Archive for July, 2010

Adding a computer to a wireless Canon ip5200R

Monday, July 12th, 2010

Every time I need to add a computer to my wireless printer I can’t for the life of me remember how to do it. So this post is more for myself than anything, but hopefully someone else out there will benefit. This article assumes that you have already connected your wireless printer to your home wireless network.

  1. Go to www.canonusa.com and download the IJ network driver / Network tool. Not the setup utility nor the wireless setup assistant.
  2. Connect the computer to the printer via usb cable
  3. Run the setup program you just downloaded
  4. Select Next
  5. Select “Use it as is”  and Next
  6. Unplug the usb cable and Next
  7. The utility will run a connection test to ensure you have enough wireless signal strength to print.

Canon definitely loses points for having one of the worst designed driver download pages. Let’s see:

  • No support for the back button so I have to repick my OS from the dropdown list every time I want to download an additional driver
  • Annoying popup window
  • Doesn’t play nice with Chrome. You get no save confirmation and have to press ctrl-J to bring up your downloads then manually confirm.
  • So I am sure there are technical limitations for this… but why do I need to connect with a wire to use my wireless printer? I have it all setup in my upstairs office and I need to add my downstairs desktop. That means disconnecting and dragging the printer down to it. Ugh.