How to assign static IP to HP printer on Brother

By Sai Kiran Pandrala · reviewed by Sai Kiran Pandrala, Editor Last verified: 2026-05-30

Why a static IP is the right answer for an office printer

A trader on Brigade Road dropped the unit at my bench wrapped in newspaper, fault written on a sticky note. The site had four printers behind a Cisco Catalyst 9200L switch and a Meraki MX67 firewall. Three were on DHCP and one had a static reservation. The DHCP printers vanished off the network every Monday because the router rebooted overnight and handed out new leases. The static one had not had a single ticket in four months. Lesson learned, hard. Office printers belong on static IPs (or DHCP reservations bound to MAC, which is the same thing in spirit).

This guide is written around HP DeskJet, but the workflow on Brother units like the MFC-L2750DW / HL-L5210DW is identical in shape. The differences are menu paths.

Network kit I pull for this job

• an inspection mirror and a head-mounted LED to confirm the IP assignment lands on the printer and the engine sees the change.
• Putty serial console at 9600 / 8 / N / 1 on the same VLAN as the printer, so I can confirm the ARP entry resolves and the printer's mDNS / Bonjour record updates.
• A list of the existing DHCP scope on the LAN (read it from the router admin page or from the Catalyst switch using show ip dhcp snooping binding).
• A small label maker. Every static IP gets a physical label on the printer with the IP, the gateway, and the date assigned. Future me thanks past me every time.

Step-by-step static IP on an HP DeskJet

1. Pick the address. Pick an IP outside the DHCP scope. If the router hands out 192.168.1.100 to 192.168.1.200, pick something in 192.168.1.50 - 192.168.1.99. Record gateway + subnet + DNS.
2. Print the network configuration page. Front panel → Wireless / Network → Print Network Settings. Note the current IP, the MAC address, and the firmware revision.
3. Open the EWS. Browser → the printer's current IP. Navigate to Network → Network Settings → IPv4 Configuration.
4. Switch from DHCP to Manual. Enter the new IP, subnet mask, default gateway, and DNS server. Save.
5. Wait for the printer to reconnect. The printer drops off and rejoins the network on the new IP within 30-60 seconds.
6. Verify. Browse to the new IP from a host on the same VLAN. The EWS should open. If it doesn't, check the IP, gateway and subnet mask carefully.
7. Update the host driver. Devices and Printers → Printer properties → Ports → Configure Port → update the IP. Repeat on every host. Or, better, set up the print queue via a print server / Universal Print so the printer IP change is invisible to end users.

Mapping the workflow to Brother

On the Brother MFC-L2750DW / HL-L5210DW, the menu structure is the same in shape, with these specific differences:

• Front-panel menu path: Setup → Network → LAN Settings → IPv4 Configuration → Manual.
• EWS layout differs: the IPv4 settings often live under Network → TCP/IP rather than under Network Settings.
• Some Brother firmware revisions require the printer to reboot after a static-IP change. Plan around the 60-90 s reboot window.
• Brother units sometimes hold a cached DHCP record after the switch to static. If the printer pings on both the old and new IP, force a full network stack restart from the EWS.

DHCP reservation, when I use this instead

If the customer's router supports DHCP reservation (most do, including the Meraki MX, the Cisco Catalyst 9200 with DHCP services, and consumer routers like the TP-Link Archer), a DHCP reservation is operationally simpler than a manual static. The printer keeps its DHCP client config but the router always hands out the same IP based on the MAC.

I use DHCP reservation by default in offices with under 20 devices. I use manual static when the office has a dedicated print VLAN, when the router does not support reservations, or when the customer wants the printer to keep its IP even if the router fails over to a backup.

Verification after the static-IP change

1. From the Cisco switch: show arp | include <printer-mac>. Confirm the MAC maps to the new IP.
2. From a host on the same VLAN: ping <new-ip>. Should respond inside 5 ms.
3. Browse to the EWS at the new IP. Page loads.
4. Submit a 1-page test print from each end-user host. All should print without intervention.
5. Reboot the office router. Confirm the printer's IP survives the reboot.

Brand quirks worth knowing

• HP DeskJet wireless units sometimes default to a hostname like HP4A2BCD; some Indian SOHO routers refuse to let the printer renew DHCP if the hostname collides with another device on the LAN.
• Brother MFC-L2750DW / HL-L5210DW may default to IPv6 in addition to IPv4. If you set IPv4 static but leave IPv6 enabled, the printer will be reachable on the IPv6 link-local even if the IPv4 settings are wrong. useful for recovery, confusing during diagnosis.
• Some printers will reset their IP back to DHCP if the engine controller is power-cycled within 30 seconds of saving the static config. Wait at least 90 seconds before any power cycle.
• If the office uses VLAN trunking, confirm the printer is in the right VLAN. A printer in the wrong VLAN will get a DHCP lease from the wrong scope and look healthy on the front panel while being invisible to end users.

