PALCS provides printers to our students for school usage. In order for them to work correctly they will need to be setup. This guide will show you how to setup and install our latest model of printer (HP 4155e).
Setting up the Printer physically
The first step is to open the box that the printer arrived in.
The top piece of cardboard holds the power cable as well as the "Starter Cartridges" as marked by the "plug" and "droplet" cutout.
Make sure to check the inside of this top section as you will need these items later.
Take the printer out of the box, removing the cardboard padding and plastic film.
Then remove all the protective blue tape.
Make sure to remove this piece of cardboard that keeps the ink headers safe during transport.
Now it is time to plug the power cable into the back of the printer.
Plug the other end of the power cable into an outlet. (We recommend plugging directly into a wall outlet as sometimes an extension cable / power strip can cause problems) Once it is plugged in, it may turn on automatically. If it does not, press the power button on the far right side of the controls.
The printer will start making noises, while it is starting up, open up the "Starter Cartridges" (do NOT open the other ink that was sent with your other PALCS equipment. You HAVE to use these specific "Startup" cartridges before the other ones will work)
Once they are out of the packaging, make sure to remove the protective strip over the nozzles.
Then open up the front "door" of the printer. If it is powered on the printer should move the ink cartridge carriage to the center of the opening.
Insert the ink cartridges, there should be a clicking sound as they latch into place.
Once both cartridges have been installed. Close the door and the printer should make more noises. Once it stops, the indicator screen should show ink levels for both color and black ink.
Now it is time for paper, we recommend standard 8.5 x 11 in paper. Make sure to not grab too many sheets as that may cause the printer to jam.
At the back end of the printer, you will need to unlatch the paper holder and pull it up. Insert the paper.
There is a blue paper guide that may need to be adjusted to the edge of the paper.
Open up the scanning bed and remove the plastic protective covering.
At this point, the printer may print out the "alignment" page.
Once it is printed, open up the scanning bed and place it in the bed.
Then press either of the "Copy" buttons next to the power buttons. It will automatically align itself.
On the back of the printer there might be a sticker like this. Behind it is the USB connection.
While HP is pushing for WiFi connections/setup, we highly recommend the use of a USB cable to connect to the printer as we've found it to be much more stable and reliable than WiFi. (There should be an included USB cable in the larger PALCS package that we sent. It is not in the printer box itself) Plug the cable into the back of the printer and then into one of the USB ports on the computer.
Your printer is now all PHYSICALLY set up. The next section we will cover installation and usage on the PALCS laptop.
Using the printer on the PALCS Computer
By default, all PALCS devices have the drivers and software required to use the printers. So, the first time that you plug the printer into the PALCS computer you should receive a pop up like this.
That means the computer sees the printer and should be able to print via the USB cable. When you go to print something "HP DeskJet 4100 Series" should show up as an option (There may be two with the same name, that is normal. One listing is just for the scanner portion while the other is for the printer.)
As long as the printer is turned on and plugged in via USB, you should be able to print to it without having to install any other drivers or do any more setup.
However, if you would like to leverage the WiFi capabilities of the printer, you will need to use the "HP Smart" program that is already installed to your device. Open up the start menu and search for "HP," one of the options that shows up should be "HP Smart."
You can also access this from the Devices and Printers page inside of Windows Settings by clicking on the "Open printer app" button.
Once the HP Smart app opens, you can click on the blue "Add Printer" button at the top right.
If the printer is turned on and plugged in, it should eventually "find" the printer.
Click on the "Set Up" button after it has located the printer. (If it does not find the printer, you may want to unplug the printer, restart the laptop and printer and then attempt these steps again)
It should then start the installation process. Click on the blue continue button.
Then it will prompt you to enter your WiFi information. Enter your WiFi password and then press "Continue."
It will then add your network information to the printer.
After some time it will present you with this screen asking you to confirm your proximity.
On the printer itself, press on the flashing "i" button.
At this point, it may also prompt you to enter the "printer pin."
This can be found on the inside of the printer door (where the ink goes). Make sure to enter the PIN number and not the "P/N" section.
Eventually it should finish the WiFi setup portion.
It will then ask if you want to Connect to printing services. Click on "Accept All."
The next few stages it will be offering to take advantage of several programs and services. These are NOT needed to use the printer and we highly recommend not signing up for any of the programs and services.
It will ask if you want to "Activate HP+" which we do NOT want to do. Click on the "Do Not Activate HP+" button.
It will confirm again, click on "Decline HP+."
It will inform you of the Printer Dynamic security notice. Click "Continue."
Next it will prompt you if you want to create an HP account. This is NOT needed so click on "Skip account activation."
Again, it will ask for confirmation. Press "Skip account activation" again.
Next, it will offer you to sign up for "HP Instant Ink." We do not recommending signing up for this service (we do provide additional ink upon request - Ink and Headset Policies ). Click on the "Do not enable ink delivery" button.
Once more, it will ask for a confirmation. Press "Do not enable ink delivery." And then again "Skip Offer."
Now it will ask about Printer updates. We do recommend selecting "Auto Updates" and then press "Apply."
Next it will offer to set up "Print from other devices." Since this requires additional setup and software, just press "Skip sending link."
It will then present you with this screen to add the printer to Windows. Click on the "Printers & Scanners" button and it should open up Windows settings.
Press the "Add a printer or scanner" button.
It should "find" an HP printer similar to this one.
Click on the printer name and then select "Add device."
It will then add the printer to Windows.
When it finishes it should show up in the list of available Printers & Scanners.
Move back to the HP Smart app and press "Continue."
It may search for printers but it might fail.
End the setup process and it should send you to this screen. Select the "Print" option to test the new WiFi connection. (If you do not see this screen, do not worry, this is not necessary for setting up the printer, just useful for testing the new connection)
In the print options screen, make sure the newly added printer is selected at the top left.
It should then start printing out the test page on the printer.
Now when you visit HP Smart, it will show you the current status of your printer (which is useful to see how much ink is left).
Your printer should now be all set up. If you remove the USB cable, make sure to only send things to the WiFi version of the printer.
For scanning, we do not recommend using the "Scan" option within the HP Smart App. (This will often require an HP account to work properly).
Instead we recommend using "Windows Fax and Scan" as we've found it is much more reliable.
More information on that can be found Here.
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