Brother Printer Drivers for Big Sur.

Hi,

You mentioned that you have tried generic and Gutenprint drivers without success.

For some other models, it has in fact been possible to use a fresh macOS Catalina 10.15 driver even for macOS 11 Big Sur, after a printing system reset (steps in link below). You may have tested this already. If so, please disregard this message. If not, a (version 1.5.0) macOS Catalina 10.15 printer driver download can be found here:

https://support.brother.com/g/b/downloadlist.aspx?c=us_ot&lang=en&prod=dcp7065dn_all&os=10060

If necessary, try a network connection (LAN port of a Wi-Fi router) for the printer, instead of USB.

Reset the Mac printing system to solve a problem - Apple Support

Add a printer on Mac - Apple Support

Hi there, I have/had the same problem as you. Our printer is also a Brother DCP-7065DN which we couldn't get working on our new Big Sur M1 MacBook Air so I was grateful at least to see your mention of trying to connect the same printer. But I wanted to say, today I took another google for help and found someone who with the same printer as us, got it working by downloading the 10.15 Catalina printer driver. I just did the same and tested it and it seems to now print fine. I haven't yet tried to scan but I also downloaded the scanner driver too. Being able to print was our main concern. Hope this helps if you haven't sorted it already.

Cheers.

Hello, for my Brother MFC-8480DN on my Mac mini m1 with Big Sur, I was able to successfully use the Brother printer driver 4.5.1 (for Mac os 10.15) and the scanner driver 2.90. My MFC both prints and scans now. After installing the drivers, remember to right-click in the system preferences > printers & scanners > printers window and "reset printing system", then re-add the printers. You might have to restart.

https://www.brother-usa.com/brother-support/driver-downloads

It is working. Just use the 10.15 driver.

So go there : https://support.brother.com/g/b/downloadlist.aspx?c=ca&lang=en&prod=dcp7065dn_all&os=10060&flang=English

Download the printer driver + install it.

After, Install printer as usual. (--> System preference --> Printer --> + )

Worked on my mac mini M1, big sur 11.3

Hello Jan Hedlund,

Thank you a lot for posting this! I just got a new Mac Mini with Big Sur and M1 and only then found out that my printer is not supported any more. Or at least Brother didn't put it in their compatible printers list.

I then installed the Catalina (macOS 10.15) driver for my printer and everything works perfectly as before - printing with all features and also scanning. I'm very happy right now - already feared I'd have to buy a new printer, too.

My printer is a Brother DCP-9270CDN

Hi,

To begin with, you may want to try resetting the printing system and re-adding the printer.

Reset the Mac printing system to solve a problem - Apple Support

Add a printer on Mac - Apple Support

Check whether the operating system suggests a suitable driver.

If not, have a look at the Brother support pages (https://support.brother.com/g/b/producttop.aspx?c=us_ot&lang=en&prod=dcp7065dn_all). You will notice that macOS Big Sur does not appear to be a supported system. However, there have been reports (see above) about some printers successfully using a macOS (10.15) Catalina driver under Big Sur, so you could perhaps carry out a test with the 1.5.0 printer driver version (https://support.brother.com/g/b/downloadlist.aspx?c=us_ot&lang=en&prod=dcp7065dn_all&os=10060). As with any test, software conflicts cannot be ruled out, so make sure that (multiple) backup copies of important files (documents, photos, et cetera) are available.

Hi Jan, yes that is what I did, downloaded the 10.15 Catalina driver and it now seems to work fine on Big Sur on our M1 MacBook Air. Thanks for your mention of this too as I only saw your comment afterwards. Many thanks!

This worked for me. A 7 year old Brother MFC-J415W would not connect to my new Mac mini M1 with OS 11, Big Sur. No drivers available on the brother website. Out of desperation I tried the Catalina driver on Big Sur and so far it has been working via USB and Wifi. Brother did not have a North American driver for Catalina so I downloaded the EU version.

>the macOS Catalina 10.15 driver 1.5.0 for printing

Just to clarify, I mean using the Catalina 1.5.0 printer driver under Big Sur (as also earlier reports indicate, this seems to work with some models). I have no idea about how the scanner driver (on the same downloads page) would behave, though.

Before any test, it may be a good idea to reset the printing system. Also, since software conflicts cannot be ruled out during a test, make sure that you have (multiple) backup copies of important files (documents, photos, et cetera).

Reset the Mac printing system to solve a problem - Apple Support

Add a printer on Mac - Apple Support

I have a couple years old basic Brother laser printer, the Brother HL-2340. This worked for my new MacBook Air running Big Sur 11.5.1 (updating in a minute to 11.6 so hopefully that won't throw off this solution!). I went to Brother site and got the Catalina 10.15 driver as Jan Hedlund recommended. Before that I reset the printing system as also recommended. I was able to print wirelessly from a PDF in my gmail using Safari. Much better than having to use Brother's iPrint and Scan which doesn't even integrate with Control-P command and would not have had the flexibility to print an email attachment (I would have had to download the attachment first).

Even though this worked, it's probably time limited based on future updates.

Why release the Big Sur update without this basic functionality already integrated?

That said, I wouldn't put it past Brother to make my printer obsolete, so the issue could be there as well. After all, it is Brother who hasn't come up with compatible printer driver for my printer for Big Sur / OS 11.

The 10.15 Catalina driver also worked for my Brother DCP-7055w on Big Sur on my M1 MacBook Air. Both printing and scanning. Thank you!

Hello,

The Brother MFC-L3770CDW is mentioned in About AirPrint - Apple Support as a printer supporting the driverless AirPrint technology. This means that a separately installed printer driver should not be needed for macOS 11 Big Sur.

Are you using AirPrint now? Does the printer have the latest firmware?

https://support.brother.com/g/b/downloadlist.aspx?c=us_ot&lang=en&prod=mfcl3770cdw_us_eu_as&os=10065

Reset the Mac printing system to solve a problem - Apple Support

Hi,

Just to clarify, I did not mean that macOS Catalina should run on the computer. The idea was that you could try the printer driver 1.5.0 (intended for macOS Catalina) when running macOS Big Sur.

EDIT: I see that the reply by Stunger appears to confirm that the suggestion in my previous message is worth testing.

I had the same problem with my Brother DCP-7065DN not being able to print after upgrading to Big Sur 11.1 . Today I upgraded to Big Sur 11.2 and the Brother printer is now printing using the last upgrade that Brother down load had available for Mac OS, that being 10.15 on their web site. Sadly it looks like Brother is not going to be upgrading its driver for DCP-7065DN in the future.

Hi Mzy11,

Awaiting information from Siberette, macOS 10.15 drivers for the DCP-7055W can be found here:

https://support.brother.com/g/b/downloadlist.aspx?c=us_ot&lang=en&prod=dcp7055w_us_eu_as&os=10060

Replies above indicate that macOS 10.15 printer drivers can be used with some other Brother models as well and Big Sur. Make sure that you have backup copies of important files before carrying out any tests. Look upon this as an experiment. There is always a certain risk involved with an experiment. Data may be lost. You maý have to erase and re-install everything on the hard disk. A hardware problem is unlikely, but it is impossible to guarantee anything.