What is the HPSETUP network?

Sometimes, when I disable the WiFi on my laptop (Dell D620) an odd ad-hoc network appears labeled as hpsetup.

There's no Internet on it, of course, but it doesn't disappear either. It appeared in both XP and 7. It used to show up in my Ubuntu netbook, but doesn't anymore.

What is it and why is it there?

Solution 1:

According to HP, HP software that gets installed for a printer – which could be connected via a wired or wireless network – will install HPSETUP just-in-case.

It's how HP keeps an eye out for a wireless printer.

I think they are using it as a network listening device. I use HP printers over a wired network and the software always installs HPSETUP. I believe HP desktops and laptops come preloaded with this software as well.

Solution 2:

HPSETUP originated from HP wireless printers, which create an ad-hoc network called HPSETUP for you to send jobs to the printer wirelessly. A strange bug in how Windows XP handles ad-hoc networks causes your computer to re-broadcast ad-hoc SSIDs sometimes if you have ever attempted to connect to them. What likely happened is that you connected to the HPSETUP SSID once (possibly by accident), your XP computer then started rebroadcasting it (even though the network isn't actually accessible, it broadcasts the SSID), and then your other computers would see it sometimes as well. In short, Windows handles ad-hoc networks very strangely.