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Printing via Wi Fi

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Hi Guys. Got myself in a right old fix here. Bought an Epson XP342 printer, wanting (desperately needing) to print documents without the aid of a computer. I do not have a computer for one thing and do not, at 84 years of age, dying of terminal stage Prostate Cancer , want to get involved with this again. Hope you can see what I am driving at guys? I bought this printer in good faith, believing the hype that I could use it wirelessly . I have WiFi and thought it would be a matter of minutes to getting set up. I will not kid you on this. I am absolutely stuck. Printer has ink and paper, but how to get it printing on Wi Fi. Please someone, can you spare me a few minutes of your valuable time to crack this one? Thank you for all that you can do. Regards. Walt
 
Welcome to the forum Walt.

This will help others.

What are you printing from? (tablet, mobile phone...)
What Operating system?
What have you tried?

Hi Rustys.I used to have a small desktop computer. A Dell Optiplex GX260. I had always been a devotee of Win XP Pro, for better or worse. I put together a lot of personal stuff to do with when I reached the terminus, so to speak. The bulk of what I want to work with now, is on SD cards and USB Flash drives.

What have I tried? Well The printer has an SD card slot and there is a connector at the rear which takes a USB lead which should be slotted into the computer. Obviously I cannot see this being a great help to me, but why not? Does it have to be a computer connection? I was told that this printer was able to stand alone and just need Wi Fi. But I have failed to find a connector to connect the printer (a square socket) to a Flash Drive (via a USB female socket).

Rightly or wrongly, I see my main problem as the horrible User Manual. A multi language sheet, telling me nothing of any use. No help at all in using the printer to do what I need to do. Apologies for dropping this mess on you. Regards Walt
 
Sorry to hear about your cancer.

I suspect this is what the card slot is for
Simply slot in a memory card and use the 3.7cm colour LCD screen and helpful menu prompts to print your photos without a PC.
Are there pictures on the sd cards? If not, I don't think it will simply print files.

As far as other things,
Whether using a smartphone or tablet, the iPrint app1 can be downloaded to a range of devices for truly wireless printing and scanning.

So you don;t need a PC but you do need either an sd card with pictures or an Android phone or tablet.

Source: https://www.epson.co.uk/products/printers/inkjet-printers/consumer/expression-home-xp-342

My android tablets support OTG (On the go). If I attach my OTG cable to a tablet, I can then attach a USB stick and move files back and forth.

If I owned a wireless printer, I could print the files that my tablet sees on the USB stick.

Bottom line, You either need a PC to use the USB connection to print something (note an XP computer would probably never see this printer so don't waste time trying to connect it) or an Android tablet or phone to use the wireless feature of the printer.

If you have a trusted friend with a laptop, you might be able to ask them to bring the laptop over, connected and install the printer then print what you need.
 
Hello Walt
If you simply want to print pictures off a SD card you should be able to do it without any connection to any other device. With my Epson WF3640 when the SD is inserted it displays the number of pictures on the card, and allows you to scroll through them via a screen sidebar. After selecting what you want to print it allows "limited" editing options and to print the image.:)
 
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If that is the case the full Epson drivers package will have to be installed on the pc, and WIFI connection selected and configured. And also to work your PC/modem/router will have to support WIFI.
 
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But he doesn't have a PC.
I do not have a computer for one thing
.
He has no intention of buying one.

He either has to return the printer or get a friend to bring a laptop to his place, attach the printer to the laptop and print out the documents he wants.
 
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