Skip to content

Configure Wireless Access for the Brother HL-2280DW Multi-Function Laser Printer

960brotherhl2280dwI scored a great deal on two Brother HL-2280DW Wireless Laser Printers (with scanner functions) during Thanksgiving break. Once I got the printers and tried to configure them for wireless, I found that Brother’s wireless configuration options were lacking and in some cases, didn’t work at all.

Unfortunately, the Ethernet connectivity on one of the printers was broken; worse, that was the printer I picked first to configure. After wasting half the weekend, I thought I would document how I finally went about configuring the wireless access for the Brother HL-2280DW printer and adding it to my Windows and Mac OS X machines. Hopefully, the steps below will help you with your Brother printer woes.

Note: The instructions below will work for other Brother wireless printers. I’ve also tried them successfully with Brother HL-2170W, HL-2270DW, and MFC-7860DW printers.

Note: I recently setup the newest model Brother HL-L2380DW printer. Unfortunately, I had to configured the printer to use a static IP address in order for it to be used from Windows 7. If you don’t configure a static IP address, when you install the Windows HL-L2380DW printer drivers, the installer will say that the printer is not configured properly and offer to configure it (set a static IP address). Mac OS X did not require the printer to have a static IP address.

Configure Wireless Access With Ethernet Connection and Web Interface

Note: The WPS and “WPS with Pin” setup did not work with my Cisco Linksys E1000 router. And while the printer allowed me to manually input the SSID and passphrase using the up/down arrows, the printer’s LCD only displayed the first 10-12 digits of the passphrase making it impossible to input the rest! Because I dislike using the USB method (which required installing, uninstalling, and then re-installing software), I decided that using the printer’s Ethernet connection and web interface was the best solution.

  1. Before we start, you will need to know the following info concerning your wireless network (check your wireless router’s configuration):
    • Network ID (SSID)
    • Channel Number (usually 3, 7, or 11)
    • Authentication Method (WEP, WPA or WPA2)
    • Encryption Mode (TKIP or AES)
  2. Follow the included Brother “Start Here” manual to prepare the printer for operation.
  3. Before turning on the printer, connect it to your wireless router by Ethernet cable.
  4. After the printer is on, we will need to find its assigned IP address:
    • Look it up on the printer:
      1. Press the Menu button to the right of the printer’s LCD and you will see “1. General Setup” menu item show up. You might need to press the Menu button twice sometimes. (Do not select the “1. General Setup” item.)
      2. Select the following menu items by pressing the up/down arrows and clicking on the OK button:
        • 4. Network
        • 1. Wired LAN
        • 1. TCP/IP
        • 2. IP Address
    • Alternatively, you can browse to your wireless router’s web interface and look at the list of connected DHCP clients.
  5. Browse to the printer’s assigned IP address to access its web interface.
  6. Configure the printer to enable toner save mode and to allow printing even if the toner is low:
    1. Click on “General Setup” at the top.
    2. You will be prompted for the user/password. Input the default: admin/access.
    3. Set the following options:
      • Toner Save: On
      • Replace Toner: Continue
    4. Click on the Submit button
  7. Configure the wireless network access:
    1. Click on “Network Configuration” link at the top.
    2. Click on the “Configure Wireless” link near the bottom of the page.
    3. Configure the following options:
      • Communication Mode: “1) Infrastructure Mode”
      • SSID: [input your wireless ID]
      • Channel: [input the wireless channel]
      • Authentication Method: WPA/WPA2-PSK (usually)
      • Encryption Mode: AES (usually for WPA2)
      • Passphrase: [input your wireless password]
    4. Click the Submit button.
    5. Answer Yes to “Would you like to enable the wireless interface?”.
    6. You will get a message to unplug the Ethernet cable. The printer will reboot and then print a page indicating whether the wireless connection succeeded or not.
  8. If the wireless connection didn’t succeed, then connect the Ethernet cable and repeat from step #4. Usually, the wireless router will give the printer the same IP address.
  9. If you are totally lost, you can reset the printer configuration by doing the following:
    1. Click on the Menu button next to the printer’s LCD.
    2. Select the following with the up/down arrows and the OK button:
      • 1. General Setup
      • 5. Reset
      • 2. All Settings
    3. Hit the Up arrow to Reboot.

