How to Setup HP M140w Printer (Complete 2026 Guide)

How to Setup HP M140w Printer: Complete Step-by-Step Guide

If the control panel is blinking, the HP Smart app can't find your device, or you're just staring at a box wondering where to start, here's the short version: setting up your HP LaserJet MFP M140w takes about 10–15 minutes if you follow the steps in order and skip nothing. This guide covers how to setup HP M140w printer from unboxing to your first printed page, including the one connection glitch that trips up more people than anything else in the manual.

Quick Answer: Unbox the printer, plug in the power cord, load paper, then install the pre-loaded toner cartridge. Download the HP Smart app on your phone or PC, open it, and select "Add Printer" — the app will walk the M140w through WiFi setup automatically. If you'd rather skip the app, hold the Wireless button on the printer for 5 seconds to trigger WPS pairing with your router. Print a test page to confirm everything's connected.

What You Need Before You Setup HP M140w Printer

Before touching the box, gather these three things — they solve 90% of the setup problems people run into:

  • A 2.4GHz WiFi network. The M140w does not support 5GHz. If your router broadcasts a combined "5GHz + 2.4GHz" name, you may need to temporarily split them in your router settings.
  • Your WiFi password on hand. Sounds obvious, but this is the single biggest cause of setup delays.
  • The HP Smart app installed on the phone, laptop, or desktop you'll use to manage the printer (available for Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, and Chromebook).

A quick note on what you're working with: the HP LaserJet MFP M140w is a compact black-and-white laser multifunction printer built for print, scan, and copy tasks, rated at up to 21 pages per minute for single-sided printing. It's built around HP's Auto-On/Auto-Off technology to cut standby power use, and it includes a handy ID-card copy mode that fits both sides of a card onto one sheet — a feature most competing budget laser printers skip entirely.

Setup Method Comparison

There's more than one way to connect the M140w, and which one you pick depends on your setup. Here's how they stack up:

Method Best For Setup Time Requires Router Access
HP Smart App (WiFi) Most home/small office users ~10 minutes Yes (WiFi password)
WPS Button Pairing Routers with a physical WPS button ~3 minutes Yes (physical button)
USB Cable Single computer, no WiFi needed ~5 minutes No
WiFi Direct Printing from a phone with no router nearby ~5 minutes No

Step 1: Unbox and Power On the Printer

  1. Remove all packing tape, foam inserts, and plastic film — including the strip inside the toner cartridge door, which people frequently miss.
  2. Place the printer on a flat, ventilated surface near an outlet and your router (signal strength matters more than most guides admit — keep it within 15–20 feet of the router for the initial pairing).
  3. Connect the power cord to the printer, then to the wall outlet, and press the power button.
  4. Wait for the control panel light to turn solid (not blinking) before moving to the next step.
how to setup hp m140w printer unboxing and power connection

Step 2: Load Paper and Install the Toner Cartridge

  1. Open the input tray and fan a stack of plain paper before loading it — this prevents the double-feed jams that are common on first use.
  2. Adjust the paper guides so they sit snug against the paper stack without bending it.
  3. The introductory toner cartridge usually ships pre-installed. If you're replacing it, open the front cartridge door, remove the sealing tape by pulling the orange tab completely, and slide the cartridge in until it clicks.
  4. Close the cartridge door. The printer will run a short calibration cycle — this is normal and takes under a minute.

Step 3: Connect the HP M140w to WiFi Using the HP Smart App

This is the method HP recommends, and it's genuinely the least error-prone path for most people.

  1. On your phone, laptop, or desktop, download and install the HP Smart app from the App Store, Google Play, Microsoft Store, or hp.com.
  2. Open the app and sign in with (or create) an HP account.
  3. Tap "+" or "Add Printer" and select HP LaserJet MFP M140w from the list of nearby devices. If it doesn't appear, make sure the printer's WiFi light is blinking, indicating it's in setup/discoverable mode.
  4. Choose your 2.4GHz network from the list and enter your WiFi password when prompted.
  5. The app pushes the credentials to the printer. Wait for the wireless light to turn solid blue — this confirms the connection succeeded.
  6. Let the app finish installing drivers and register the printer to your account.
Heads up: If the network name doesn't show up in the app, double-check that your router isn't hiding its SSID and that MAC address filtering (if enabled) isn't blocking new devices. Both are common on mesh routers configured by an ISP technician rather than the homeowner.

Step 4: Alternative — WPS Button Setup (No App Needed)

If your router has a physical WPS button, this is the fastest path:

  1. Press and hold the Wireless button on the printer's control panel for about 5 seconds until the light starts blinking rapidly.
  2. Within two minutes, press the WPS button on your router.
  3. The two devices will handshake automatically. A solid wireless light means it worked.
  4. If it times out, the printer returns to standby — just repeat the process, this time pressing the router's WPS button first.

