Wifi Password 12345
Ailene Goldhirsh
First I looked in the HP Utility that was installed with the printer after setting it up via USB. All I saw was Bluetooth Settings, no Wifi. Next, I tried to set up wifi through the printer touch screen. I couldn't for the life of me find a way to make a curly bracket or even square brackets [ ] needed for my password from the special characters menu.
The hack that didn't work: I connected the printer to my router via CAT6e network cable. Then I got the IP address off the printer and accessed the settings page via web browser. This got me to the wizard, but the wizard couldn't find any networks. I later found that the wireless card on the printer can't be enabled when a wired connection is present. (FAIL)
The hack that worked: I set up a temporary guest network on my router with a simple password (12345) and connected the printer to that network. This got the printer on the network with the wireless card turned on. Then I got the new IP address from the printer's network settings page and once again accessed the printer from Chrome web browser
Your printer address with have different numbers but will likely start with 192.168.xxx.xxx. From there I ran the wireless setup wizard and found my primary network. With the compute keyboard I was able to enter my complex password with special characters. Once the printer switched networks, I killed the guest network on my router.
There must be a better way? Can someone show me what I was missing so I can feel like an idiot? Hopefully, this post will end up helping the next person with this problem.
Now, on the printer keypad, you will see a '.@!' button towards the right bottom if you need to input any symbols. Check if you can scroll up or down to choose the symbol you want from the options available.
A number of people who have followed the instructions for setting up OctoPi on your Raspberry Pi experience problems getting connected to WiFi. This thread is intended to detail a couple of common problems people have experienced and things to try to resolve them. This page assumes that your WiFi network is up and working and that other devices are able to connect to it without a problem.
We are also assuming that you have already successfully downloaded the OctoPi image and "burned" it on to your SD card. The OctoPi image can be found at The page also includes basic installation directions as well as a video describing installation process. There are also a number of other OctoPrint/OctoPi videos on YouTube which describe basic set-up as well as advanced options.
NOTE: there is now an easier way to edit the WiFi settings than the method described below. Instructions for using the Raspberry Pi Imager to download and install OctoPrint and edit the WiFi settings can be found at OctoPrint.org - Download & Setup OctoPrint
I've left the description below for those who prefer to edit WiFi settings via other methods, or who may run into problems and need to adress this by other methods. The trouble-shooting methods found in later sections of this write-up should still be helpful.
With the SD card plugged in to your computer (you may need an adapter for your computer to accept the SD card if it doesn't already include the appropriate slot). You access the card just as you would an external disk or thumb drive mounted on your computer. The file you will need to edit is in the /boot/ directory of the SD card (if you are editing on a Windows or Mac computer, the /boot/ directory will likely be the only directory you can see.) Look in the "boot" directory of the SD card. The file you need to edit varies depending on which version of OctoPi you downloaded. The process for OctoPi 0.14 and earlier differs from that of OctoPi 0.15 and later. I strongly suggest you use the latest stable release, but descriptions for both are included below. See the section below appropriate to your version.
In the /boot/ directory, open octopi-wpa-supplicant.txt with the appropriate text editor. (The use of /boot/octopi-network.txt which was used in OctoPi version 0.14 has been discontinued in version 0.15). There are instructions within that file for editing your network settings. Be sure to use an appropriate text editor. For most WiFi networks, you'll edit the section that looks like this:
Uncomment the 4 lines which have a single # front of them by deleting the # (do not delete any spaces after the #), then enter your WiFi network SSID (your network's "name") and the password in the indicated places. Note that the SSID and password are case sensitive. (A common problem when cutting and pasting this information is accidentally including leading or trailing spaces which are not part of the SSID or password.) For a network named JoesWiFi with a password of 12345, it should look like this:
In OctoPi 0.15, you will also need to set the WiFi Country. The setting for this is also found in the /boot/octopi-wpa-supplicant.txt file. Scroll to near the bottom of the file and find the section that begins with "# Uncomment the country your Pi is in..." By default, the line for the United Kingdom is uncommented (the "#" is removed from the front of the line). If you are in some country other than the UK, comment out the United Kingdom line by putting a # in front of it, then remove the # from in front of the country you are in (do NOT remove the # from the middle of the line). If your country is not in the list, follow the link provided in the file to find the complete list, and create a new line for your country. For example, if you are in Switzerland, you would scroll down the page to find that the 2 letter code is "CH", and create a new line that looks like this:
Save the changes and exit the text editor. Do not simply yank the SD card from the reader slot. Find and use the menu command to Eject/unmount the SD card from your computer, wait a few seconds for the unmounting process to complete, and then remove it from the card reader slot. Make sure the Pi is powered down, and then install the SD card in your Pi and boot it up by turning on the power to the Pi. Note that the first boot may take some time: be patient.