Mac OS X: Add Printer, Set Toner Save Mode, and Scan

To add the printer on Mac OS X, do the following:

  1. Open up System Preferences.
  2. Click on “Print & Fax” under Hardware.
  3. Click the Plus button underneath the list of printers on the left.
  4. Bonjour should detect the printer and you will see “Brother HL-2280DW” listed.
  5. Select it and the “Print Using:” field will populate with “Brother HL-2280DW CUPS” driver.
  6. Click the Add button.
  7. The Brother HL-2280DW should show up on the list of Printers. To make it the default printer, double-click on it and select “Set default printer”.

To configure Mac OS X to use Toner Save Mode by default:

  1. Browse to the local CUPS driver web interface running on your machine. (You may be asked to run “cupsctl WebInterface=yes” in the Terminal application to enable the CUPS web interface.)
  2. Click on the Printers tab to the top-right.
  3. Click on the “Brother_HL_2280DW” printer in the list.
  4. Click on the Administration drop-down list box and select “Set Default Options”.
  5. Change “Toner Save Mode” to be “On”.
  6. Click on “Set Default Options” button.
  7. If you are prompted for a user/password, input your Mac OS X login username and the administration password.

The built-in way to do a scan on Mac OS X:

  1. Open up System Preferences.
  2. Click on “Print & Fax” under Hardware.
  3. Select the printer.
  4. Click on the “Scan” tab.
  5. Click the “Open Scanner…” button.
  6. Click “Show Details” for more options like output format and location.
  7. Make your selections and click on the “Scan” button.
  8. The scan will be taken and saved to the “Pictures” folder by default.

Note: Starting with macOS 11 Big Sur, the built-in scan utility no longer supports older Brother printer models. If you wish to scan, go to the Mac App Store and install the “Brother iPrint&Scan” app.

Windows XP and 7: Add Printer, Set Toner Save Mode, and Scan

To add the printer on Windows, do the following:

  1. Download the latest Brothers HL-2280DW printer software (it is the same file for Windows XP, Windows 7 32-bit, and Windows 7 64-bit and is named “HL-2280DW-inst-B1-usa.EXE”).
  2. Run the downloaded installation executable.
  3. Select “usa” for language. Click OK.
  4. Select “Wireless Network Connection” and check “Custom Install”.
  5. Take the default for “Change the Firewall port settings…”. Click Next.
  6. Take the default selected features (all are selected) and click Next.
  7. I usually select “No, I don’t want to register this PC to ‘Scan To’ button”; however, feel free to select Yes. (I think this option is so when you press the Scan button on the printer, it will send the image to this computer.) Click Next.
  8. On Windows XP:
    1. Keep the “Search the network for devices…” selected and click Next.
    2. Select the found Brother printer (the node name looks like “BRxxxxxxxxxx”) and click Next.
  9. On Windows 7, the printer detection doesn’t work so you will select either “Specify your machine by address” (IP address) or “Specify your machine by name” (node name/hostname). I usually do it by using the node name:
    1. To lookup the node name, go to the printer, press the Menu button, select “4. Network”, “2. WLAN”, “1. TCP/IP”, and “5. Node Name”. (Alternatively, the wireless router’s DHCP client table should have the printer’s hostname which is the same as the node name.)
    2. Back in the Brother setup dialog, select “Specify your machine by name” and input the node name.
    3. Click Next.
  10. The installation program will take several minutes to install the various Brother driver and tools.
  11. Click Next and Next to skip the “User’s Guides” and “On-Line Registration”.
  12. I usually uncheck “Enable Status Monitor on startup” and leave the “Set as Default Printer” checked. Click Next.
  13. The setup will request a reboot.
  14. After the reboot, you will see a new, red “CC4” icon in the status tray. This is the Brother Control Center software which allows you to set device properties, print, and scan. Because I prefer using my own programs to scan, I usually remove this from the tray by doing the following:
    1. Right-click on the CC4 icon and select “Preferences”.
    2. Unselect “Start ControlCenter on computer startup”.
    3. Hit the OK button.
    4. Right-click the CC4 icon and select “Close”.
  15. (OPTIONAL) Even though I have configured the Brother software to not run Control Center and the Status Monitor (unchecked “Enable Status Monitor on startup” in last page of installation wizard), Brother still runs them stealthily on startup. To really get rid of them, I had to do the following:
    1. Run “msconfig”.
    2. Select Startup tab.
    3. Under Windows 7, uncheck “Brother ControlCenter” and “Brother Status Monitor Application”.
    4. Under Windows XP, uncheck “BrCcBoot” and “BrStMonW”.
    5. Click Apply and then click OK.
    6. You may be prompted to restart.

