Envy 4520 printer getting message about unsupported network security protocol

[RLNoonan]

Just helped my daughter move into her dorm room today and could not get her Envy 4520 connected to the wireless network.  This is the same printer she used last year (same dorm too, although maybe the school has made changes to the wireless network).  I followed the Wireless Setup Wizard and it found the network after a scan with no problems.  However, when I selected the school's network it immediately came up with a message that the network's security protocol was incompatible (or something similar, I'm not there now).  I've never seen this message before and she used the same printer last year.  When I turned on the printer at home before we moved her in it did download new firmware (or something like that). 

Could it be that the updated firmware no longer supports older wireless security protocols?  What can I do to get this thing working?  Her Windows 10 computer connects to that network with no trouble at all, so what is the problem with the printer?  

I don't know what security protocol is being used by the school's network.  How can I check that, since I would assume that is the first step in troubleshooting?

Thanks for any help.

[Riddle_Decipher]

@RLNoonan

Thank you for posting on HP Forums, 

Riddle_Decipher, is at your service (Like a Genie, however, without magic powers) 😉 

Your printer supports only the 2.4ghz connection speed, hence you'll need to ensure the router in use is also on 2.4ghz (Support), you could change the router to channel 11 after you restore the network to defaults using the below steps:

• Press the Wireless button and the Cancel button from the printer control panel at the same time, and then hold them for three seconds.
• The network will need to be reconfigured afterwards. Then the user name will be admin and the password is left blank. 

If the issue persists, reply back for further assistance.

Let me know how that pans out

I will have a colleague follow-up on this to ensure it's taken care off,

as I need to know if the issue has been resolved, to get proper sleep at night.

feel free to give me a virtual high-five by clicking the 'Thumbs Up' icon,

followed by clicking on 'Accepted as Solution' as it would help the community gain more knowledge, and have a great day Ahead!

[RLNoonan]

OK, I called my daughter and got a few more details.  First, the error message that the printer is giving is:  "Unable to connect to the network, this network uses an unsupported type of authentication or encryption."  Next, by having here bring up the properties of her network connection on her computer she got this information about the wifi network:

The network's security protocol is WPA2-Enterprise. 

The encryption is AES. 

Network authentication is Microsoft: protected EAP (PEAP).

The network band is 5 GHz

The network channel is 48

So, based on the feedback from Riddle_Decipher (thanks for the information, very helpful since I didn't know the printer only supported 2.4ghz) it sounds like the issue is that the network is 5ghz, but the printer only supports 2.4ghz.  So that must have been something that the school changed over the summer since she used this printer on the network last year.  Does it make sense that the school would completely remove the 2.4ghz band (as opposed to just adding the 5ghz band)?  Isn't 2.4ghz the most supported band?

Any ideas on how to solve this?  I was thinking that maybe I could purchase a wireless extender that supports 2.4ghz and connect the printer to that network.  I think she may have a network jack in her room to use a wired connection, so maybe I could just use the extender in AP mode, basically creating her own wifi that the printer works on.  Does that sound like the best option here?

[RLNoonan]

Thanks very much for the information.  If you look at my other reply, you'll see that I think the network is 5ghz and that is probably the issue here.  Unfortunately, this is the college's wifi network, so we have no way to change the band that the router is using.

Let me know what you think of the solution I proposed in my other reply.

Thanks again.

[Riddle_Decipher · Accepted solution]

@RLNoonan

Thank you for responding,

This is the Riddle_Decipher, again!

I have bad news, and I have great news:

• Let's get the bad news out of our way: your printer only supports 2.4ghz & hence cannot be connected to the router network with 5ghz, it just wouldn't work and there are no workarounds either.
   
• Now, for the great news: your daughter can make use of the WiFi direct rather than connecting to the college network, what's great about this feature, is that you can print from your phone, laptop or your daughters phone directly: Click here to know about it and about setting it up.

I hope that answers your query,

If it did, simply select "Accept as solution", to help the community grow, 

And if you wish to thank us for our efforts, click on the thumbs up for kudos.

[RLNoonan]

Thanks again.  Using WiFi direct sounds like a great idea.  Can her laptop print via WiFi direct while still connected to the school's WiFi network for Internet, etc?  If so, that would work well.  

I'm heading up there tonight to try to get things working.  I was still planning on setting up the WiFi network in her room with an extender (for more than just printing), but I'll also try to set up this WiFi direct.  I'll use the link you gave me to figure out how to do it.

Thanks again for all the help.

[Riddle_Decipher]

@RLNoonan

Thank you for the update,

I'm afraid she will need to disconnect from the WiFi network, connect it to the WiFi direct (printer) when a print is needed, as both cannot be used at the same time from a laptop or any other device.

Although, at the positive side - it only takes a few seconds to disconnect from one network to the other and back.

If you have any difficulties using the WiFi direct article I've share, once you get to the college, you can either write back or simply send a message on our HP Facebook or twitter page and an agent should reply almost immediately to give you an instant support (considering the response on HP Forums, just as any other forum isn't the same as an instant chat).

I hope that answers your query,

If it did, simply select "Accept as solution", to help the community grow, 

And if you wish to thank us for our efforts, click on the thumbs up for kudos.