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As any tech fan will know, when your technology works well, it can be a dream – but when things start to go south, the dream can quickly become a nightmare.
Printers, in particular, can be a sore spot. These are devices that seem to have their own mind, and will often point-blank refuse to co-operate or respond to your commands, regardless of how well you treat them, or how well you coax, plead or threaten them.
Connecting the printer to the Wi-Fi tends to be one of the most difficult challenges, but fortunately, we are on hand to try to minimize the stress, lighten the load, and get your printer hooked up in no time.
Ready? Then let’s take a deep breath, and get started!
Before You Connect Your Brother Printer
Before you can successfully connect your Brother printer to the network, you will first need to locate the wireless network settings that are attached to your access point or wireless router.
There are two specific details that you will need to locate, and these include:
- Network Name (this may also be referred to as “SSID” or “ESSID”)
- Network Key (this may also be referred to as your “Security Key”, “Password” or the “Encryption Key”)
The Network name (or SSID) and Network Key (or Password) can be located on the side or the base of your access point, or your wireless router. You may have to check the specific documentation that came with your router or access point to discover exactly where this is.
It is important to note that you will not be able to source this information from Brother; the Network Password and Network name belong to your internet service, not your printer, and so you will need to access the manufacturer of your ruler, or your internet service provider if the details are not present on your router or access point.
Once you have located the network information for your access point or your wireless router, you can then start the process of connecting your printer to your Wi-Fi.
As a note, if you have an access point or wireless router that utilizes a WEP encryption using multiple WEP keys, you should take care to make a note of the first WEP key only.
Connecting Your Brother Printer To The Wireless Network
Once you have the information that you need, you can move on to connecting your printer to the network.
Step
Switch On Printer
To start, you will need to use a power cord to plug your printer in and make sure it is switched on.
Step
Scroll To Network
Then, head to the control panel on your machine, and press the “Menu” button. Use the arrow keys to scroll through the menu, pressing Up or Down to get to your destination, and continue to scroll until you reach “Network”. Then, hit “OK”.
Step
Scroll To WLAN
Next, use the same Up and Down keys to scroll through the menu again until you reach “WLAN”.
When you get there, press “OK” – it should be noted that this option is not present on all Brother machines, and so it is worth doing a little extra research to see if this applies to you.
Step
Setup Wizard
Following this, use the Up and Down keys to scroll a third time until you reach “Setup Wizard”. Once you find this, click “OK”.
Step
Enable Wireless Network
Shortly after this, “WLAN Enable?” will appear on the control screen. Press “Yes” to select this, and enable the wireless network – this move will kick the wireless setup wizard into action.
The printer will start to search for your Wi-Fi network, presenting you with a list of possible Network Names (or SSIDS), to choose from.
Step
Scroll Through List Network Names
When the list appears, you can use the Up and Down keys until you reach the Network that you need – this will be the SSID that you found and wrote down earlier. Once you have found the necessary network, click “OK”.
Step
Enter Password
The next step will depend on your machine – if you are using an encryption and authentication method that asks you to use the password (or Network Key), then you will need to enter this password, click “OK” to apply, and then press “Yes” to ensure that all settings are applied.
If, on the other hand, the authentication system that you are using is Open System, the encryption method that is selected will be “None”.
Your machine will then try to connect to the Wi-Fi network that you selected from the menu earlier – if this is successful, the screen will display a message saying “Connected”.
If the connection fails, your printer will automatically print you a wireless connection report. This will contain an error code that you can use to determine the problem and try to troubleshoot a solution.
Step
Drivers And Software
It is important to remember that setting up your printer and connecting to the Wi-Fi is not the end of your journey. There is one final step that is all too often overlooked, but which will determine whether your printer is actually usable.
Remembering to do this early on can save you a lot of stress and headaches, later on, so try to remember to make this a priority!
Before you can use your Brother printer, you will need to download and install the driver. This is the software that can help your computer data be translated into a format that can be read and understood by your specific printer.
Windows users can download drivers by heading to the “Downloads” section of the Brother website, finding your item, and selecting the option to download the “Full Driver and Software Package”.
Upon downloading, full installation instructions will also be provided, so you can simply follow these to install your drivers and get your printer up and running.
The process is similar for Mac users, but you will need to download the options market “Full Software Package” from the “Downloads” section of the Brother website – the installation instructions will also be located here.
In some cases, the “Full Software Package” may not be visible; as an alternative, you can download the “Scanner Driver” and “Printer Driver”, and then follow the instructions on the download page.
AirPrint can also be used to print and connect to networks.
Remember that each printer comes with its own unique hardware and software; it is significant that your computer, laptop, or device can provide specific instructions to each unique machine. This is the role of the printer driver.
Final Thoughts
Hopefully, this guide has helped you in understanding how to set up your Brother printer and connect to a wireless network. It is important to note that this guide only covers basic steps and that additional information can be found at the Brother website.
Also, please keep in mind that the steps outlined above may differ slightly depending on the operating system that you are using.