Treat a home printer as a networked device that may hold settings, account links, address-book entries, scan destinations, fax data, job history, or temporary print files. The safest approach is to secure who can administer and reach it, minimize what it stores, and follow the exact model's reset and sanitization instructions before sale, donation, recycling, or disposal.
Identify the printer and every way it connects
Record the manufacturer, exact model, serial number, firmware version, and support page. List each active connection: Wi-Fi, Ethernet, Wi-Fi Direct, USB, Bluetooth, a vendor cloud account, mobile-print service, email-to-print address, or remote-management feature. If you do not use a connection or remote feature, disable it rather than leaving an extra path open.
Review the router's connected-device list and confirm that the printer is the device you expect. The Federal Trade Commission's guidance for internet-connected devices at home recommends changing default credentials, enabling available security features, checking firmware updates, and disabling remote management or other features that are not used. Secure the home router and use current Wi-Fi encryption as well; printer settings cannot compensate for a weak network.
Lock down administrator and printing access
Open the printer's local control panel or its administration page from a trusted device on the home network. Replace any default administrator password with a unique password and store it in a password manager. If the printer supports separate user accounts, PIN release, or access controls, enable only what the household can maintain reliably.
Do not expose the printer's administration page directly to the public internet. Turn off internet printing, vendor cloud printing, Wi-Fi Direct, discovery protocols, or remote administration when they are not needed. If you place connected devices on a separate network, confirm that the intended computers and phones can still print without opening broad access between networks.
Install firmware only through the printer's built-in updater or the manufacturer's official support page for the exact model. Retire a printer that no longer receives security updates when its network features cannot be isolated or disabled safely.
Review stored jobs, destinations, and linked accounts
Check the menus and manual for stored jobs, secure-print queues, document boxes, fax memory, caller or fax logs, address books, scan-to-email profiles, scan-to-cloud destinations, shared-folder credentials, saved Wi-Fi networks, and vendor account links. Clear items you no longer need and remove old household members or devices.
Storage varies by model. HP's Secure File Erase documentation explains that some printer hard disks temporarily store print jobs and distinguishes ordinary deletion from overwrite-based erase options. Do not assume that canceling a job, deleting a visible history entry, or performing only a network reset erases every storage area. Consult the manual for the installed storage and available erase functions.
Keep sensitive paper under control too. Pick up printed pages promptly, cancel abandoned jobs, and remove originals from a scanner bed or automatic document feeder. Before clearing a fax-capable machine, transfer any records you are required to keep and confirm that the transfer did not create an unnecessary extra copy.
Use a short recurring privacy review
Every few months, and after a router, account, or household change, confirm the printer still appears under the expected name and address, the administrator password is not a default, firmware is current, unused radios and remote features remain off, and saved destinations still belong to authorized people. Review the vendor account and mobile apps for printers or users that should be removed.
Test one ordinary print and scan workflow after changing access or network settings. The goal is a setup that is both private and usable; undocumented workarounds often lead people to re-enable broad access later. Record the review date and the settings changed, but do not put passwords, recovery codes, or full private document names in the checklist.
Prepare the printer for transfer or disposal
Start with the manufacturer procedure for the exact model. Disconnect vendor cloud services, remove the printer from mobile apps and account dashboards, sign out where supported, and clear saved scan, fax, address-book, and job-storage data. Then remove network credentials and perform the appropriate full-device reset.
A network reset and a full settings reset may be different. For example, Brother's network-reset documentation states that the cited models restore network settings while retaining the administrator password unless the separate All Settings reset is used. That example is a reason to follow the manual rather than treating a generic network reset as complete sanitization.
NIST's current Guidelines for Media Sanitization includes office equipment and electronic storage media in its scope and describes choosing clearing, purging, or destruction according to the media, information sensitivity, and device capabilities. If the printer contains a hard drive or other nonvolatile storage, use a manufacturer-supported erase or purge function that covers that storage. If the required sanitization cannot be verified, remove the storage for appropriate destruction by a qualified service or use a recycler that can document secure handling. Do not disassemble high-voltage printer components yourself.
After the reset, restart the printer without reconnecting it. Check that saved networks, address-book contacts, scan destinations, fax entries, job storage, cloud links, and custom administrator credentials are gone. Remove paper originals, output pages, USB drives, memory cards, and any optional storage you do not intend to transfer.
Final handoff checklist
Before the printer leaves your control, verify all of the following:
- the exact model's support and reset instructions were used;
- vendor and mobile-app account links were removed;
- saved jobs, fax data, contacts, and scan destinations were cleared;
- Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi Direct, and other network credentials were reset;
- any internal drive or removable storage was sanitized appropriately;
- a post-reset inspection found no personal settings or records; and
- the recipient or recycler receives no passwords, private paper, or removable media by accident.
A factory reset is a step, not proof. Finish only after checking the printer itself and any associated cloud account for information that still identifies the household or provides access to its network and documents.
Sources
- Securing Your Internet-Connected Devices at Home — Federal Trade Commission
- Guidelines for Media Sanitization — National Institute of Standards and Technology
- Secure File Erase — HP
- Reset the Network Settings to Factory Default — Brother, Sept. 3, 2026