The only usb port on my printer that works was completely covered by a sticker trying to persuade you to use the wireless printing feature that requires HORRIBLE software installation.

Yet another reason to never buy HP printers. The software is probably there to nag you about ink subscriptions and to keep your printer firmware updated so you can't use refilled or 3rd-party cartridges.

Obligatory buy-a-Brother-laser-printer comment

Is it hp?

Their goal is to convince you to use their app so they can bombard you with signing up for their bullshit to make printing convenient.

Well, the biggest mistake here was buying a HP printer in the first place!

As everybody should have known for at least the last 20 years!

My windows 10 and 11 PCs both connect via wifi without any software. Not HP though. Guess that's why?

And this is why I love my brother printer it's wireless printing doesn't require any of their software I just set it up with windows 11 add devices and printers and then I can use the scanning app or print from any software and it'll automatically use my brother printer

Never let your printer contact the mothership!

The port on the front of the printer is probably meant for use with a USB-stick to print files directly from the stick.

But why didn't you use the network port?

I have a Brother and my husband uses an HP. When we moved, we tried to set up just one (downsizing lol). We tried the HP first because the brother seemed to be pulling a little too much electricity for this older house but man that Wi-Fi stuff was just impossible and the hoops we had to go through to get the stupid software installed.... I ended up calling an electrician having a dedicated outlet put in and drug out the Brother.

i think the sticker is supposed to be saying try wireless before you try usb instead of trying to hide the usb, but yes it's still very shitty

30+ years of shit and people still buy HP. Mind boggling.

Welcome to HP. Im still contemplating kicking the shit out of mine before setting it on fire and pissing on it.

Are Brother laser printers good? I had a horrible experience with Brother ink printers. I moved to a Canon laser and have the peace now.

I can’t lie, in idea and theory wireless printing is amazing, but man in reality, nothing trumps usb connection

"The sticker literally has a little usb cable crossed out as if it’s not possible or it is dangerous to use or something." Thanks for the perspective, cuz after reading the post title this reaction wouldn't have occurred to me

Can't you install just the drivers for the printer and search for the printer via wireless? It is possible to connect the printer wirelessly without needing to install their software package.

I can print from my phone without installing anything as long as the printer and phone are on the same wifi.

The we won’t to steal and sell your data that you keep on you phone please!!!

At this point I'm of the opinion that anyone who buys an HP printer deserves what they get.

Can someone explain to me why instead of a computer talking to the printer port with its simple hostname over TCP/IP it creates some special type of HP printer port on the computer that loses its connection randomly.

HP printers are so fucking skeevy

i bought a hp printer. it's only usb, no wireless, bluetooth, nothing. windows has drivers for it and it prints. never ever installed nothing from HP on any computer from which I am printing. 

easy. also going to buy non-hp toner. 

thanks for the cheap printer and fuck you, hp.

I wonder how long the printer arm can keep at it before the rest of HP decides it’s not worth the repetitional damage to be associated with the worst printer company in the world

My Brother printer is the same. I won't use the wireless because of the software needed to run it.

NOPE and FU HP. They are making their product worse the same way a 4yr old tries "to make it better" by violent tantrum. There is no listening to the customer or addressing what the customer really wants. Just "YOURNOTSUPPOSEDTODOITTHATWAY" screeching and data pilfering.

Has anyone come up with a guide to circumvent HP InstantInk?

With the amount of people I hear plugging their stuff in and complaining about it needing a wireless feature that they didn't know was built in, this sticker is 110% valid. It's not saying "don't use USB" it's saying "you don't have to use USB"

Firdt time hp huh?

Be careful if the model number on that printer ends with the letter e. After 20 or 30 pages, it will stop printing what you want and print you a nag message instead telling you to install HP smart and connect the printer to the internet in order to continue using the printer.

makes sense, my Canon did a software update and now knows my $50 cartriges are knockoffs, and won't use them.

Even on a fresh install with a different computer, the software downloads a fresh pack of drivers, I can't just install like when I bought it. Using USB with no internet is probably a hack I'm too lazy to try.

Wireless printing is a lie.

I have a Brother Laser printer that uses wifi. My only complaint about the software is 1) It wants me to replace toner way before its necessary, and 2) It requires the secret phrase on the back of the printer to update the software. That's just inconvenient.

Why do you people still buy those hp printers? Isn’t there enough online talk about their shitty practices to dissuade you? Isn’t the awful subscription shit on the sticker enough to dissuade you?

Hewlett Packard? I just assume it is an HP product.

Remove the sticker, it's a sticker not a steel plate

So take the sticker off and use the USB port? How exactly is this a problem.

Wifi was a mistake

The USB port on the front of a printer is to print documents from a thumb drive ya gabagooli

The port on the front is for outing in a flash drive that you want to print from or scan to.

The sticker on the back is to tell you that if you use USB, it won’t do wireless.

Why would you need any software for wireless printing? Standards for network printing have been around for easily 30+ years.

Never thought HP printers would turn into EPSON!! lol.

I use the HP printers @work with just the generic microsoft driver and they work fine for me

does this printer have a warranty? I want to know if they say somewhere that it's void if that sticker is removed 'cause companies do that...

This is awful UI but I have had printers that turn the wi-fi off once you plug USB in and I think that's what the sticker is trying to tell you.

Good on you. I work IT and I won't even support wireless printers, it's a *HARD* no. If you want to fuck with it, fine. But if you want it to be on the list of devices I will help you with, it's gonna have a data wire running into it. Because every time a Wifi printer goes offline so I can't do anything to help a user fix it "It was working yesterday!".

Well sorry, but now *YOU* have to get it working again today because it's not on the wifi and every menu system on these fucking things is different so I'm not walking you through it on speaker phone with two kids and a screeching bird. Plus half the people dont know their SSID or password. That's layers of "your problem".

I know everyone hates hp. But I have one and it is what it is at this point until I decide to get something different.

The thing works flawlessly when plugged in. But via wifi? It worked great for 5 years. Now it doesn't connect to anything. I spent like 5 hours resetting things and changing the Wi-Fi and blah blah. No headway.

This is so dumb and I was clearly mistaken. Not only is the app bad, it's also confusing, so increases support load on HP.

Protip: just avoid HP