I need to find my WPA passphrase for wireless HP printer.

Welcome to the discussions!

Let's check to see if your AirPort Extreme has a compatible setting that may work with the HP.

Open Macintosh HD > Applications > Utilities > AirPort Utility
Click Manual Setup
Click the Wireless tab below the row of icons at the top of the configuration page

Look for the Wireless Security setting. If it's on WPA2 Personal, change this to WPA/WPA2 Personal and click Update at the lower right of the window. The Extreme will restart in 15-20 seconds.

Give that a try to see if the HP can connect now using your regular wireless network password.

im not sure if the original poster meant what is my wpa paassphrase so i can connect my printer to the airport or if the original poster meant how do i access and configure the wpa passphrase in the printer


my hp photosmart, its a 3310 has a webserver so i can set the wpa passphrase there by connecting to it via Ethernet and browsing it, like http://192.168.1.138

theres also a network configuration page you can print out that should list the wpa passphrse

and lastly at least my hp photosmart can read 'windows connect now' usb drives. so if you have a windows machine and connect it wireless to the base station and save the wireless configuration to a usb drive, u can add the hp printer easily
by inserting the usb flash drive into the printer and it should automatically import the base station id and password to use

so if your printer is newer then a photosmart 3310 then i would imagine windows connect now should work on it

Message was edited by: rigormortis

I'm also not sure if the OP was looking for the actual network "key", a long code of letters and numbers.

Most wireless printers simply require that the security be compatible and then you enter the regular password for the wireless network and the device connects.

Let's see how the OP responds here and hopefully, we'll head in the right direction.

The passphrase is your wireless network password. Normally, WPA compatible devices do not need the "key" and will work fine with just the password, but perhaps HP is looking for the "key" when they use the term passphrase.

Your network "key" is a long series of letters and numbers. This is the actual code that is generated when you enter your password.

You can find your "key" as follows:

Open AirPort Utility and click Manual Setup
Click the Base Station menu (at the top of the screen near the Apple icon)
Click on Equivalent Network Password

Your WPA password and WPA key will appear.

yeah but if you use 'show equivalent password' using the windows client, it will
not allow you to copy any of that into the clipboard. you can only copy to the clipboard with the mac version! copyinng it into a temporary file, a "windows connect now" flash drive, or simply pasting it from the clipboard into the printers webpage will save you the hassle of having to actually type it in.
especially if you like me and you have a random passphrase

the mac version of airport utility has its own password maker (up to 31 characters), but the windows version does not, heh


do you have any windows computers or bootcamp that has ever connected to your airport? save the wireless configuration to a usb stick, stick the usb stick in the printer. it shouldnt automatically import (my hp printer reads "windows connect now" usb drives)

the passphrase your computer uses to connect is also stored in your keychain..

if you do not have a windows machine you can connect wired to the printer, and if the printer is of recent vintage, it will have its own embedded web server. its a simple as copying the passphrase from "show equivelent network password" and pasting it into the printer's embedded web server.

were trying to avoid having to reinstall the printer drivers (on a windows machine) or sitting in front of the control panel and manually typing in 63 characters at most.

a screwy thing with hp printers and windows is if i change the numeric ip address of my printer, my macs will find it, but all my windows machines require the printer drivers to be reinstalled from the hp cd-rom