I got an HP LaserJet P1102w about a year ago, so long before I thought I was going to get an Apple’s iOS device. I purchased it just because I thought it would be useful to have a printer that could work wirelessly.

At that time I made it work using wireless, but for some reason it stopped working. I didn’t care because it was very simple to connect it via USB to my computer and get my stuff done.

However, this time’s story was different. I really wanted it to work wirelessly to be able to print from an iPad. And after so many hours I made it work. The main problem was that the printer could not get an IP address when WEP was enabled.

In few steps: I disabled WEP on my router, connected my printer using DHCP, assigned it a static IP and then enabled WEP again.

So, here is what I did:

Important: The following instructions assume you have some technical knowledge. There are many terms and actions that you must be familiar with.

1. First, remove all your printer’s drivers and disconnect it from your computer.  You can get detailed instructions on this page.
2. Restart your computer.
3. Connect to your router’s administrative page and temporarly disable WEP or any other authentication.
4. On Windows: connect the printer to your computer. A new drive will show up on Windows Explorer. Double click the SISetup.exe file located in the new drive to start the installation.
   On Mac: Download the latest printer drivers from HP.com. Start the installation from the downloaded files.
5. When the installation program asks you to select a method to connect to your printer choose via WiFi Network. You can do this even if your computer is connected via Ethernet to your router.
6. When you are prompted to select a method for detecting your WiFi network select Automatic.
7. Select your router from the list. Since  you disabled WEP before, the installation program will not ask you for a password.
8. Unplug your USB cable when asked for.
9. After some minutes, your printer installation will finish. At this point your printer should be connected to your router.
10. Get your printer’s IP address. You can do it by pressing for about 5 seconds the X button on it.

Now, to set your router’s security on again:

1. Open a web browser and go to your printer’s IP address.
2. Go to Network Connections and set your IP address as Manual IP. I strongly recommend you to leave the DHCP assigned IP address as the new static one; this way you will not loose connectivity when you apply the changes.
3. Now, still on your printer’s web page, click on Wireless. On security mode select WEP, then select Hexadecimal and under WEP Key 1 type what your new WEP key will be.
4. Apply the changes. At this moment you will loose connectivity to your printer because it will try to connect to your router using WEP.
5. Go back to your router’s administrative web page and turn WEP authentication on again. Assign the aforementioned WEP key.
6. Apply the changes.
7. Turn your printer off and on and connectivity must be recovered.
8. You are now ready to connect to it using any iOS device.

Final suggestions

• Update your printer’s firmware. You can download the latest version from HP.com.
• Instruct your router not to reassign the IP address your printer uses.