I couldn't communicate with it at first. I plugged up a different Ethernet switch and then it started working. I haven't had time to troubleshoot the first switch and see what was going on. I would prefer it have software already in it like a router and just entering an IP in a browser to setup, but the software on disc did work and I was able to get my USB printers working and could print to them from any pc on same network directly to the IP address I assigned.