After publishing my previous post on Setting up a HP LaserJet P1102w Printer on Gentoo , I’ve noticed that I seem to be getting a lot of visitors searching for how to setup the same printer under Ubuntu, so decided to write a guide specific to Ubuntu.

First, plug in the printer via USB, then install hplip ( most users will already have this installed, but run it to check anyway ):

# sudo apt-get install hplip

Next run hp-setup ( you must supply the -i flag, without this it tries to use a GUI which doesn’t seem to work ):

# sudo hp-setup -i

Select the the USB option from the list ( option 0 ), and follow the prompts. It will then ask about a propriatry plugin, let it download this , agree to the license then follow the rest of the prompts , I left everything to default ( ‘m’ for name of print queue, say ‘y’ for the selected PPD being correct, put location to ‘Home’, and left additional information blank, then ‘y’ to print a test page ). The printer should now work over USB. Check the test page looks correct.

The next step is setting up the printer for WiFi. On the left side of the printer is a WiFi button, press it and it will create an Ad-Hoc WiFi network which you can connect to. Connect to this using a suitable device ( it will need a WiFi connection, either use your Ubuntu machine directly, or another one capable of Ad-Hoc connections, I used a spare laptop, as I set this up on a desktop machine ).

Once connected, find the IP Address of the printer by holding the red ‘X’ button on the printer, which will make it print out a configuration sheet containing the IP Address. Connect using a web browser to this IP address, and within the ‘Network Settings’ configure the connection to your actual WiFI network. Check and double-check the settings are correct, then once saving the settings, it should try to connect to your WiFi network.

Now back on your Ubuntu machine, remove the USB version of the printer within the System/Administration/Printing menu, then run this command to run setup again:

# sudo hp-setup -i

This time select ‘network’ ( option 1 ), have it download the plugin and accept the license again if asked, fill in the same prompts as above, and you should be ready to print over wireless.

Setting up additional Ubuntu machines once the printer is already configured will just only require running:

# sudo hp-setup -i

And following the prompts to select the network printer, install the plugin and create the printer.