How To Connect a Brother Printer to a New Wifi Network?

Have you just set up a new WiFi network but failed to connect with your Brother printer? This is a common but important problem when setting up a new WiFi connection on Brother printers. The good news though is that connecting your Brother printer to a new WiFi network isn’t as complicated as it sounds.

It’s not really complicated once you know why it is happening. There are a number of methods to do it, depending on the printer's model and how convenient it is. They can all be found in this guide where you can choose what is right for you.

Before You Begin With Brother Printer

Before you initiate setting up a new WiFi to work with the Brother printer, the very first thing is to unlink it from the old network. Only then can you proceed with the new WiFi network; otherwise, it will show connection issues as we faced several times during the brother printer setup. Keep your network name (SSID), WiFi password and LCD control panel handy.

If you have a dual-band router and the 2.4GHz and 5GHz networks share the same name. The easiest fix for this is to give them separate names in the router settings so they can be treated differently and easy to manage.

Ways to Connect a Brother Printer to a New WiFi Network

Printer's Built-In Wireless Setup Wizard

The simplest way to connect a Brother printer to a new Wi-Fi network is by using its built-in setup, often known as the wireless setup wizard. It works on any kind of screen whether that is a basic LCD with buttons or a full touchscreen display.

Go into the printer menu by pressing Menu or Settings on the control panel. Navigate to the Network option and open it. Inside networks, you will see a WLAN or Wireless LAN option, select that. Then look for Setup Wizard and select it. The printer will immediately start scanning for wireless networks in the area and after a few seconds, it will show you a list of everything it found.

Find your new network name in that list and select it. The printer will ask you to enter the password. This is where people face the actual challenge because the keyboard on the printer screen is not exactly typical. So do it slowly by going character by character.

Once you confirm the password, the printer will try to establish a connection on its own. The WiFi indicator light will blink during this process if you are able to get connected properly. When it goes steady and stops blinking, the connection has worked. Some models will also show a confirmation message on the screen.

Use WPS Button Option for a Fast Connection

If your router has a WPS button, then it would be rather easier than what we discussed earlier. WPS stands for WiFi Protected Setup and this method skips the password entry completely. It is the fastest way to connect when it works.

The WPS Button may be located at the back of the router (sometimes on the side of the menu) when you find it. To activate WPS, hold the button for a few seconds (until you see the blinking) and then press the WPS button on your printer to enable connectivity within 2 minutes. This is because WPS will not work after 2 minutes have passed and the request will be aborted.

It might be that your router doesn't automatically have a WPS option, however, particularly in case the router is a recent model (the makers terminated its production with an option to press WPS). No matter if it has, and you press the WPS button of the router, nothing will happen.

Setting Up the Connection from Your Phone

When setting up Brother printer WiFi, your phone can be a convenient way to connect printer and WiFi effortlessly. Install the app on your device from App Store/Google Play (Android). Before opening the printer, connect your phone to the new WiFi network on which you wish to utilize your printer. 

Once preconfigured, just click the app, and it will find a nearby Brother printer. If it finds yours, great. Once the app has located the printer, go to the settings or wireless setup section within the app. Enter your new network name and password there and confirm. The app sends those credentials directly to the printer which will then restart and connect to the new network.

You can see that this method is easier than using the printer's built-in keyboard especially if your password is long or complicated. It is worth trying if you have the app available.

Update WiFi Settings Through Your Web Browser

Brother printer has a small web interface built into it which you can access from any browser. You type the printer's IP address into the browser and it opens a settings page where you can change the wireless configuration without touching the printer at all.

To find the IP address, go into your printer menu and look for a Reports or Information section. Print a Network Configuration page from there. The IP address will be printed on that page. Once you have it, open any browser on your computer, type the IP address into the address bar, and press Enter.

Now you can see the login dashboard on your screen. You need the admin password to log in which you will get on the printer label or underside of the printer. Once you log in to the dashboard, check for the network tab and click on wireless or wlan setting. In the next step, you need to update the network name and new password and save it. Once done, the printer will restart automatically and get connected with the newly updated network.

Reset Network Settings When Everything Else Fails

When your Brother printer says offline, resetting network settings can be an ultimate fix if other options are not working. To connect a printer to a new WiFi, you need to reset the entire WiFi network setting and connect the Brother printer again. This printer may be broken and will not work with WiFi regardless of what you do. This usually happens when the network gets corrupted which may be due to any earlier network connection issues or any other printer or wireless network connection.

To fix it in this way, go into the printer menu, find the Network section and look for the Network Reset option. Select it and confirm. The printer will wipe all stored wireless configurations and restart it and the network set like it has never been connected to any WiFi network before.

It is worth noting that resetting the network settings does not affect anything else on the printer. Your other settings, preferences and configurations remain exactly as they were. Only the wireless credentials get cleared.

What To Do When the Connection Still Will Not Work

It is possible that all your tried methods may not work depending on the model of your printer or Wi-Fi. In this scenario, a full restart of both the printer and the router is worth trying before anything else. To do so, unplug the router, wait about 30 seconds, plug it back in and let it fully boot up before you set up the printer again.

If the printer cannot see your network name during the Setup Wizard scan. There can be two possible scenarios: the printer is too far from the router which makes the signal too weak or the 2.4GHz band on your router is not active.

Try moving the printer temporarily to a spot closer to the router and run the scan again. Distance and walls reduce WiFi signal more than most people expect. If you still face the connection issues, then it is highly recommended to get Brother printer help support instead of wasting time on unknown fixes.

Conclusion

We have discussed 5 most common and effective ways to set up a new WiFi to your Brother printer. Understanding how to connect your Brother printer to a different wireless network/system can be easy if you follow all the right steps. To try to connect to a WiFi network but receive Wrong Password error message. Also, confirm that you are actually connecting to the correct wireless / WiFi Network listed in the settings menu of your device.

But if you hit a wall somewhere in the process, do not waste hours going in circles. Pinterithelp.com offers dedicated online printer support for exactly this kind of setup. Our technicians connect with you remotely, manage the configuration step by step and get your printer working.