To configure Windows to use Toner Save Mode by default:

  1. Go to menu “Start->Control Panel”.
  2. On Windows XP:
    1. Click on “Printers and Other Hardware”.
    2. Click on “View installed printers or fax machines”.
    3. Right-click on printer and select “Printer Preferences” to open the “Brother HL-2280DW Printer Printing Preferences” dialog.
  3. On Windows 7:
    1. Click on “View devices and printers”.
    2. Double-click on the Brother printer to open it.
    3. Double-click “Adjust print options” to open the “Brother HL-2280DW Printer Printing Preferences” dialog.
  4. In the Printer Preferences dialog:
    1. Select the Advanced tab.
    2. Check the “Toner Save Mode” option.
    3. Hit the Apply button and then the OK button.

The built-in way to do a scan on Windows XP:

  1. Run “Start->All Programs->Accessories->Scanner and Camera Wizard”.
  2. The Brother printer will be listed at the top. Click Next.
  3. Click on Preview, select options, and click Next.
  4. Select output format and folder. Click Next.
  5. The scan will be taken and saved to the “My Pictures” folder by default.

The built-in way to do a scan on Windows 7:

  1. Run “Windows Fax and Scan”.
  2. Click the “New Scan” button in the top toolbar.
  3. Hit Preview to see a preview image.
  4. Select the options and hit Scan.
  5. The scan will be taken and saved to the “Documents\Scanned Documents” folder by default.

One Button Scanning With Control Center

If you plan to do a lot of scanning, the Brother Control Center software (you’ll need to download and install it separately on Mac OS X) allows you to pre-configure the scan to file properties (including directory to save to and DPI quality). Once configured, you will only need to press the Control Center software’s scan button once to take a scan.

Note: The Scan To PC function allows you to press the hardware Scan key on the printer to save the file to your computer. You can configure this function using the Control Center. When adding the Brother scanner to Control Center, make sure to configure the “Scan Key” with a name. Unfortunately, using the Scan key on the printer requires multiple selection key presses, so it is not as convenient as the Control Center’s software scan key.

Though I refer specifically to the Brother HL-2280DW, these instructions most likely apply to other Brother wireless printer models.

60 Comments

  1. nick

    what good is a wireless printer if i have to plug it in. how do i use its wirelessly?

    • Chanh

      Hi Nick,

      We just need to plug in the Ethernet cable to setup the printer. Once the printer is configured, we can unplug the Ethernet cable and move the printer to anywhere since it is now wireless connected.

      Regards.

  2. Teresa

    This was a great help! Thanks for taking the time to do this documentation. You da bomb!

  3. Estrella

    I am able to print wirelessly to this printer via my PC, however, my iPhone does not recognize it. Any suggestions?

    • Chanh

      Hi Estrella,

      Unfortunately, the Brother HL-2280DW does not support Apple AirPrint to support printing directly from an iOS device like an iPhone. However, you could run an AirPrint server on a Windows machine, to which the iPhone can print to and which then in turn, prints to the Brother printer. The downside is that you have to make sure the Windows machine is on and running the AirPrint server whenever you wish to print from your iPhone.

      Hope that helps. Cheers.

  4. Asia

    Sorry, I am confused about three things.

    1. Where do I find my router channel number? (I am on a MacBook Pro with Qwest router)

    2. Re step 5 “Browse to the printer’s assigned IP address to access its web interface” — browse where? From my Internet? I found the IP address by going through the step in #4, but When I enter that in Google, I just get weird links.

    3. Re step 7. Configure the wireless network access:

    7. 1 Click on “Network Configuration” link at the top.

    Where is this Network COnfiguration? I’m on a MacBook Pro.

    Thank you for any help you can provide.

  5. Asia

    Nick,

    This is Asia again — Never mind. I think I have figured it out (after 3 hrs 😉

    Thank you for your blog.

    • Chanh

      Hi Nick,

      I’m glad you figured it out. Just in case others might run into the same issues, I’ll attempt to answer your original questions. (Please feel free to add your inputs.)

