Great question!  Glad you asked, but apparently HP is keeping it a secret.   I thought HP’s website would would have said for certain if it was able to scan AND print wirelessly, but the language was vague and unclear.   I was hoping the site would have said in bold very clearly, “With this device you can scan and print wirelessly”.  I mean, isn’t this kind of the most important thing here?  Instead it said,

• Enjoy wireless freedom: send documents to print from laptops plus desktop PCs and Macs¹
• Do it all with one machine: print, scan, and copy

Hmm, thanks for clearing that up HP.  I decided I would call HP to get some clarity.  I spoke to a very nice associate who put me on hold to look up the answer.  When she came back she stated it would scan and print over wireless, but for some reason that did not instill confidence in me.  My plan was to go to the Mac store, get a iMac and purchase this printer along with the computer to get a $100 dollar rebate.  Once I got there, I caught the attention of a familiar sales person, point over to the multifunction device and asked, “Can that scan wirelessly”?  He was very confident when he said No.  I told him that I had spoken to HP and that they stated it would.  He then said that he would go back and ask one of his technicians.  A while later he came back and proclaimed once again it would not scan via the wireless.  We went back and forth a few times and it was decided that we would do some web searches.  Good ol’ Google.  The articles he found supported his argument and the ones I found supported mine and at this impasse he said he was going to go and call HP.  By the time he came back I had found a post where someone said they got it to scan wirelessly with Linux.  I was pretty certain it was going to work, and on Apples UK site I found it stated it would scan and print wirelessly.   He informed me that HP said it would only print wirelessly and that site I found was a UK site.  There was a return policy for the printer so I was ready to take it home and do some testing.  I had it scanning via the wireless in about 10 minutes.  The setup does require a USB cable.  You first hook it up using the cable to configure the wireless, once your done, you can unplug the cable and “Enjoy wireless freedom“. I thought maybe I should give my good friend at the Mac store a call to tell him the news.  I didn’t want to discuss the matter further and was planning on just relaying the message to the guy via who ever answered the phone.  When I got through I asked if a message could be given to the guy who helped me, but there were two Johns who worked there.  I tried to clarify, I said I spoke to John regarding the HP wireless device to determine if it would scan wirelessly.  He said quickly that it would not.  As I started to laugh, I said I had just got scanning wirelessly and asked if he would relay the message. So, the short answer is Yes.

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Let’s see, I had a couple request about this.  I’ll see if I can describe how to get your wireless scanning freedom.  First, I started with the install CD.  It was a:

HP Photosmart C4500 series CD
Version 9.8

The setup worked right off the bat for me, but once I changed some wireless info in the router and had to set it up again.  Here is what I did, first I plugged in the USB cable.  Then in the Applications folder I used the “HP Setup Assistant”  this walks you through the steps to make it a wireless device.   Once you open this you hit continue, wait a few seconds and you should see your device.   Go through the steps and select the options that talk about a wireless setup.

To scan wirelessly, I use the “HP Device Manager”, click on “Scan Picture”  this brings up the HP Scan Pro program.  Click new scan and it should give you a preview of your image.

I can say you definitely want to start by making sure the device is setup to be wireless.  You have to make sure the wireless radio is on, on the printer.  There is a light to confirm this.  If you have set it up to be wireless via the original install or the  “HP Setup Assistant” after the fact, make sure the printer has an IP address that you can confirm.  Most likely it will be 192.168.x.x .

I the other snafu I came across was that the device had two modes of functioning, wireless or wired connection in the setup.  When you go through the setup there is a place to check, or a radio button to select, to tell the device to be wireless.   You have to go through this to the end and register or opt out of the registration process.  Killing the installer process at the registration point will not work.

If your device has an IP address you can access it via a browser, go to: http://192.168.1.x  (whatever IP your device has)  that should give you the web based config interface fyi..  If you don’t know your IP address you could try logging into your router and finding the “DHCP Clients table”  this will display the IP address that your router has given out, (Note: this is not an ad-hoc but a managed wireless network)  I know for sure Linksys routers have this, it’s under, Status –> Local Network.  You can also have the printer print a network configuration page:

1. Press the wireless button on the printer.
2. Press the button next to the down arrow on the display until “Print Network Configuration Page” is highlighted, then press OK

Lastly, if you have any firewalls turn them off or open ports, scanning requires:
UDP port: 427
TCP ports: 9220 and 9500
Status port:
UDP port: 161