installed on any computer, which makes it the right one when you are setting a printer up for the first time or when it has dropped off the network and you want to confirm it is still connected at all.

The usual reason a printer goes "offline" after working for months is that the router gave it a different address and the computer is still sending to the old one. Routers assign addresses by DHCP lease, and a lease can change after a power cut or a long idle period. Two fixes:

1. DHCP reservation on the router (recommended). In the router's DHCP or LAN settings, find the reservation or "static lease" option, pick the printer by its MAC address and assign it a fixed address such as 192.168.1.50. The printer keeps using DHCP, but it always receives the same answer.
2. Static address on the printer. In the printer's network menu, switch IPv4 from automatic to manual and type the address, subnet mask (255.255.255.0 on most home networks) and gateway (the router's address). Choose an address outside the router's DHCP range so nothing else is given the same one; the subnet calculator shows the usable range for your network.

After either change, re-add the printer on each computer so the port points at the new, permanent address. The static vs dynamic IP guide explains leases and reservations in more depth.

The printer's address, like every address that starts with 192.168., 10. or 172.16 to 172.31, is private: it exists only inside your network and is reused by millions of other homes. It is the address your computer uses to send print jobs. Your public IP is the single address your router presents to the internet, shared by every device in the house, and it has nothing to do with the printer. The local IP finder explains how to see your computer's private address on each platform, and the homepage IP check shows the public one. If a printer manual asks for your "IP address" during setup, it means the private kind.