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HP Install Network Printer Wizard - Product Overview and General Printer Installation Steps
Overview
The HP Install Network Printer Wizard (INPW) is Hewlett-Packard’s easiest installation program for network printers connected via an HP Jetdirect print server. HP Install Network Printer Wizard works in networks of most any size, but it is best for small to medium-sized networks. Because HP Install Network Printer Wizard does not offer printer management, HP Web Jetadmin might be better for larger networks.
Getting the software
HP Install Network Printer Wizard software is bundled with many printer CDs and is actually part of the installation process for many printers. It is recommended to use the printer CD first for a network installation.
System requirements
HP Install Network Printer Wizard 3.05 requires the following:
Windows 98, Windows Me, Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000, Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP
- NetWare 5.x and 6.0 (Queue Server Mode)
15 MB of free space on the computer’s hard drive.
The PC must have TCP/IP and/or IPX/SPX protocols installed (IPX/SPX required for NetWare Queue Server mode printing).
- HP Jetdirect print servers must have a firmware revision of x.03.16 or greater.
( x.06.00 or greater required for NetWare support)
Configuration and installation
A complete network printer installation consists of four steps:
Select a device.
Select the protocol and print path.
Select the printer driver.
Complete the installation process.
HP Install Network Printer Wizard can help with all four steps. You can choose to have HP Install Network Printer Wizard make configuration decisions automatically (based on current network settings), or, if preferred, you can control your own network configuration settings. In the next sections, each installation step is discussed. In addition, the main configuration choices and features within each step are explored. At any time during the installation, click on Help in INPW for more details.
Step 1 - Select a device
When starting HP Install Network Printer Wizard (either from its program group or by clicking the Install button), first select which device to install. Select a device from a list of discovered printers or all-in-ones, or search for a specific device .
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NOTE:
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For HP All-in-One peripherals, HP recommends that using the installation CD that was shipped with the printer\All-in-One rather than HP Install Network Printer Wizard. |
Figure 1: Selecting the device
If Select
is chosen from a list of detected printers, HP Install Network Printer Wizard searches for supported printers on the network to detect any HP Jetdirect devices. This option is useful if you are unfamiliar with the network protocols. If searching for a specific device, HP Install Network Printer Wizard lets you specify the device’s address, which can be its LAN hardware address, IP address, IPX address, or its IP hostname.
Figure 2: List of discovered devices
Step 2 - Select a protocol and print path
After selecting the device to install, HP Install Network Printer Wizard can do the installation and configuration, or you can choose to do it yourself. Figure 3: Network Configuration
Configure network settings for me
This new feature is especially useful for users with little or no network experience with network installations but can also be useful for network administrators.
If this option is chosen, HP Install Network Printer Wizard decides the following:
Which network protocol to use
The print path
The HP Jetdirect device’s network settings, including the IP address if needed.
The IP address can automatically be assigned only if all of these conditions are meet:
The HP Jetdirect device is unconfigured and has not received an IP address from a DHCP or Bootp server
The HP Jetdirect device has the default IP address (192.0.0.192),
IPX/SPX is not installed on the PC and is not enabled on the HP Jetdirect device.
The HP Install Network Printer Wizard ensures all these conditions are met before it continues with this feature. This entire process requires no user intervention; it is done automatically in the background. For IPX/SPX print paths, no specific settings are changed on the HP Jetdirect device.
Let me configure my own network settings
This option gives the user more control over the installation by allowing specification of each aspect of the installation of the network device:
Print path configuration
Depending on the network protocols installed on the computer and the protocols enabled on the HP Jetdirect device, HP Install Network Printer Wizard offers a choice between different print paths in a drop-down box and shows the preferred method (these are available in both installation options):
OR
In the option Configure network settings for me
, HP Install Network Printer Wizard selects the print path automatically.
In the user-configured option Let me configure my own network settings
, NDS or Bindery is also listed if a Novell NetWare client and Novell login has been detected. The type of login determines which Novell option is offered.
Step 3 - Select a printer driver
After the protocol is chosen, network parameters are configured, and the print path is selected (either automatically or by the user), HP Install Network Printer Wizard asks for a printer driver. If the user previously chose the automatic option and the correct printer driver was already installed on the computer, HP Install Network Printer Wizard proceeds to the end of the installation process. If the correct printer driver is not yet installed on the computer, HP Install Network Printer Wizard offers three options for finding the printer driver (see Figure 3).
Figure 4: Driver download options
Check HP's Web site for a driver
Also known as Automatic Driver Download option (I-ADD), this is only available for HP printers. I-ADD helps you make sure you are using the latest printer driver available. During the printer driver installation, HP Install Network Printer Wizard checks the HP Web site for the latest printer driver for the printer being installed.
If there is only one driver available for the printer being installed, that driver will be automatically downloaded.
If there are multiple drivers available for the printer being installed (as with some HP LaserJet printers), a dialog box is displayed showing all available printer drivers with the estimated download time for each driver. Select the driver you want to download from that list. The entire download and installation process is automatic. HP Install Network Printer Wizard downloads, unpacks, and installs the printer driver.
Other driver download options
The other driver download options involve finding the driver on a disk or CD-ROM, or using a driver that is already installed on the PC. Subsequent screens may be displayed asking for the location of the driver file. At any time during the installation, click on Help in INPW for more details.
Step 4 - Complete the installation process
After the printer driver has been installed, the user is asked for a port name (a name will be suggested). For NT, 2000, and XP clients, specify whether the printer should be shared through this client.
The last screen shows all settings that were chosen during installation (either user-specified or automatically). The user can then choose to proceed with the shown installation or start over. At this point, the configuration parameters are set, the printer port is created, and any other necessary changes have been made and saved. After a successful installation, the new printer is available as an icon in the printer's folder. Users can now begin printing to the newly installed printer.
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Printable version
