HP printers are very common: they are a major manufacturer of printers for personal and professional use. I recently bought a HP printer (type: DeskJet 2720), and came across an issue: the printer demanded a username and password combination on the Embedded Web Server to adapt some advanced settings. However, I had no clue what the username and password combination was to login into the HP printer / HP Smart application.

I listed some of the possibilities I tried after having contacted HP via their chat and on the phone, as it may help you find the default username/password for your own HP printer in case you would ever be prompted to enter this.

Option 1: Use a standard password

The first option to try is to test some standard username and password combinations. There is in principle no limit to the number of times you can try to enter the requested credentials – but you may need to wait some time as the printer may prevent you from trying too many times in a short timespan.

Some combinations to try for your printer:

admin/admin
administrator/administrator
admin/12345678
administrator/12345678
admin/(blank)
administrator/(blank)
admin/admin123
administrator/admin123

In my case, the username for my DeskJet 2720 was ‘admin’, so it’s likely going to be ‘admin’ as well in your case as it is likely going to be the same for all HP branded printers.

Option 2: Print the settings page

Most printers allow you to print a (set of) standard page(s) which contain the current settings for your printer. In other words: it may contain the standard username and password information for your printer!

In my case, I had to press the Wi-Fi button and the I (information) button at the same time. The printer printed 3 pages, including the network information and other technical information that is of less interest. It also contained the Wi-Fi Direct username and password – however in my case these were not the credentials I was looking for.

Option 3: Check the manual

Reading the manual is not something we tend to do very easily these days. However, manuals contain often very interesting information. The HP representative I contacted suggested me to read the documentation that came in the box of my printer when I purchased it. Given the printer was just recently bought, I kept the retail box and all its contents.

In my case, there was nothing interesting to read in the manuals in terms of help to find the username and password information. But perhaps worth a shot as different printer models work in different ways and need to be configured differently.

Option 4: Check your printer

Keep the best for last: in my individual case, this last option was in the end the method that helped me access the settings page for my printer successfully.

Closely take a look at your printer and try to find any reference to a username, pin code, PIN, secret ID, password, key, … It can be hidden behind some of the movable parts (some of the doors: for example to replace the ink) so look closely.

Again in my case: I used ‘admin’ as username and the ‘PIN’ that was listed on a sticker. It was a 8-character set of digits.

Closing thoughts

I hope any of these tips may help you find your printer’s password. If you still don’t succeed, try contacting HP directly, or take a look at their forums (called the HP Support Community). Some people over there have the same issue, and the community provides various ways to deal with this issue. Some people suggest resetting the printer or resetting the password – worth a try.