You're trying to get your HP OfficeJet Pro 9120e onto your Wi‑Fi and it's just not happening. The HP Smart app hangs on "Searching," the printer's touchscreen shows disconnected, or it pairs once and drops off minutes later. The 9120e has a Wi‑Fi 5 radio (802.11ac dual‑band, works on both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz), but it's sensitive to certain router settings. Most pairing failures come down to WPA3 security, a hidden SSID, or the printer's setup mode timing out.
The quickest thing to try: power‑cycle both the printer and your router. Unplug both, wait 30 seconds, plug the router back in and let it fully boot (about 60 seconds), then plug the printer back in. Once the printer's home screen appears, open HP Smart fresh and tap Add Printer. That single step clears the most common glitch.
If that didn't do it, move through the fixes below in order. Each one targets a specific cause on the 9120e.
Switch Your Mesh Router to WPA2 or WPA2/WPA3
If you're on a mesh system like Eero, Orbi, TP‑Link Deco, or Google Nest Wi‑Fi, this is the number one reason the 9120e won't pair. The printer can't handle WPA3‑only networks with Protected Management Frames required. Open your router's app, find the security setting, and change it from WPA3 to WPA2 or WPA2/WPA3 Transitional (sometimes called "compatibility mode"). Save the change and wait 60 seconds for the mesh to reconfigure.
Now try pairing the printer again through HP Smart. Once it's joined and you've printed a test page, you can switch the router back to WPA3 the printer usually keeps the connection. The 9120e's radio is from 2023 and just doesn't negotiate WPA3‑only well.
Re-Enter Setup Mode on the Printer
If the 9120e has been sitting unused for a while, it's probably out of pairing mode. There are two ways to restart it. For a quick network‑only reset, press and hold the Wireless and Cancel buttons on the control panel for about 5 seconds. The printer will restart and re‑enter setup mode for about two hours.
Alternatively, on the touchscreen, swipe down from the top to open the dashboard, tap Setup (the gear icon) > Tools > Restore > Restore Network Settings. This clears just the network config without wiping your other settings. The Wi‑Fi light will blink during setup mode. Open HP Smart and tap Add Printer the app should find the 9120e right away.
Put Your Phone on the 2.4 GHz Band
The 9120e prefers to pair over 2.4 GHz during initial setup. If your home router has separate SSIDs for 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz (common on TP‑Link, Asus, and older Netgear gear), HP Smart can't see the printer if your phone is on the 5 GHz band. Switch your phone's Wi‑Fi to the 2.4 GHz SSID temporarily and retry pairing.
If your router uses a single SSID for both bands (band steering), you don't need to worry but if pairing stalls, manually moving your phone to 2.4 GHz often pushes the process through.
Try WPS Push‑Button Pairing
When HP Smart won't cooperate, WPS can bypass the app entirely. On the printer's touchscreen, go to Setup > Network Setup > Wi‑Fi Protected Setup (WPS) > Push Button. The printer waits two minutes. Within that window, press the WPS button on your router. The 9120e should connect without needing a password.
After WPS succeeds, open HP Smart and it will automatically detect the printer on your network. This works even if the app was glitching before.
Reinstall the HP Smart App
HP Smart caches printer data, and a corrupted cache can cause pairing loops. On your phone or tablet, delete the HP Smart app, restart the device, then reinstall HP Smart from the App Store or Play Store. Sign back into your HP account and start setup fresh. A clean install often finds the printer that was invisible before.
On a Windows or Mac computer, do the same: uninstall HP Smart, reboot, and reinstall from the Microsoft Store or Mac App Store.
Double‑Check the Wi‑Fi Password
Curly quotes from a notes app, a hidden space, or a single wrong character will fail silently. When entering the password in HP Smart or on the printer's touchscreen, type it manually one character at a time instead of pasting. Pay extra attention to symbols like apostrophes, dashes, and uppercase/lowercase letters the 9120e's on‑screen keyboard can be tricky with special characters.
Add the Printer's MAC Address to Your Router
If your router uses MAC address filtering, the 9120e can't join until its MAC is on the allow list. Print a Network Configuration Page from the printer: on the touchscreen, go to Setup > Reports > Network Configuration Page. The MAC address is near the top (looks like 00:1C:XX:XX:XX:XX). Log into your router's admin page, find the MAC filter list, add the printer's MAC, save, and then try pairing again.
Connect via Ethernet, Then Configure Wi‑Fi
If Wi‑Fi setup keeps failing, plug an Ethernet cable from the 9120e to your router. The printer will get an IP address within about 30 seconds. Check the printer's touchscreen for the IP (it shows on the home screen after connecting). Open a web browser on a computer on the same network and type that IP address. Navigate to the printer's web admin page, then go to Network > Wireless and configure the Wi‑Fi settings there. This method bypasses HP Smart completely and often works when the app can't.
Once Wi‑Fi is set up, you can unplug the Ethernet cable.
Factory Reset the Printer
If nothing else has worked, a full factory reset clears any deep configuration corruption. On the touchscreen, swipe down the dashboard, tap Setup (gear icon) > Tools > Restore > Restore Factory Defaults. Confirm the reset. The printer will wipe all settings, including Wi‑Fi config, HP Smart pairings, and any HP+ enrollment cache. After it reboots, it enters first‑time setup mode. Open HP Smart fresh and walk through setup as if the printer were brand new.
You can also perform a full power‑cycle reset by pressing and holding Power + Cancel for about 10 seconds. That forces a deeper restart, but the factory reset from the menu is more thorough.
If You Still Can't Connect
If the 9120e still won't join the network after all these steps, check whether your router's firmware needs updating, or consider temporarily disabling features like band steering or PMF (Protected Management Frames) in the router settings. The printer is most reliable with a mixed‑mode SSID (WPA2/WPA3, band steering off). You can also try setting up the printer in a different location closer to the router to rule out signal interference.
The 9120e's Wi‑Fi is solid once it's paired the pain is almost always in the initial handshake. Stick with the WPA2 switch and the network‑only reset, and you'll likely be up and printing in a few minutes.
