I am wondering if there is a Linux command that would output the IP address of a Bluetooth connected printer? I have a Brother MFCJ480DW printer and would like to find out the IP address. I can’t seem to find it in settings on the printer itself either.
You might want to look at this previously posted info:
(There is a lot of other info in the full discussion; some general, some specific to the model in question, which is not yours.)
To obtain the IP of any device that is listening for streams on the CUPS port (631), you can request a report using:
nmap -p 631 -sV 192.168.1.0/24or if you want more detail about what that did ...
nmap -p 631 -sV 192.168.1.0/24 -vYou may even want to hard-code that IP address, via the printer's front panel and configuration options, instead of letting it be dynamically assigned. It might simplify things if your issue persists.
Detailed response for panel viewing of printer’s existing IP from Google AI for query ‘get wireless IP for “Brother” “MFCJ480DW” ‘ :
AI Summary
Using the Control Panel:
-
Access Settings: Press the Settings button on your printer.
-
Navigate to Network: Scroll to Network using the arrow keys and press OK.
-
Select WLAN: Scroll to WLAN and press OK.
-
Choose TCP/IP: Scroll to TCP/IP and press OK.
-
Find IP Address: Scroll to IP Address and press OK. The IP address will be displayed.
Detailed response for panel setup of IP from Google AI for query ‘set wireless IP for "Brother" "MFCJ480DW" ‘ :
AI Overview
To set a static IP address on your Brother MFC-J480DW printer, you'll need to . There, you can manually set the IP address, subnet mask, and gateway.
Detailed breakdown:
-
Access the printer's settings:
Press the "Menu/Set" button on the printer's control panel. -
Navigate to network settings:
Locate and select the "Network" or "LAN" settings. -
Access TCP/IP settings:
Choose "Setup TCP/IP" or a similar option. -
Configure the Boot Method:
If available, select "Boot Method" and choose "Manual" or "Static". -
Set the IP address:
Find the "IP Address" setting and enter the desired static IP address. -
Set the subnet mask:
Configure the subnet mask appropriately for your network. -
Set the gateway:
Enter the IP address of your router as the default gateway. -
Save and apply settings:
Confirm and save the changes to apply the new IP address.
This older page might give you some other ideas as well:
You can also check out this page on the Arch Wiki:
or, for the full range of “drivers”,
For the Brother site for drivers specific to that printer,
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I didnt realise bluetooth printers had an IP address.
Thanks Eric, I will try those and I think I can find the IP address from them.
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Yes mostly I believe they use the URI to find the printer that can be found at Printers>Properties on localhost> Settings>Device URI, but there should be a IP address too.
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It makes sense. Most Bluetooth devices like headphones, speakers and cell phones pair, but a printer can’t do that as then only one computer could use the printer at a time and would have to disconnect before another user could print.
Read my response to Eric, as I found to IP addresses on my printer.
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Thanks Eric I found that IP address the way you described, but also another IP address so I am not sure which one to use. I am not that technical so maybe you know which is the correct one to use?
Settings>Network>WLAN>TCP/IP produced IP address 169.xxx.xxx.xxx
I also went Settings>Network>WIFI Direct>Device Info> produced: IP address 192.xxx.xxx.xx
So I will try both if I need too. It is also not my modem/router address.
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If your printer is “local”, and your 192.xxx.xxx.xxx address is responding as you want, you can ignore the 169.xxx.xxx.xxx address.
I don’t completely understand, and can’t relate, to what they were talking about, but the information for that address range is presented here.
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Wlan confuses me.
What is a wireless LAN? - cisco
A wireless local-area network (WLAN) is a group of colocated computers or other devices that form a network based on radio transmissions (rather than wired connections).
Seems like that would be more for a home of small office network than a single printer used by multiple users. It’s really just me and my wife, but like most Linux users I have more than one computer, I have three laptops.
Anything which meets the following criteria for your “wireless LAN” (bluetooth or otherwise):
- within the range of your wireless network card’s antenna for transmitting/receiving signals, and
- documented as having permission (by the admin functions of the wireless network) for access thru, or use of, that particular computing device (computer, tablet, smartphone).
What it means is that, although your neighbours may have devices which are detected/recognized/compatible by your device’s network admin function, they are not functionally considered part of your LAN (wireless or otherwise) because you have not given (nor kept track of) permission to those “foreign” devices to make use of the channels on your wireless comunications interface (antenna for transmit/receive), nor the facilities fronted/accessible via that antenna.
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Provided you did not configure printer’s IP addr manually, it had to get that address by DHCP from your local router. That is you can login into your router and have a look at DHCP address allocation / leases.
Yet another option is to establish a session with the printer and immediately issue `netstat -tun` command.
Good luck!
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I didn’t configure the printer manually. I don’t have the technical skill to do that, pretty much plug it in and go. Same with netsat. Even to use Erics suggestion of nmap I had to install nmap and couldn’t make heads of tails of the output it gave me to many ports and IP outputs.
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Ok.
Find out your local network range:
$ ip -f inet address
1: lo: <LOOPBACK,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 65536 qdisc noqueue state UNKNOWN group default qlen 1000
inet 127.0.0.1/8 scope host lo
valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
3: wlp3s0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc noqueue state UP group default qlen 1000
inet 192.168.100.8/24 brd 192.168.100.255 scope global noprefixroute wlp3s0
valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
Great, your local network range is 192.168.100.0/24
Now scan it:
$nmap -sn -PS 192.168.100.0/24
Starting Nmap 7.94SVN ( https://nmap.org ) at 2025-08-07 15:36 +03
Nmap scan report for 192.168.100.1
Host is up (0.015s latency).
Nmap scan report for 192.168.100.8
Host is up (0.00018s latency).
Nmap scan report for 192.168.100.9
Host is up (0.088s latency).
Nmap scan report for 192.168.100.19
Host is up (0.090s latency).
Nmap scan report for 192.168.100.27
Host is up (0.0068s latency).
Nmap done: 256 IP addresses (5 hosts up) scanned in 2.30 seconds
Here is the list of active hosts in your local network range.
Please note, that there will be at least three addresses:
- your router (typically ends with '1')
- your computer (as shown by
ipcommand) - your printer (if any)
- extra: your smartphone(s), 'clever' devices, etc.
Next to it. I opened a session with my router in my browser. Look, I can see my session established:
$ netstat -tun
Active Internet connections (w/o servers)
Proto Recv-Q Send-Q Local Address Foreign Address State
tcp 0 0 192.168.100.8:35462 192.168.100.1:80 ESTABLISHED
...
Hopefully this may help
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Bluetooth devices don't inherently have IP addresses.
Bluetooth primarily uses a different addressing scheme, specifically MAC addresses, to identify devices. While Bluetooth can be used to share an internet connection and thus require IP addresses for devices on the shared network, the Bluetooth link itself doesn't use IP addresses for its core communication.
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You are correct. Nevertheless, Bluetooth is a kind of transport, just like Ethernet, WiFi, F/O, dialup, etc. That is TCP/IP over Bluetooth is quite possible feat. At least it is not forbidden by definition. For example: IP over Bluetooth (ipobt)
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