Brother MFC-J5720DW: Setup, Drivers, Ink and Common Problems

Is the Brother MFC-J5720DW right for you?

The MFC-J5720DW is a 2014 business inkjet with two 250-sheet trays, duplex scanning and 11 x 17 printing through a rear manual feed. It was a strong seller with home-based businesses because of its paper capacity and low ink cost with the LC207 black. Units from this generation are now well used, and the ink absorber and printhead are what give out. The touchscreen and Web Connect still work with current cloud services.

Best for: Owners of an older dual-tray business inkjet

Setting up the Brother MFC-J5720DW

Install the Full Driver & Software Package for scanning and PC-Fax, connecting by Ethernet or the touchscreen wireless wizard. Set tray paper sizes on the display and choose the manual feed with Ledger size for tabloid prints. Reserve the IP address to keep scanning stable.

1. Unbox and prepare. Remove every piece of shipping tape and packing material, install the ink cartridges, and load paper in the tray.
2. Join your Wi-Fi. Keep the printer close to the router for setup. Most printers only connect to the 2.4GHz band, so if your router broadcasts one merged network name you may need to split the bands temporarily. See our Wi-Fi guide if it will not join.
3. Install the setup app. Use Brother's official app rather than a driver you found on a search result — third-party driver sites are the most common source of printer malware.
4. Add the printer. On Windows 11: Settings › Bluetooth & devices › Printers & scanners › Add device. On macOS: System Settings › Printers & Scanners › Add Printer.
5. Print a test page and run a scan if this is an all-in-one, so you find any problem now rather than when you are in a hurry.

Ink, toner and supplies

The Brother MFC-J5720DW uses the following consumables. Match the number exactly when you buy: the same printer family often uses several different cartridge numbers by region.

• LC203BK/C/M/Y high-yield ink (550 pages)
• LC205C/M/Y super high-yield color (1,200 pages)
• LC207BK super high-yield black (1,200 pages)

High-yield (XL) versions almost always cost less per page if you print regularly. On third-party ink and toner, read our honest assessment first, and note that some manufacturers push firmware that rejects non-original chips.

Full specifications