Windows 10: Printer port confusion

Since upgrading to Win 10 from release date, my wifi printer (Epson XP-215) worked fine until a few weeks ago, when the printer showed 'offline' and the connection could not be restored. Thinking it was a printer problem, I called Epson support and they talked me through a lengthy procedure of removing and re-installing the printer. It worked fine for a couple of weeks and then the same thing happened again. This time I found my own way to remove and re-install the device. However, after a week or two, it again became unavailable. This time, I found that Win 10 was looking for the printer on port 192.168.1.7 whereas the printer was on 192.168.1.8. I just changed the default port in printer properties and normal service was restored.
Today, it happened again but changing the port this timed failed to restore the connection. So, I removed and reinstalled the printer. Now I find that the printer works OK but the icon has changed and the port connected is listed as WSD.
Can anyone tell me what is happening here and why is Windows 10 repeatedly losing the connection?

:)

 

USB Printer only printing to a file in documents folder

Bidirectional printing was greyed out.

I solved the problem by deleting all printers except one printer, then deleted all printer ports except the obviously windows installed ports. I also deleted all extra printers in the registry to force the update of the keys.

Then reinstalled the printers. The printer now goes to the printer under USB cable connection rather than disk.

Thanks for giving me some directions in solving the problem. I see the problem lies with windows 10 and the lack of information available when viewing the ports. It doesn't show what port is associated with which printer. When you try to delete, it says
port in use but does give enough information. It should also stop the spooler rather than making the user stop the spooler. When you travel and have multiple printers, the confusion it causes is multipled.

 

taskbar autohide is not working in windows 10

Thanks, I'm gonna stick with the basic. The more add-ons, the more confusing it gets for me.

It's working now, with printer driver compatibility the only problem left. Had to switch from the 3.0 port to the 2.0 port, and still having random print errors.

 

You have to remove the driver and the software for the printer first. Use Revo Uninstaller to remove all traces. This should also reset the printer if it uses the software to set it up. If you can do it from the printer, you have to do a reset of all settings, then connect it to a WiFi Access Point, which I suggest using Wireless-B/G with a WPA(tkip)/WPA2(aes) connection with a Alpha Number key. No special characters for the wireless keys, since some devices do not like those for the wifi key.

Once uninstalled, then reinstall the software and follow directions. If required to connect to USB to set up, do so. If the printer is already on the network, Windows 10 should find it. I would still set it up with the software, then remove the device that is showing as a Network Device. You will see the Icon that looks like an upside T in the bottom of the window for Devices & Printers, which means that it is a shared network device.

 

Many thanks. I will try that tomorrow.

 

It sounds like your printer's IP address keep changing (function of the printer and router with no involvement of the PC) and Windows does not keep up with the change. Try setting the printer to a static IP so that it does not change. Then have Windows rediscover the printer or manually change the printer settings to point to the static IP.

 

Thanks for catching that. It totally slipped my mind when I posted. Of the one person who assigns Static IP's to those devices I access all of thr time, I should have caught it, which I was worrying more about getting the OP set back up.

The router/gateway should not lose that IP, unless you physically change the IP by resetting it on the device, or it is offline for a while. All modern routers/gateways use IPTables to make the Dynamic IP's sticky to thr MAC.

 

When I look in the IP table of the router, I see that 192.168.1.8 is allocated to Skype in UDP and TCP/IP formats. I can't see any way to set a fixed ip address for the printer. I will have to contact my ISP (it is their router) for advice.

 

You have to do it on the printer not the gateway. I set my stuff at the highest IP's and then you can always have that as a bookmark IP that will not change.

 

Unless your router has a reserved address DHCP table, then you can set a reserved IP address for the MAC, leave the device set to DHCP and the router will assign it the same IP address every time.

 

I do not do that on mine, unless it is on the U-Verse Gateway for stuff that I only have hooked up on it, so that I can access it through the Cisco that I use as my Edge Router.

I do not reserve any IP's with MAC's on the Cisco, since it observes the Static IP's on the equipment then consumer routers out there.

 

I have tried unsuccessfully to find a way of setting the IP address on the printer and I've also read up on the WSD port. It seems unlikely that the printer is randomly changing its IP address as I also have a Ubuntu-based laptop using the same printer, with the address 192.168.1.8 and that has never lost the connection.
It seems that the WSD port monitor is the best setting because it has the abilty to find and connect to any active WSD printer. Hopefully, that should be a more reliable way of maintaining the connection.

 

The IP settings should be able to be changed from either through the Web Portal that you access through a Web Browser, or at the device itself if you have the ability to change settings in the menu on it. Download the manual from Epson's website if you do not have the DVD. As for Linux, CUPS handles the printer. You should be able to install the driver from the Terminal.

You do not want the printer to be set that low for the IP. You want to set it up higher as a Static IP. I shrink my available IP's for Dynamic devices, so that I can set Statics outside of the normal Dynamic IP range.