      [1. Where do I find my router channel number? (I am on a MacBook Pro with Qwest router)]
      The router’s wireless channel number can be found by logging into the router and looking at its wifi configuration; it will be a number between 1-13. Alternatively, you can install and run inSSIDer, a free wireless scanning tool that will let you know what channel your router is broadcasting on.

      [2. Re step 5 “Browse to the printer’s assigned IP address to access its web interface” — browse where? From my Internet? I found the IP address by going through the step in #4, but When I enter that in Google, I just get weird links.]
      If your printer’s IP address is 192.168.1.55, then open up a browser like IE, Chrome, Firefox, etc. and input “http://192.168.1.55/” into the address bar.

      [3. Re step 7. Configure the wireless network access: 7. 1 Click on “Network Configuration” link at the top. Where is this Network COnfiguration? I’m on a MacBook Pro.]
      This is referring to the header at the top of the printer’s admin web page which you would have browsed to in step #5.

      Regards, Chanh

  6. W. E. Peterson

    My Brother HL-2280dw is hardwired to my desktop. Can I also connect it to my ipad wireless while keeping the hardwire to my desktop?

    • Chanh

      Hi W.E.,

      As long as your computer devices are connected (wired or wirelessly) to the same router that the printer is connected to, the devices should be able to reach and use the printer.

      Unfortunately, the Brother HL-2280DW does not support Airprint, which is the printing protocol used by iPad and iPhone. However, you can get partial printing and scanning to work by installing and using the free Brother iPrint&Scan app.

      For those who have Android phones or tablets, there is a free Android version of Brother iPrint&Scan.

      Hope that helps.
      – Chanh

  7. Leo

    Cannot find where scanned documents are stored on Mac osX, although when scan to email, they open on outlook. Can anyone help.

    • Chanh

      Hi Leo,

      By default, the Mac OS X scanner’s utility will save the scanned images to the “Pictures” directory. On the scanner’s details dialog, look for the field named “Scan To”. It should be populated with the “Pictures” folder by default. You can change it to be whatever folder you want to store the scans to.

      Regards.

  8. Ron

    Great work, thanks for this excellent guide.

  9. Jake Peters

    I have an iMac and the Brother 2280DW printer, connected via an ethernet cable.

    When I try to check the wired IP address, by doing:

    “Select the following menu items by pressing the up/down arrows and clicking on the OK button:

    4. Network
    1. Wired LAN
    1. TCP/IP
    2. IP Address ”

    The address is 0.0.0.0, even after “re-booting” the printer. Do I need a cross-over ethernet cable?

    Maybe the iMac ethernet port is not enabled?

    Thanks,

    JP

    • Chanh

      Hi Jake,

      If your printer is connected to a router or switch, then you don’t need a cross-over Ethernet cable. Usually cross-over cables are only required if you want to connect two computers directly together.

      I suggest resetting the printer to factory default configuration. Search in the post for “reset the printer” to find instructions on how to reset your printer. In factory configuration, the printer’s Ethernet port will be enabled by default.

      Regards.

  10. Jake Peters

    Thank you Chanh,

    I am directly connecting the printer and the iMac (well, my Mom is. I’m helping remotely). Some newer ethernet devices have some type of auto-sense on the transmit/receive lines so a cross-over cable is not required.

    I was wondering if this printer had that capability.

    I haven’t tried resetting yet (it is brand new, just out of the box), but so far the above instructions for either the wired or wireless have not yet succeeded.

    I may have to use the software, but it looks like Mac OS X Mountain Lion (10.8) requires a download, which is relatively complicated for my Mom.

    Thanks again,

    Pete

    • Chanh

      Hi Jake,

      It sounds like your mom doesn’t have a wired or wireless router for Internet access. If she did, you could connect the printer to that and keep the iMac wireless connected. Without a router to provide dynamically assigned addresses (DHCP) and coordinate the communication, it is probably best to just connect the printer to the iMac using a USB cable.

      Otherwise, if you are directly connecting the printer and the iMac using an Ethernet cable, then you should use a cross-over cable. I think the auto-sense is usually on ports of a hub or switch device, not on the client like a printer or an iMac. Then, you will need to manually configure both the printer and the iMac to have different static IP addresses. Finally, you should be able to browse to the printer’s static IP address from the iMac.

      I haven’t configured a static IP address for the printer before so am not sure how to go about it. Without the router, you would have to keep the iMac and the printer connected by the cross-over Ethernet cable in order for your mom to print and scan. This would be the same as keeping the two connected with a USB cable though. I think using USB cable would be the easier option.

