Setting up a new printer (Wi-Fi first, then Windows)

Steps

1. Unbox it, remove all the blue tape and orange plastic (there's always one more piece inside), fit the ink or toner, load paper, and turn it on. Let it finish its first-time set-up on its own screen.
2. On the printer's screen: Settings/Setup → Network → Wi-Fi setup wizard. Choose your Wi-Fi name and type the password carefully — capitals matter. It should say Connected. (No screen? Use the maker's phone app — Epson Smart Panel, Canon PRINT, HP Smart, Brother Mobile Connect — it walks you through joining Wi-Fi.)
3. Print the network status page from the printer's menu if you can — it confirms it's on your Wi-Fi.
4. On the computer, make sure it's on the same Wi-Fi, then Settings → Bluetooth & devices → Printers & scanners → Add device. Wait; the printer should appear — click Add device next to it.
5. Once added, click it and choose Set as default. Print a test page from that screen.
6. For scanning, install the maker's app from their website or the Microsoft Store (Epson ScanSmart, HP Smart, Canon IJ Scan Utility, Brother iPrint&Scan) — Windows' built-in scan works too but the maker's app is easier.

If that didn't work

• If it doesn't appear in Add device after a couple of minutes, click Add manually → Add a printer using an IP address — the IP is on the printer's network status page — and choose Autodetect.
• HP Smart insisting you create an account to scan? You can skip that with the offline/"continue without" option; if it won't let you, that's a known nuisance and I can sort it.
• Adding it to a phone: install the maker's app, and it finds the printer on the same Wi-Fi.