Having trouble getting my printers to work with Wi-FI

Question

Having trouble getting my printers to work with Wi-FI

New to Apple, I can't seem to get my Canon MX860 or my HP Laserjet P1102w to work by wi-fi? I have to turn off and turn on the HP before the iMac finds it each time I print. The iMac can't seem to find the Canon MX860. Since my new iMac did not come with an manual, I have no idea how to find our how things work. I am running OS High Sierra.

iMac (21.5-inch, 2017), from Windows 10 to iMac

Posted on Nov 13, 2017 3:12 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

chris_g1

Community Specialist

Nov 17, 2017 2:31 PM in response to jayfromeugene

Hello and welcome to Apple Support Communities, jayfromeugene.

If I understand your post correctly, you're having trouble printing wirelessly to either of your printers from you iMac running macOS High Sierra. I'm happy to help.

First, you mentioned the manual for your iMac. You can find a helpful guide here: Mac Help: Browse Topics for Mac Help

For your printing issue, follow these steps:

If your printer isn't AirPrint-enabled

If you're printing from your Mac to a printer that isn't AirPrint-enabled:

If your printer is connected to your Mac with a cable, disconnect the cable from your Mac.

Turn off your printer.

Get software updates for your Mac. Your Mac automatically downloads the latest software for most printers as part of these updates, so it's best not to install software from the printer manufacturer.

Reconnect your printer to your Mac, if applicable.

Turn on your printer and wait for it to finish starting up.

Choose Apple () menu > System Preferences, then click Printers & Scanners.

Select your printer in the list of devices.

If your printer doesn't appear in the list of devices in Printers & Scanners preferences, click at the bottom of the list, then choose the command to add a printer or scanner. The window that opens offers more ways to find and add a printer, such as by IP address:

If you still can't print, and your printer is connected via Wi-Fi:

Restart your Wi-Fi router. Then restart your printer.

Move your printer closer to your Wi-Fi router.

Update your printer and Wi-Fi router with the latest firmware from the manufacturer.2

See additional steps in the full article:

If you can‘t print from your Mac or iOS device

Let us know if that resolves this issue for you.

Thanks for using the Apple Support Communities. Take care.

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Answer 2

chris_g1

Community Specialist

Nov 17, 2017 10:37 PM in response to jayfromeugene

Hello jayfromeugene.

Try these additional steps:

Reset the printing system

If the issue continues, reset the printing system on your Mac. This removes all printers and scanners—including their print jobs and settings—from Printers & Scanners preferences.

Choose Apple menu > System Preferences, then click Printers & Scanners.

While holding down the Control key on your keyboard, click anywhere in the list of devices.

Choose “Reset printing system” from the menu that appears:

Remove printer drivers

If the issue continues on your Mac after resetting the printing system, take these final steps to remove any currently installed printer drivers. These steps don't apply to AirPrint printers.
From the menu bar in the Finder, choose Go > Go to Folder. Type
/Library/Printers/
and click Go.
The Printers folder opens. Choose Edit > Select All, which selects all items in the Printers folder.

Choose File > New Folder with Selection, which puts all of the selected items into a new folder named New Folder With Items. To save storage space, you can delete this folder.
If the issue continues, contact the printer manufacturer for support.

You can view the full article here:

If you can‘t print from your Mac or iOS device

Cheers.

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Answer 3

vsquyres

Level 2

217 points

Nov 17, 2017 4:27 PM in response to jayfromeugene

I have HP printer and both my iMac and MacBook Pro synched effortless.

try going to HP.com and then click on support .then click on software and Drivers, then put your hp model number in and it will let you download latest driver for you model.

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Answer 4

Nov 17, 2017 3:51 PM in response to chris_g1

Thanks for the reply, I have tried all those steps, with no luck. The printer showed up in my system preferences, after I hooked up with USB, but now that I have disconnected the cable it shows up and says offline. I can print to it from my windows computer to the canon MX860 and the HP1102, but for some reason both my iMac and my iPad Pro don't seem to pick up the Canon printer. I just sent a job to the Canon from my windows computer, and it printed fine. Now looking at printers in my system preferences on my iMac, it shows the Canon printer as offline.

Any further ideas?

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Answer 5

Nov 17, 2017 10:29 PM in response to vsquyres

The HP printer is working fine now, the Wi-Fi on my iMac was not turned on since I had an ethernet cable connection. However the Canon just shows "offline" even though I can print to it on Wi-Fi from my Windows computer.

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Answer 6