      Good luck with setting up the printer for your mom.

  11. Jake Peters

    Chanh,

    Thanks again.

    She does have wireless internet access and was using it during our troubleshooting.

    I was able to get the printer to print out the network settings and it did have an WLAN IP address when she chose her SSID from the printer.

    However, she could not see the printer from Safari, for some reason.

    It could be that there is a problem with some configuration on the printer side (above instructions show initial printer config for wireless via a wired connection – that probably failed for my Mom because she does not have a cross-over cable).

    Maybe I can get her to re-do the wireless config (but I fear that the 16 digit key will be the stumbling block).

    Thanks again,

    Jake

  12. MG

    Thanks Chanh. This was very helpful.

  13. Ian

    oh. em. gee! ok, so, i think of myself as a tech savvy enough-ish person. I mean, i even worked at apple (as a concierge, not really techie or sales) for a little while! still, installing this printer was terrible because of that silly cd thing. and random drivers and blah blah. really, thank you so much for your step by step instructions!

  14. Rob

    This is excellent. I have two questions.

    The printer software install puts an icon on the menu bar for the Brother Control Center that leads to menu for Scanning. It worked when wired over ethernet but now wireless this method of scanning does not work. It is much quicker initiating a scan than going through system preferences. When I try it now wirelessly I get Unable to Launch Target Application…
    (CC001)

    Also how do you do multipage scans?

    • Chanh

      Hi Rob,

      If you switch from wired to wireless, or vice versa, you will need to remove the printer and re-add it on Mac OS X. On Windows, you would need to remove the printer, uninstall the driver, re-install the driver, and select wireless/network mode (instead of wired USB).

      To do multi-page scan, you’ll need a printer with the document feeder. Then in the scan dialog’s Scan Mode, select Document Feeder instead of Flatbed.

      Hope that helps, Chanh

  15. Rob

    Sorry, I am on Snow Leopard.

  16. Rob

    Thanks Chanh, I tried removing the printer and re-adding it. That got the printer to print. I did get it to scan most times via the System Preferences Print & Fax method (thanks again), but when it was wired I could to scan via the Control Center which was much faster.

    I do have an HP printer that I use for only multipage scans. The printer is useless as a printer because the ink dries out after a few weeks and HP supplies are brutally expensive. It is flatbed like this HL-2280DW but the HP software will ask if there is a second page and make multi-page scanned PDFs. Nice software — when it works. I am now beginning to assume that the HL-2280 DW does not have that software feature. If I could get this brother to scan better I would re-cycle the HP to clear up some space in my crowded office.

    • Chanh

      Hi Rob,

      Glad that it partially addressed your needs. Concerning the Brother Control Center for Mac OS X, I found a helpful website, Brother Control Center installs & disappears. Based on that page, I would suggest doing following:

      • Look for the “Library/Printers/Brother/Utilities/ControlCenter” directory. The Control Center app “controlcenter.app” may already exist there since you used to have it working.
      • Or if you don’t have the Control Center app already, install the latest TWAIN driver for your Brother printer.
        1. Browse to Brother’s OS X Mountain Lion Support Statement page.
        2. Locate your printer model in the list of models near bottom and click on the corresponding “>Go” link to the right.
        3. Select your location and OS X version.
        4. Search for “TWAIN” and you should find a section named “Scanner Driver (TWAIN)” or similar. The description for it should say something like “This Scanner Driver includes the Brother ControlCenter software for easy to use one button scanning from your Mac or machine Scan-to button”.
        5. Download the TWAIN driver.
        6. I think you should remove the printer before installing the TWAIN driver.

      Good luck, Chanh

    • Chanh

      Hi Rob,

      I found out that you could do a multi-page scan using the default Mac OS X scan utility. In the detailed scan dialog, select the Format as “PDF” and then check the “Combine into single document” option underneath. From then on, anything you scan will be added to the PDF specified by the Name field. Once you are done, just modify the Name field or rename the PDF file using the Finder.

      960macosxmultipagescan

      Hopefully the above works for you and will allow you to free up some space in your office.

