I'm the person who orders the printers and the supplies in our office. I've done this for six years, and I've personally made, and documented, 11 significant mistakes, totaling roughly $4,800 in wasted budget. In 2019, I connected the first Brother printer to the wrong network, then repeated it six months later. That's not a record to be proud of. But it's why I now keep a setup checklist.

If you're here because your Brother printer won't connect to Wi-Fi, let me say this first: there's no single answer. How do I connect my Brother printer to WiFi? It depends on your router, your computer, and whether Windows is asking for that mysterious WPS PIN. So let's break it into scenarios.

Scenario 1: Your Router Has a WPS Button

If your router has a physical WPS button, the easiest way is push-button setup. On the Brother printer, go to Menu, then Network, then Wireless LAN, then Push Button. Press the WPS button on your router within two minutes. The printer should connect on its own. The catch: some routers disable WPS in the admin settings, so if nothing happens after two minutes, move to Scenario 2 or 3.

I didn't have a formal process for checking this the first time. It cost us a whole morning. The third time a router's WPS button didn't do anything, I finally created a checklist: try WPS button, then PIN, then USB cable. Should have done that after the first time.

Scenario 2: Windows Is Asking for a WPS PIN

This is the one that sends people into forums at 10pm. You're adding a Brother printer, and Windows says: Enter the WPS PIN for your printer. Where is it? This is the WPS PIN Brother printer owners keep asking about. The printer creates it on the spot, and it's only visible on the LCD screen. It's not on the box, not on the label, and it doesn't come with the manual. The PIN appears only after you start the wireless setup on the printer.

According to Brother's support site (support.brother.com), the PIN appears on the LCD after you choose the wireless setup option. On most Brother models, press the wireless button or go to Network, choose Wireless LAN, then choose WPS PIN. The display will show a short PIN, usually 6 or 8 digits. Type that into Windows. Note: the PIN changes each time, so don't copy one from an old forum post. I've seen that mistake three times.

If the PIN option isn't in your printer's menu, use Scenario 3. Some older models call it Wi-Fi or Wireless, and the PIN appears after you pick that.

Scenario 3: No WPS Button, No PIN, or It Keeps Failing

Here's the counterintuitive advice: stop trying to do it wirelessly. Connect the printer to your computer with a USB cable, download the Brother driver from Brother's support site, and run the setup program. Choose wireless connection when it asks. Once the printer is on your network, unplug the USB cable. This sounds backwards, but it's the most reliable way to set up a Brother printer on a network without WPS.

I don't have hard data on how many support calls this solves, but based on the 40-plus printers I've set up, my sense is it solves about 80 percent of stubborn Wi-Fi setups. That's not a scientific stat. It's just what I've seen.

Another option: use the Brother iPrint&Scan app for Windows or Mac. It sometimes finds the printer on the network even when the driver installer doesn't. If the app doesn't find it, that usually means the printer is connected to a different network. Check the printer's IP address under Network settings and make sure it's on the same subnet.

This was accurate as of January 2025. Printer firmware and driver pages change, so verify current steps on support.brother.com.

How to Tell Which Scenario You're In

Before you start, ask three questions:

  1. Does my router have a WPS button? If yes, start with Scenario 1.
  2. Is Windows already asking for a PIN? Then don't dig through the box. Find the PIN on the printer screen. That's Scenario 2.
  3. Is the printer new, or did the easy methods fail? Use the USB route in Scenario 3.

The question isn't which setup method is best. It's which method your router and computer actually support. Start with the one you know, but give yourself a 15-minute limit. If it's not connected by then, cable it.

There's something satisfying about a printer that shows Connected after half an hour of fighting with it. The best part of finally getting our setup process systematized: no more 10pm worry sessions about whether the printer will work for tomorrow's meeting.

Once the printer is connected, the next question is usually about the supplies that seem too simple to cause problems: A4 paper, corkboard, and highlighter. There's no universal answer for those either. It depends on your location, your wall, and how you mark documents.

Wait, What Is A4 Paper?

Once the printer connects, someone will ask about paper. A4 is the international paper size used in most countries outside North America: 210 by 297 millimeters. It's slightly taller and narrower than US Letter, which is 8.5 by 11 inches. A4 is part of the ISO 216 standard. Your Brother printer manual and the tray markings tell you which size to use. Use the size marked on the tray. It's not a preference issue. Mixing paper sizes can cause feeding problems, crooked prints, and alignment errors.

I learned this the hard way in September 2022. I put Letter paper in an A4-labeled tray on a multifunction printer. Every document printed with off-center margins. We spent an hour before checking the tray label. Now the tray has a piece of tape on it that says A4 ONLY.

Corkboard: Not All Pinboards Are the Same

If you're setting up a shared office or training room, corkboard seems simple until it falls off the wall. Check three things before ordering: thickness, frame, and whether the material is real cork. I'd get at least half an inch thick, with an aluminum or wood frame, not a cheap particleboard backing. Real cork self-heals from pin holes better than the rubbery substitute. If price is someone's priority, they can order a thinner board. But I've watched a cheap corkboard sag under a few months of flyers.

Never expected to have an opinion about corkboard, but after replacing three in one year, I do.

Highlighter: Chisel or Bullet Still Matters

Most office orders just say highlighter, which is too general. For marking printed documents, chisel-tip highlighters are my favorite because they give you both a broad highlight and a fine line. Bullet tips work for simple marking but not for neat underlining. And if highlighters will be used on inkjet-printed pages, test one first. Some inks smear when a highlighter runs over them.

I wish I had tracked how many highlighters we wasted on smeared pages when we switched from laser to inkjet printers. What I can say anecdotally is that a small test saved us from ordering 200 bad highlighters.

Supply Pricing: Ask What's Not Included

This is where transparency comes in. When you get a quotation for printer supplies or office fit-outs, ask two questions: What's the price? And what's NOT included? The vendor who lists delivery fees, disposal costs, and any setup fees upfront, even if their total looks higher, usually costs less in the end. The vendor who promises a low price and tacks on handling later isn't saving you money. They're just hiding it.

I'm not saying the expensive supplier is always the best. I'm saying the one who shows you the full number is easier to trust.

Quick Checklist I Use Now

  1. Router WPS button? Use push-button setup.
  2. Windows asking for a PIN? Look at the printer screen.
  3. Still failing? USB cable, install driver, then wireless.
  4. Check the paper tray: A4 vs Letter.
  5. For corkboard, check thickness and frame.
  6. Test highlighters on your actual printer output.

If you're setting up a Brother printer for the first time, give yourself an hour. If you're still stuck after that, Brother's support site has live chat and phone support. No, I don't work for Brother. I just learned to use support after I tried to reset a printer by throwing a pillow at it. The pillow didn't help.