Ability to ping a wireless network that the printer connect to through a USB connection.

[nohst]

The problem is a security issue.  I have an 6978 HP Office Jet Pro connected to a Windows 10 PC.   The PC is on  a wired network 192.168.1.x.   The wireless network is 192.168.5.x.   The printer is connected to the PC via a USB.  

When the printer is connected to the PC I can ping the wireless network, evidently through the USB port. Is this even possible?

The printer must connect to the wireless network without authentication.  The tracert (Trace Route)  was one hop.  

The wireless network is completely segment off the production network.   I can not ping the .5 address anywhere else on the network.  

Any help would be appreciated.  

[ShlomiL]

Hi,

From your description, it seems as the wired and wireless networks are completely separate networks, with completely different DHCP servers.

This is something to check on the network level, if the networks are even bridges to each other, if those are different networks, devices won't be able to communicate among different network environments.

Shlomi

[nohst]

After sending this message I did some further investigation.   

While the PC is connected to the USB HP Printer I am able to Ping the .5 network.   

Unplug the USB and you can no longer ping the .5 network.  

Clearly the network connectivity is being passed through the USB connection.  

any ideas of why this might be happening?  It is a clear security issue.