      Regards, Chanh

  17. Peter Hartshorn

    Chahn, thank you so much for taking the time to post this! It helped immensely. I too got snagged by the inability to enter in the full 16 digit hex code for the wep key on the LCD and was pulling my hair out trying to get this onto the network properly. If (as is my case) you are putting this onto a wireless network with an older router (i.e. no “push button security setup”) getting this printer onto your network is far from trivial. Thanks again.

  18. Steve

    Hi, Chahn. Thanks for this site! I have my HL-2280DW connected via Ethernet to a desktop pc via a wireless router. We also have a laptop pc in the house and I’d love to print wirelessly from the laptop. The Quick Setup Guide that came with the printer says, “Although the Brother HL-2280DW can be used in both a wired and wireless network, only one of the connection methods can be used at a time.” Is the thing I want to do the thing the manual says can’t be done? Or is this the correct interpretation: each individual PC can only be set up to connect one way: wired or wireless. I just don’t know which interpretation is correct and would love to find out what’s possible before messing up stuff and wasting time trying to do impossible things. Thanks for your knowledge on this subject!

    • Chanh

      Hi Steve,

      Hopefully I can make the instructions more understandable. The latter interpretation is correct; you will configure your computer to use only one of the connectivity options.

      You can have your computer connected to the printer either by wire (connected by USB cable) or by network (supposing your printer is connected to the network by network cable or by wireless). When adding and installing the printer software on your computer, you will need to select either the USB or network installation option.

      On Windows, when you install the Brother printer software, you’ll be asked to select USB or network drivers. If you pick USB driver, your computer has to be physically connected to the printer by USB cable in order for you to print and scan. If you pick network, you’ll need to select or input the printer’s network name or IP address. If you have installed the USB driver and wish to switch to the network driver, you would need to uninstall the printer software, re-install it, and select the network option.

      On the Mac, you don’t need to install and uninstall the printer software because the Mac OS X will do that for you when you add and remove printers. When you add the printer, you can select USB or network. If you select network, the Mac software will usually show a lists of printers accessible on the network which you can select for installation.

      Regards, Chanh

  19. Donna

    Thanks for your blog. I just bought the printer and felt like a dumb-dumb because I couldn’t figure out how to set up the wireless printing (as others have mentioned, that was the whole point of purchasing a wireless printer). Thanks to your blog, I was actually able to get the dang thing connected wirelessly (too bad I had already spent about 4 hours beating it like a cavewoman).

    Unfortunately, when I try to print, the printer keeps pausing all the print jobs automatically. I hit “resume,” it thinks for a little bit, then it pauses itself again. What’s the deal?!?!?!

    Sincerely yours,
    Printer Luddite

    • Chanh

      Hi Donna,

      I haven’t seen the pause all jobs behavior. I did a google search but came up empty for Brother printers. Here’s my troubleshooting suggestions in order from easy to a lot of work:

      1. Check the printer permissions. Go to control panel to see the list of printers. Right-click on the printer and select Printer Properties. Click on the Security tab. Make sure that the “Print” permission is checked for “Everyone”. If it isn’t already checked, then this is probably the cause.
      2. Uninstall the Brother software, reboot the computer and printer, and re-install the Brother software.
      3. Call Brother support to ask for help. It might be a hardware defect.

      I’ll be crossing my fingers for you.
      Chanh

  20. Donna

    Chanh, thank you so much for your prompt response! I ended up just purchasing a USB cord. Turns out, the two days it took the cord to ship was still less time than it took for me to try to figure out how to sync up the wifi! 🙂

    I appreciate your help!

    Warmly,
    =Donna

  21. sharon

    After an entire weekend, I finally installed the brother hl-2280dw via ethernet connection to my router. Got my pc to work wirelessly as well as added this printer to my MacBook Pro. Now I have the Brother Status monitor pop-up, “failed to connect to the device” message, and “Getting Status” progress pop-up frozen on the screen. The three pop-ups won’t close. What can I do to delete this application?

    • Chanh

      Hi Sharon,

      Glad that you got it working. Concerning getting rid of the status monitor, you can do so using the “msconfig” application which comes with Windows. Just search in this post for “msconfig” and you’ll find the optional instructions to disable launching the Brother utilities on Windows startup.

      Happy belated holidays!

  22. Mike

    Chanh,

    Great pointers for those printers. For some reasons I found it ackward to have to use a USB connection to set up the wireless function but did it nonetheless. Got up and running within 30 minutes. Now, I cannot get my iPhone not iPad to detect the printer despite using iPrint&Scan as you suggested.

