If your computer cannot find wireless printer,

1. First, restart the printer. Sometimes, the printer might be in sleep mode and fail to appear on your computer.
2. Make sure the printer is error-free. Should there be any error being displayed on the printer screen, fix it first. Only then, your computer can find the printer.
3. Restart your router.
4. Do not forget to connect your computer and printer to same Wi-Fi. If you have 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands, connect both to 2.4GHz.
5. Reduce distance between your printer and Wi-Fi router. Relationship is not the only thing where distance creates communication issues.😭
6. Remove all the printers installed on your computer. Then, try to find the wireless printer again. It will fix printer port mismatch issues in your computer, if there are any.
   
7. Check and disable VPN profiles, if activated.
   

Going through these basic fixes should help you fix the problem in most cases.

If that doesn’t, here are some advanced fixes to help you.

Restart the Spooler Service

Print Spooler service is what handles everything related to printing and printers on your computer.

Restarting it helps clear any glitches in the printing services and find the printer.

1. Open CMD (Do it with administrator rights.)
   
2. Execute these commands:
   • net stop spooler
   • del %systemroot%\System32\spool\printers\* /Q
   • net start spooler
   • exit
     
3. Check if that fixes the issue.

Use this Foolproof Method to Add Wireless Printer

What if I say you can find and add any wireless printer to your computer without using Windows Settings / Control Panel?

Yes, you can do it with this foolproof method I am going to explain now.

It has never failed to find any wireless printers for me.

All you need to do is go to your printer’s manufacturer official website.

• For HP
• For Canon
• For Brother
• For Epson

And then, download the compatible printer driver for your printer.

As you can see, I am downloading printer driver for one of my Brother printer. Similarly, do yours.

Once the download is complete, launch the.exe file and follow on-screen instructions.

The setup will easily find your printer and add it to your computer.

Nothing Worked? Use IP Address to Add Your Printer

Using IP address is another way to add a network printer if your computer cannot find it while scanning from Settings / Control Panel.

For this, first you have to find the printer’s IP.

Once you get it, make sure to check if the IP is in the same subnet as your computer’s IP.

Let me explain this subnet comparison part in very simple words.

1. Type ipconfig in Command Prompt. It will show your computer’s IP.
   
2. In my case it is 192.168.24.96. The printer’s IP should have the first three parts same. i.e., 192.168.24 should be same.
3. Only the last part can be different.
4. If this does not hold true, your printer is getting IP on a different subnet. This problem often arises in wireless printers. There’s nothing to worry.
5. What you can do is assign a static IP address to your printer first.
6. Once everything is set, then follow these steps to add printer to your computer.
7. Click The printer I want isn’t listed (Add manually) on Settings.
   
8. Choose option that says: Add a printer using an IP address or Hostname.
   
9. Enter the printer’s IP you assigned and follow on-screen instructions. It will do the work.
   

If you are confused or need any kind of support, please let me know in the comment section below. I’ll respond to you as soon as possible.