Some text editors, including Apple's TextEdit (included with macOS) and WordPad (included with Windows) make changes to the files you edit which render them unusable by the Pi's Raspian operating system. (I've heard that Windows NotePad can also cause problems, but have not personally verified that). There are several good, free options out there you can download with will avoid these problems.
For the Mac, I use BBEdit (after 30 days, the freely downloaded version reverts to a limited demonstration version, but that limited version still does everything you need it to to edit files on your Pi.)
Note that if the file has already been edited with an inappropriate text editor, your best bet is starting over with a clean, unedited copy of that file. Simply editing it again with the correct editor is unlikely to fix the damage.
If you really want to use Apple's TextEdit on your Mac, it can be fixed by making a few changes to it's default preferences. Launch TextEdit and go to TextEdit>Preferences. Under Format, choose "Plain Text". Under Options, uncheck "Smart Quotes" and "Smart Dashes". Close the preferences pane, then quit TextEdit and relauch. It will now work without messing up your Pi's files. If you have already edited a file before making these changes, you may need to start with a clean copy of the file to get it to work. A telltale sign that TextEdit has screwed up your file: the quotation marks around the SSID and password will show up as "curly" quotes rather than the desired "straight" quotes.
The Pi needs a solid source of 5+VDC. A minimum of 2 amps. (2.5 Amps is recommended for the Pi 3 and 3B+, particularly if the Pi is powering a camera or USB devices. More recent / more power-hungry models of the Pi make require even higher rated power supplies.)
A charger is not the same as a power supply. Chargers are generally not required to provide tightly regulated voltage or may not be able to provide the peak current that the Pi requires. That old phone charger probably won't work, or if it does, it may cause you intermittent problems. Get an appropriately rated power supply from a reputable source.
Likewise, plugging your Pi into the USB port of your laptop computer is not likely to work reliably. Those ports are usually limited in their current output. If you're lucky, the bare Pi might boot with nothing else attached to it, but WiFi will likely not work, nor things you attach to the Pi's USB port.
On a related note: you need a good quality cable to connect your power supply to the Pi. Many USB cables have conductors that are too small to carry 2.5 amps without an unacceptable voltage drop. A sub-par cable can show the same symptoms as a weak power supply.
Follow this link to find out more about Pi Undervoltage/Power Issues and the little lightning bolt or or thermometer icon that will pop up in the menu bar of a Pi running Octoprint version 1.3.10 or later if it has detected any undervoltage or overtemperature issues:
If you are using the built-in WiFi in a Raspberry Pi-3, a Pi-3B+, or Pi-0W, be aware that the signal strength from the tiny internal antenna may be weaker than other WiFi devices. Try moving your Pi closer to the router as a test (even if that is not possible to do when you are printing, the test will at least let you know if this is the issue). If this solves your connection issue, try relocating your Pi or your router. Sometimes even a small move can make a big difference. Minimize the number of walls or other obstacles blocking the signal, move things out from behind metal boxes or other electrical devices. (My router sat behind a metal electrical service box in my basement. It worked Ok for other devices in my home, but not the Pi. Building a shelf that positioned it just a couple of feet away made a significant difference in signal strength and WiFi reliability for my Pi.)
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