TP-LINK TL-WPS510U Single USB 2.0 Port Wireless Print Server

A very small box which works perfectly once it is correctly configured. Setup and configuration under windows 10 however is quite a nightmare, as the TP-Link setup wizard won't work and the print server can't be accessed on a win 10 computer due to the fact that the print server's default setting uses an ad hoc network configuration which windows 10 won't see. So I had to do the setup manually through a smart phone...

Unless you are fortunate enough to have a wireless network for which the default IP address is OK (192.168.0.1) then this device is impossible to set up under Windows10. It should not be on sale in this day and age!Fortunately I could use my wife's iPhone (!) to connect to it and edit the default IP address and get it to connect on my wireless network. Instructions for this are on the TP-Link website and, whilst correct, need to be followed exactly:[...]Once the server address had been changed and it was set to "Infrastructure" network type then the installation wizard could find it and install the printer. This also reduced the temperature of the device as well, so it must have been using a lot of power in "ad hoc" networking mode with nothing connected.One thing to note though. On the "site survey" it showed my router as using WPA security, which seemed a bit odd, but WPA-PSK didn't work when I tried to enter the password, with either type of encryption. It needed WPA2-PSK and AES (CCMP) encryption to be selected, then it connected to the wireless network after a power cycle.

Contrary to previous reviews I'd say this is actually a pretty good product - the only potential issue may be that you need to know what to do regarding wireless networks.Seeing the negative feedback and talking to people I was told/read that the main issue is that the Print Server starts off within a certain IP range - and that was the key issue with most consumers.The current documentation (I got version 2 of the product) was revised to reflect that point.In my case this proved no issue - using Vista - I am sure Win7 will be similar - one can directly connect to the Print Server over via in an Ad-Hoc network - using the setup CD it is possible to then change the settings according to your router's Wi-Fi setup - knowing the settings of your router is advantageous here. (Encryption type, authentication type, Network SSID and Password)Having done that the print server is ready to use.The one flaw this product has which I didn't expect and people should be aware off is that the print server does not allow two-way communication - this means you will not get ink level warnings and won't get any status notices either.Apart from the lack of two way communication I'd say this is a product worth buying.Currently I wonder as to whether this could be changed via a firmware update - it seems like a minor thing - it just requires the print server to be able to send data and not only receive it - but seeing as it communicates back during setup and can be administered via a website I cannot see that as being a problem.For the eco-minded - it's supposed to consume 3,3V at 2A - i.e. 6,6W max. from the specs on the back of the device.

If you're planning to install this on Windows you will need either an Ipad to set up the print server manually or a wireless adapter that is capable of connecting to ad hoc networks. It only needs to be set up once and then it works just fine.I have a Qualcom Atheros AR938x adapter so I didn't need to use an Ipad, but if you need to go down that path, just enter "install TP-LINK TL-WPS510U using ipad" (without quotes) into your favourite search engine to find out how.To check if your network adapter is capable of handling ad hoc connections, open up a command prompt as admin and enter the following:-netsh wlan show driverYou will need to scroll back up to the line which says "Hosted network supported". If it says "yes" next to it then you're golden but there is one more step before you start following the installation instructions. When the installer tries to find available networks it will get a power state error unless Windows is prevented from switching off the network adapter, so open up the device manager and double click on your network adapter (or right-click and select "Properties") and under the Power Management tab, make sure that "Allow the computer to turn off the device to save power" is NOT ticked. Hit OK and follow the instructions in the Quick Installation Guide that came with the print server.Once it is all set up and you successfully printed a test page then you can print stuff from any device on the network just as if the printer was attached directly to the device - of course you must have the correct printer driver installed on the device for it to work.