    Thank you,

    Mike

    • Chanh

      Hi Mike,

      Glad you got it working using the USB connection method. I’m not sure how the iPrint & Scan app works but most likely, it is looking for Brother printers on the same wireless network. You might want to browse to your router’s web interface and see if the printer is listed under the list of DHCP clients. That will tell you that the printer is visible on the network. If the printer is visible on the wireless network, then the problem is with the iPrint & Scan app.

      Good luck.

  23. Linda

    I just brought the wireless Brother hl-2280 to wanted to print coupons from the coupons app on my ipad but unfortunately it can not locate up my printer. Why is that can anybody help me out. I can print on my laptop but not on my ipad. Just trying to save some more mkney by printing these coupons out you know.

    • Chanh

      Hi Linda,

      Unfortunately, the Brother HL-2280 does not support AirPrint, which supports printing from iOS devices like iPads. However, there is a workaround.

      To print from the iPad, you will need to install the Brother iPrint&Scan iOS app, free from the iTunes store. The Brother iPrint&Scan app will allow you to print to the Brother HL-2280 wireless printer. Once you have the app installed on your iPad, go to the coupons app page, and copy the contents of that page. Then run the Brother iPrint&Scan app, select the clipboards tab (or something like that), you should see the coupons page that you copied, and then print from that.

      Regards, Chanh

  24. Jack Tran

    Thank you for documenting your process! I followed your instructions exactly and it worked!

  25. Jay R. Parr

    Thank You! Thank you!
    I recently bought a new ASUS router and it said it was not compatible with my new(ish) Brother 2280. I was so disappointed. I looked around the Internet off and on for days with varying opinions. Today I decided to take a shot at it. Did a Google search and for the first time saw your site. IT WORKED PERFECTLY.

    Now I have two Mac-minis, a new iPad, MacBook AND my 2280 printer all wireless thru this lovely ASUS RT-N56U router. I feel like a new man, instead of a burned out 70 year old computer engineer who knows nothing anymore.

    Ottawa Canada

  26. Anna

    Hi,

    I try to put that network key into my printer but it is too long and i cannot see which numbers I am putting in (if I do put any as there is nothing showing past the stars). What should I do? Does it actually put the other signs as I press the arrows or it stops on the 16th sign (my key has 20 altogether)

    • Chanh

      Hi Anna,

      You encountered the same issue I did. Using the printer’s LCD and keypad to input a long network key is impossible for normal humans. Instead, I recommend you configure the printer using its web interface, like I did. Follow the instructions in the section above titled “Configure Wireless Access With Ethernet Connection and Web Interface”.

      Regards.

  27. Eli

    Thank you for the step by step guide. Worked like a charm.

  28. Anthony G

    Fortunately there’s an easier way to do this. If your printer ever drops wifi settings simply reset the network settings (holding down “YES” for two seconds under the Settings>All Settings>Network>Network Reset) and after the reboot manually enter your SSID’s password (Network>WLAN>Setup Wizard).

    Unfortunately my MFC-L2740DW drops it’s wifi settings at least once every few weeks.

  29. Kay

    After hours of trying everything I could think of I still am unable to scan from the printer’s control panel. I got everything up and running with help from tech support but then it just stopped working correctly. I am going around in circles. Had it running wireless too, but no scan from the printer’s control panel. Right now I am back to being connected by Ethernet to my Apple Extreme. My iMac is also connected to the Apple Extreme by Ethernet wired. The Apple Extreme is connected to Cat 5 wall jack which goes to my internet router in a control panel. I can print and scan from the desktop, but not the printer’s control panel. However, right now I can’t do it from either. I think I have changed too many things and not sure what to do next or first. Hope you are still monitoring this site as your answers to others seems to have been very helpful to them. Thanks in advance.

    • Chanh

      Hi Kay,

      Sounds like you’ve tried everything including the kitchen sink! When you say “scan from the printer’s control panel”, I believe you are referring to the Brother’s “Scan to PC” function, which is when you hit the scan button on the printer and it saves the scan directly to the computer’s hard drive.

      I think you are right about making too many changes. The first thing to do is to reset the printer configuration back to the factory default. Search for “reset the printer configuration” in the post to find the reset instructions. Once you do the reset, you can re-configure the wireless connectivity for the printer.

