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When you buy a new printer, you typically do one of two things: 1) Use the installation disc that came with the printer and install the printer drivers with a bunch of unwanted bloatware, or 2) tell Windows to find the new printer and automatically install the necessary drivers. I usually go with option #2 since this is the age of Everything Is On-Line, and these days people are even controlling their thermastates and feeding their dogs via the Internet of Things.
My Windows 7 machine never had a problem finding a wireless printer via the "Add a printer" button. My Windows 10 machines on the other hand, have always been unable to find any wireless printers. Even when I've manually entered the printer's IP address on the local area network, Windows 10 still couldn't find it. (Windows 10 is so infuriatingly frustrating that I almost wiped my laptop's harddrive the week I got it in order to install Windows 7.)
It turns out that if your ink jet printer is more than a year old, Windows 10 doesn't want to natively support it, in which case you might as well send it to the landfill and buy a new one since that's generally more economical than buying ink refills[1].
After Windows 10 fails to find your wireless printer, you should get this prompt. Click on “The printer that I wanted wasn't listed.”
If you bought your printer within the last few years, it seems unintuitive to consider it, “a little older,” but you need to make sure that “My printer is a little older. Help me find it,” is selected, then click “Next.”
After another search, Windows 10 should finally find your printer and give you the option of installing it.
If you printer still was not found, your last resort is to use the printer's installation disc, or download the installation software from the manufacturer's website, and hope the installer will find the printer for you.
If you'd like to connect a really old printer to your computer, see Connecting an Ancient Printer to a New Computer.
- ⌃ I don't actually know what Windows 10 considers to be “an old printer”; this is just a likely figure generated by frustration and cynicism.