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‎09-20-2021 06:30 PM - edited ‎09-20-2021 07:30 PM

HP Recommended
Product: LaserJet MFP M28w
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 (64-bit)

Having just sorted out yet another "Printer offline" situation with my HP networked printer, I wanted to ask the community why HP Setup configures its network printers in a way that is almost guaranteed to fail, eventually. The problem is that it always sets up the network port using a fixed IPV4 port. It's been that way for years (this is just the latest in a series of HP printers I've owned, most of which are networked). If it were 1995 I'd understand but Multicast DNS (mDNS) a.k.a. Bonjour has been available and supported by HP printers for years now. Why not use it?

The change seems almost trivial. Setup can already identify the printer on the network, likely using mDNS, so can find its unique network name. All it needs to do is use that name instead of the IPv4 address, and the printer will stay "online" as long as it's on and the network is up.

Instead, it's putting in an IPv4 address which in virtually every home environment is DHCP-assigned, and so subject to change. And when it does, the printer goes "offline" until someone figures out how to put it back online again. No doubt many customers end up just uninstalling and reinstalling it; the instructions to repair it are quite complicated.

What am I missing? Why does HP not make use of this simple and reliable technique instead of using transient IPv4 addresses?

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† The opinions expressed above are the personal opinions of the authors, not of HP. By using this site, you accept the Terms of Use and Rules of Participation.
† The opinions expressed above are the personal opinions of the authors, not of HP. By using this site, you accept the <a href="https://www8.hp.com/us/en/terms-of-use.html" class="udrlinesmall">Terms of Use</a> and <a href="/t5/custom/page/page-id/hp.rulespage" class="udrlinesmall"> Rules of Participation</a>.