      In the post, please ignore the instructions to not install and/or remove the Brother Control Center software. You will need to have this software running constantly on the computer to enable the “Scan to PC” function. I found some Brother Scan to PC instructions which show you how to configure the Control Center software.

      Wishing you success, Chanh

  30. Kay

    Chanh,
    Wow, after two days on my own with no success, I am so glad I found our post. I do believe I have everything working now and I have it changed over to wireless too. Prints, scans, from my desktop and my Brother Scan to PC buttons. Yahoo!! With your help and this post you have saved me from myself. I was about to throw everything out the window. 🙂
    Thanks again.

  31. Kay

    Chanh,
    My post is the last one posted. Everything was working yesterday and now the printer thinks it is asleep. What would cause this problem? Remember, yesterday I go it running with Ethernet cable and then after all running well I disconnected the Ethernet cable and set up for wireless. Everything worked just fine yesterday after changing the settings for wireless. I tried turning the printer off and then back on and I could print. Five minutes later I could not print again. What could be causing this problem?
    Kay

    • Chanh

      Hi Kay,

      Glad to hear you got it working but sorry to hear that you now have a new issue. I haven’t encountered the sleep issue, mostly because I tend to turn the printer on and off manually. From your description, it sounds like the computer is not waking up the printer properly. I googled the problem and it looks like the recommendation is to delete all printer devices (duplicates are a problem) on the computer, uninstall the Brother software, and then reinstall the Brother software.

      Alternatively, you might wish to check the sleep mode configuration on the printer console itself. Or you can download the Brother Remote Printer Console application to view the printer settings remotely from your computer.

      Best wishes, Chanh

  32. Niari

    Thanks Chanh! Champion effort – your guide was invaluable .

  33. Hugo Silveira

    Hi I’m just buy the printer and I cant setup the WiFi in my printer can you help me thanks.

  34. Hugo Silveira

    I’m already duet the 4-1-1-2 and noting happen

    • Chanh

      Hi Hugo,

      When you say “nothing happened”, what do you see on the printer’s LCD? Do you see an address like 0.0.0.0? If yes, please make sure that the printer is connected to your Internet router/modem by ethernet cable. If no, what does it look like?

      Regards, Chanh

  35. Fernan

    Very informative, how about a layman’s instruction please. I am able to print using Brother HL-2280DW but the scan function is not working. Initially the printer was connected to my lap top and the scan function was working properly. The printer was then relocated and was reconfigured to be Brother HL-2280DW Printer Wireless, that is when the scanning function failed

    Anticipating your help.

    • Chanh

      Hi Fernan,

      Being able to print wireless is a good sign. It just remains to figure out how to get the wireless scanning working. When you attempt to perform a scan from your computer, do you get an error message? The error message will help to isolate the cause of the problem.

      Regards, Chanh

  36. Albert Danry

    The other desktop if its not connected wirelessly they its easy. Just install the drivers for the printer on the desktop thats ethernet cabled to the router. Once installed go to start /settings then printers then on the printer in question right click it and go to sharing and share this printer on the network. But right click my computer/properties then computer name or the like and make sure all computers on the network share the same workgroup . By default MS windows uses the same name. But you can change it to any name you want to. All computers have to have the same workgroup name to share files and printers. Then on the other computer connected wirelessly go to start/settings printers and install new printer and it will ask if its a network printer or direct connect choose network printer and it wll install all thats needed.
    Source(s):
    https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080615155625AAvqars

  37. Your mode of telling the whole thing in this articⅼe is genuinely good, every one be capablе of effortlessly understand it, Thɑnks a lot.

  38. Tundra14

    Awesome instructions! Thank you very much. Have had this printer for 6 years now and always had it wired. Decided to reorganize my home office and didn’t want to run the ethernet cable half way across the room. This works perfectly!

  39. Eric

    Hi Chanh,

    Once I plug in the Ethernet to configure the printer settings, will the wireless feature still work even after I unplug the Ethernet AND the power cord and move the printer to a different room? I’m guessing no. My router is upstairs but I want to keep my printer in a room downstairs.

    This is the least user friendly device I have ever purchased. And the instructions in the box are not good.

    Thanks,
    Eric

    • Chanh

      Hi Eric,

      Once the printer is configured for wireless connectivity and can wirelessly connect to the router (without the Ethernet cable plugged in), you can then relocate the printer to any place within range of the wireless router.

      Regards, Chanh

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *