William Stanek: The Dreaded Printer, Scanner, Fax Installation: Yes or No—The Adventure Begins (Part 2)
William here. Continuing on what I’d like to call “Adventures in Printer, Scanner, Fax Installation.”
So after basic setup, the All-in-One was good to go, except for the printer software, the wireless features, and the fax. The device comes with an installation CD, so insert the CD, run setup, and go, right? Well, almost but not exactly. Follow the prompts and then uh-oh. “Dad, it says it doesn’t run on this version of Windows.” Huge problem? Real reason the device was so cheap? No, not really.
Start the browser. Visit the manufacturer’s web site. HP in this case. Click the “Support & Drivers” option. Follow the steps. Step 1, specify that you want to download software and drivers. Step 2, enter the product name and number. Click Go. Select the operating system, which in this case is Windows 7 64-bit, click the appropriate download link, and then follow the prompts to install the software.
Because the device is wireless and not yet connected to the wireless network, you need to connect the device directly to your computer by using the supplied USB cable to work through the setup. Simply plug in the cable when prompted and Windows 7 will do the rest.
When the wireless network setup prompt appears, select your wireless network name from the list provided or enter the wireless network name if you have a hidden network that doesn’t broadcast the name. Next, enter (or copy and paste in) your wireless key. Follow the prompts and all should be good—most of the time.
After the software installs, you’ll next proceed through the fax machine setup. Your answers in this phase configure the hardware settings on the fax, including the fax configuration, the fax phone number, and the name used in fax headers.
When you complete this process, the fax itself is configured, but there’s still one important step remaining. That step is to set up the digital fax, or Fax-to-PC feature, using the option provided in the software. Setting up the digital fax allows you to receive faxes directly to your computer.
So there we are with a configured wireless Printer, Scanner, Fax machine complete with digital faxing capabilities.
William R. Stanek
williamstanek at aol dot com