Changing the ink cartridge on an HP printer requires patience. There are so many things to consider before getting down to business. For instance, do not open the packaging of the new ink until you have emptied the slot y taken out the old ink cartridge.

Also, once you have placed the new cartridge, you need to align the ink cartridges for higher performance. If all this is confusing, then do not worry, as ahead, you will find a useful guide that will walk you through each step of changing the ink cartridge in your HP printer.

1. Load The Paper

In order to install a new cartridge, you need to load the paper for HP ink cartridge alignment. So, to do that, follow the given steps:

• Press the Power Button to switch on the printer.
• Now lift the paper tray and then lower the output tray.
• Once the output tray is lowered, pull out the tray extender.
• Take the paper width guide and slide it to its outermost position.
• Take the unused A4 size paper and load them in the tray. Make sure to keep the short edge in the front. Also, keep the print side up.
• Slide back the paper width guide to the right. It will stop by itself at the edge of the loaded papers.           

2. Remove The Old Cartridge And Replace It With New One

Make sure that the printer is switched on by pressing the power button. Once it’s on, you can follow these steps to replace the cartridge:

• Find the ink cartridge door and open it. After the door opens, the carriage will move to the center automatically. Wait for it to come to the center.
• Gently press down the cartridge which you want to replace. Once you press it, it will release. Pull it out from the slot.
• Now take out the new ink cartridge from its pack.
• Your new HP ink cartridge must have a protective layer of plastic tape. Find the pink pull tab on it and use it to remove the tape. Ensure not to touch the ink nozzles or copper-colored contacts. Once the cartridge is open, do not try to tape it back. Thus, remove the packing of the cartridge only when you are ready to put it in the carriage of the printer.
• Lastly, slide the cartridge into the slot which you emptied earlier. Once the cartridge is in place, it will snap. The black ink cartridges are placed in the right slot, whereas the tri-color cartridge goes into the slot on the left.
• You can repeat the same steps to replace other ink cartridges.
• Do not forget to close the cartridge door.

3. Align The Ink Cartridge

To avoid distorted sound and low performance, you need to align the newly replaced cartridges. To do that, you need to follow these steps:

• Open the printer software on your Windows 8 device by right-clicking on the Start button. Navigate to the Search box and type HP in it.
• Select the option of your printer. Your printer software will run on the screen.
• Go to Printer Actions and double-click on it. Do the same with the option “Maintenance Tasks.” Doing this will open the HP toolbox.
• Select the tab “Device Services.”
• Select the option “Align Ink Cartridges.” Leave the rest to your printer as it will align the cartridges, and as a confirmation, it will print an alignment page.

Conclusion

So, this is everything on how to change the ink cartridge in your HP printer. The final steps of ink cartridge alignments vary depending on the Windows version you are currently using. If your version is not the latest one, you might have to work around it.