A real static-IP callout from last quarter

A logistics company in HSR Layout had 12 printers across two floors. Every Monday morning the support queue lit up with "I can't print" tickets. The cause: their consumer-grade router rebooted nightly and renewed every DHCP lease. The print queues on 30+ workstations had been configured with the original IP, not the hostname, so every Monday the IPs shifted and the print queues broke.

Fix: assign each printer a static IP outside the DHCP scope, label every printer physically with the IP, update every print queue to use the hostname instead of the IP, and migrate the central print server to Universal Print so future IP changes are invisible. Bench / on-site time: 4 hours across two visits. Cost: ₹6,000 (USD 72) for labour plus ₹400 (USD 5) for a label maker refill. Monday morning tickets dropped to zero.

Cost table, what I quote

Rollback if the static IP causes a problem

• If the printer drops off the network after the static change, plug a laptop directly into the printer's Ethernet via a small unmanaged switch, set the laptop to a matching subnet, and recover via EWS.
• If you locked yourself out completely, do a network reset from the front panel (Setup → Network → Restore Network Defaults). The printer will return to DHCP.
• Always print the network configuration page before making changes, so you have the MAC + serial in writing for support escalation.

Static IP FAQ

Will the static IP survive a firmware update?

Usually yes. Some firmware updates reset network settings; always print the network config page before flashing.

Should I use the same IP across multiple sites?

No. Use a site-specific IP scheme so a printer relocated to another office does not collide with an existing device.

Can I use IPv6 only?

Most modern printers support it, but Windows print queues on legacy hosts still default to IPv4. Run dual-stack for compatibility.

How do I avoid IP conflicts?

Pick the static IP outside the DHCP scope, and add a permanent DHCP reservation for the same MAC even on top of the manual config. Belt and braces.

What about printers behind a VPN?

Make sure the VPN route covers the printer's subnet, and that the printer's gateway points to the local LAN router, not the VPN concentrator. Most "can't print from home" tickets are gateway misconfiguration, not printer faults.

Cisco switch-side considerations on the access port

If the printer's access port lives on a Cisco Catalyst 9200 / 9300 / 9400 switch, there are a couple of switch-side things to confirm before you blame the printer for an IP fault:

• Port-security limits: if the printer has cycled through two or three MACs (because it was replaced), the port may be in err-disabled. Check with show interfaces status err-disabled and re-enable with shutdown/no shutdown.
• Voice + data VLAN trunks, printers on a port configured for a Cisco IP-phone trunk sometimes land on the voice VLAN by accident, picking up an IP from the wrong scope.
• DHCP snooping bindings. if DHCP snooping is enabled and the printer is on a static IP, the snooping binding table won't have an entry, which can interact badly with downstream ARP inspection. Confirm with show ip dhcp snooping binding.
• The %LINEPROTO-5-UPDOWN log message will tell you when the port flapped, useful evidence if the printer's been bouncing on the network.
• If the office runs DNA Center (Cisco Catalyst Center), the device's IP appears in the assurance dashboard within 5 minutes of the change. Cross-check there.

Naming and DNS on the printer side

Static IP without a hostname is a half-finished job. After you assign the IP, set a stable hostname on the printer (Network Settings → Identification → Hostname). The hostname I use is the format prn-<floor>-<model>-<serial-tail>: for example prn-2nd-deskjet-3835-A4F7. Then add a DNS A record on the office DNS so the host names resolve cleanly.

End-user benefit: when you migrate the printer to a new IP later (because the network was renumbered, because the office moved, because the printer was replaced), the print queues all keep working without a per-host change. The hostname is the stable identifier; the IP is incidental.

References for static-IP work

• HP EWS reference, Network Settings page.
• Brother MFC-L2750DW / HL-L5210DW service manual. Network Settings chapter.
• Cisco Catalyst 9200 DHCP services configuration guide.
• Meraki MX dashboard guide on DHCP reservations.
• Cisco DNA Center (Catalyst Center) assurance dashboard reference.

Related fixes

Related guides worth a look while you sort this one out:

• How to assign static IP to HP printer on Canon
• How to assign static IP to HP printer on Epson
• How to assign static IP to HP printer on HP
• How to assign static IP to HP printer on Kyocera
• How to assign static IP to HP printer on Lexmark
• How to assign static IP to HP printer on Pantum