Printer Won't Connect - HP Envy 4500

I just had an XB8 installed and could not get my HP Office Jet Pro 8600 Plus to work. Kept giving me a MAC address filtering error.  Looking in other posts this has been a common problem with many closed discussions without any solution.  Solutions to split up the  2.4 and 5 Ghz bands did not work. 

However - this solution, from an HP forum poster, did work for me today:, March 7 2023

Go to the Xfinity mobile phone app (app recently installed in March of 2023)

Select "connect" at bottom of screen

Select "View or edit WiFi settings"

If you have split the bands by assigning a separate ID and Password for each band, then select the 2.4 GHz WiFi band (This is what I had done)

Go to the Security Mode box where if may say "WPA3-Personal-Transition" and change to "WPA2"

Then "Save"

Then redo the HP configuration wizard - it hopefully will now work.

Apparently the WPA3 came about in 2018, where my 8600 printer from 2012 likes the older WPA version. Whether or not updating the HP drivers would have resolved this - I do not know as I did not try this. At least this solution allows me put my old usb printer cable back in the drawer. There were some reported issues where some could not change the WPA setting because it was greyed out. I did not have this problem. It was greyed out when you first open the screen "Edit WIFi setting", however if you scroll down you can see the setting for 2.4GHz, 5GHz, 6Ghz where they are not greyed out.  If you are not seeing this - I would retry by reloading the latest Xfinity app on your smart phone. I do not have a pod extender and my XB8 is located on a lower floor from where my printer is.