Step 5: Install Drivers on Windows or Mac

Even after WiFi setup, your computer needs the actual print driver to send jobs to the M140w.

Windows: The HP Smart app installs the driver automatically during setup. If you skipped the app, go to Settings > Bluetooth & Devices > Printers & Scanners > Add Device, and Windows should detect the M140w over the network.

Mac: Open System Settings > Printers & Scanners > Add Printer, Scanner, or Fax. The M140w should appear under nearby printers using AirPrint, which the M140w supports natively without a separate driver download.

Chromebook: Go to Settings > Advanced > Print and Scan > Printers, and select "Add Printer." Chromebooks detect the M140w automatically once it's on the same network.

The "Retrieving IP Address" Failure Nobody Explains Properly

Here's the part most setup guides skip entirely, because they're written by people who never actually hit this error. A specific and very common failure happens partway through WiFi setup: everything proceeds normally until the printer reaches a "retrieving IP address" step, which hangs for a couple of minutes and then throws a "cannot connect the printer to WiFi" error — even though the password was entered correctly.

This isn't a password problem. It's almost always one of these three things:

  • Band confusion. Many routers broadcast one SSID that auto-switches devices between 2.4GHz and 5GHz. The M140w only speaks 2.4GHz, so if the router assigns it a 5GHz handshake, the IP request stalls indefinitely. Fix: temporarily split your bands into two separate network names (e.g., "HomeWiFi" and "HomeWiFi-5G"), connect the printer to the 2.4GHz one, then merge them back if you'd like.
  • IP address conflicts. If another device on your network is already using the address your router tries to hand the printer, the request silently fails. Fix: in the printer's control panel, go to Setup > Network Setup > Restore Network Defaults, then retry the connection from scratch.
  • Stale router cache after switching ISPs. If you recently changed internet providers or replaced your router, old network settings can linger on the printer. A full network reset (same path as above) clears this out.

If you've tried all three and it's still stuck, check that your router and printer firmware are both current — an outdated printer firmware version is the quiet fourth cause that rarely gets mentioned but resolves the issue in a fair number of stubborn cases.

Step 6: Set Up Scanning

The M140w's scan function runs entirely through the HP Smart app once it's connected. Open the app, select your printer, tap "Scan," choose document or photo mode, and pick a destination — your device, email, or a cloud service like Google Drive or Dropbox. There's no separate scanner driver to install; it rides on the same network connection you already set up.

Keeping the Connection Stable After Setup

A few habits prevent the printer from randomly dropping offline weeks later:

  • Avoid moving the printer to a spot with weak WiFi signal after the initial pairing — it doesn't automatically re-optimize itself for a new location.
  • If you reset your router, expect to redo the WiFi pairing step, since the printer stores the old credentials, not a live connection.
  • Leave Auto-On/Auto-Off enabled unless you're printing large batch jobs back-to-back, where the wake-up delay becomes noticeable.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why won't my HP M140w connect to WiFi?

The most common causes are a 5GHz-only network (the M140w needs 2.4GHz), a hidden SSID, or MAC address filtering on the router. Restoring network defaults on the printer and reconnecting usually resolves it.

How do I find the WPS PIN for the HP M140w?

Go to the printer's control panel, select Setup > Network Setup > Wireless Setup Wizard or WPS, and choose "PIN Method." The printer will display an 8-digit PIN to enter into your router's admin page.

Does the HP M140w work without internet access?

Yes. You can print directly over USB or use WiFi Direct to connect a phone or laptop straight to the printer without a router or internet connection at all.

How do I reset network settings on the HP LaserJet M140w?

On the control panel, go to Home > Setup > Network Setup > Restore Network Defaults. This clears saved WiFi credentials so you can start the pairing process fresh.

Can I set up the HP M140w without a computer?

Yes. The HP Smart app on a phone can complete the entire wireless setup — connecting to WiFi, installing print/scan functionality, and registering the printer — without ever touching a PC.

Why does setup fail at "retrieving IP address"?

This usually means the printer is trying to join a 5GHz band it doesn't support, or there's an IP conflict on the network. Restoring network defaults and reconnecting to a 2.4GHz-only network name fixes it in most cases.

What's the default admin password for the HP M140w's web interface?

There isn't a factory password by default — you set one the first time you access the printer's built-in web page (via its IP address in a browser) under Settings > Security. If you've forgotten a password you set, a factory reset clears it.

Final Thoughts

Most HP M140w setup problems come down to one of two things: a 5GHz network the printer can't see, or skipping the network reset before retrying. Once you get past the "retrieving IP address" stage, the rest of the process — driver install, scan setup, test print — is genuinely quick. If your printer still won't connect after trying everything above, HP's official support page for the M139–M142 series has model-specific troubleshooting videos worth checking: HP LaserJet MFP M140w Setup & User Guides.

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