Canon Printer FAQ: Default Passwords, MegaTank Reviews, and the Calculators I Actually Use

I've been managing printers and print orders for a small design studio since 2018. In that time I've personally made—and documented—eleven significant printer mistakes, costing roughly $3,400 in wasted budget. I've also fixed most of them without calling a technician.

This is the FAQ I wish someone had handed me during my first week. It's not a manual. It's the stuff I search for at 9pm when a Canon printer shows a network error and a client deadline is the next morning.

Here's what this page covers: Canon default printer password, Canon MegaTank multifunction printer reviews, where to find cheap art supplies, percent decrease calculator, and one very weird height percentile calculator mention. Two of those have nothing to do with printers at first glance. You'll see.

What's the Canon default printer password?

Most home and small-office Canon printers use the printer's serial number as the Wi-Fi or IJ Network Tool password. That serial number is on a sticker on the back or bottom of the machine. Some older models use canon or a numeric code like 7654321, but the serial number is the one I see most often.

What most people don't realize is that the default password is usually printed right next to the barcode on that label. In 2022, I charged a client for an hour of troubleshooting to reset a printer we didn't have access to. The password was on the sticker under the output tray. I hadn't looked. That's a $95 mistake I still think about.

As of March 2025, Canon's support site (support.usa.canon.com) still gives the same three places to check: the quick start guide, the label on the device, or the network setup poster. If you changed the password once and forgot it, you'll need to reset the printer's network settings to factory defaults. That's a model-specific process, so check the manual for your exact unit.

Canon MegaTank multifunction printer reviews: worth it after 14 months?

I set up a Canon PIXMA GX7020 in February 2024 for our studio's high-volume black-and-white work. Fourteen months and about 8,000 pages later, I'd say yes—but with a caveat.

Honestly, the MegaTank's selling point is ink cost per page. When I compared our old cartridge printer to the MegaTank using a percent decrease calculator, the per-page cost dropped by roughly 67%. The math was enough for my boss to approve a second unit.

If you read a lot of Canon MegaTank multifunction printer reviews, you'll see the same complaint: clogged nozzles if the printer sits idle. That's real. But I had the same problem with cartridge printers. The habit that works for us is printing a small test page every Monday morning.

My first MegaTank mistake was buying a third-party ink bottle without checking compatibility. It leaked inside the printer and blocked a sensor. The repair cost $180, and the lesson was simple: for these printers, I stick with Canon ink bottles now. The per-page savings is already enough.

Why is my Canon printer not printing black?

This one came up in November 2023, right before a client presentation. We printed 30 full-color decks, and every one had blank navy boxes where black text should have been.

Before you order a new printhead or call a repair tech, do two things. First, run the Canon print head cleaning utility twice. Second, check the ink cartridge expiration date. Our full black cartridge was four years old and the ink had separated. It looked fine in the window, but it was useless.

The fix cost us $144 in paper and ink plus an overnight reprint. I still have the old cartridge on my desk as a reminder: full doesn't equal fresh.

Where to find cheap art supplies without ruining the final output?

I also handle mockups, school donation packs, and small packaging details for our studio. I love a good deal on art supplies. Dollar stores are fine for plain cardstock, glue sticks, and acrylic paint when you're prototyping. For actual client-facing work, I'm pickier.

Good places to look for cheap art supplies: craft store clearance sections, teacher supply swap groups, and Facebook Marketplace bulk lots. I once found 500 sheets of cotton paper for $12 at a thrift store. That's a score, but I tested it before using it for a job.

Here's the catch. Cheap art supplies are fine until they touch a client's hands. I tested a budget cardstock for a brand presentation and it curled inside the Canon printer. The printer wasn't the problem; the paper was. So use the cheap stuff for brainstorming, but switch to quality before the final print. That last step is the one that protects your brand.

How do I know if an ink or paper deal is actually cheaper?

Before every supply order, I use a percent decrease calculator. Not because I can't do math—because I will talk myself into a bad deal if I don't write it down.

Example: third-party ink costs $15, and Canon ink costs $20. That looks like a 25% decrease. If the third-party bottle prints 1,500 pages and the Canon bottle prints 2,400 pages, your cost per page is actually higher with the third-party bottle. The sticker price decreased by 25%, but the per-page cost increased by about 20%.

So yes, the percent decrease calculator is a real part of my printer workflow. The cheapest price at the register is often the most expensive price in the long run.

Wait, why is a height percentile calculator in this article?

That's the keyword I knew would confuse people. Our studio occasionally makes growth chart posters for a local pediatric center. They send height data, I plot the percentiles, and before finalizing the artwork I verify each value with a height percentile calculator. It's a proofing step, not a printer feature.

I mention it because blogs often pretend a printer alone runs a business. It doesn't. The tools around the printer matter too: calculators, rulers, good scissors, a checklist. You don't need every gadget. You need a few reliable things and the discipline to use them.

If you came here looking for a height percentile calculator, I'm sorry—I don't have one on this site. But now you know why a printer FAQ would bring it up.

What's the best way to keep a Canon printer alive?

Use it weekly, even for a one-page test. Inkjet nozzles fail faster when they sit dry. Since we started that habit, our Canon printers have gone from a service call every few months to zero in the past eight months—no, wait, nine and a half. I'm comfortable recommending it.

Also, keep the paper path clean. A tiny sticker from an old label got stuck in our second printer's pickup roller and caused a feed jam that looked like a major breakdown. $240 and a service visit later, I learned to wipe the tray and rollers every month.