User profile for user: heelz
heelz Author
User level: Level 1
33 points

printtool is trying to modify the printer settings.

"Printtool is trying to modify the printer settings."


This dialogue box pops up on 2 of my macs, randomly, and intermittently. It prompts for the admin name and password. I should say that the user logged in to the iMac is not an admin account, it is a standard account. But I only have this happening on 2 of my 4 iMacs.


What is printtool, why does it incessantly want to modify my printer settings, and how do I make it stop?


Mojave 10.14.6

Late 2015 iMac

Posted on Feb 13, 2021 7:36 AM

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User profile for user: Tesserax
Tesserax
User level: Level 10
157,800 points

Posted on Feb 13, 2021 11:06 AM

Printtool is a macOS process. You are getting this prompt for, at least, one of the following reasons:

  • You still have a printer driver installed on your Mac that is no longer available.
  • The user, attempting to access this printer, does not have sufficient user privileges to do so.


For the former, it should be a simple matter of removing any non-available printers from System Preferences. The latter would require a bit more work to resolve.


If you do need to try the latter, the steps would be:

  1. Open a Finder window.
  2. From the Finder menu bar, select Go > Go to Folder ...
  3. Enter: /System/Library/CoreServices/Applications
  4. Run the Directory Utility.
  5. Select Directory Editor
  6. In the Viewing box, select Groups
  7. In the Search box, enter print
  8. In the left-side window, select Print Administrator
  9. In the right-side window, select GroupMembership, then select the "+" plus button immediately to right of GroupMembership.
  10. Enter the name of the user account where you are seeing these pop-ups, replacing new_value, and then, click on Save.
  11. Quit the Directory Editor.
  12. Log out, and then, log back in with this user account.
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Question marked as Top-ranking reply
User profile for user: Tesserax
Tesserax
User level: Level 10
157,800 points

Feb 13, 2021 11:06 AM in response to heelz

Printtool is a macOS process. You are getting this prompt for, at least, one of the following reasons:

  • You still have a printer driver installed on your Mac that is no longer available.
  • The user, attempting to access this printer, does not have sufficient user privileges to do so.


For the former, it should be a simple matter of removing any non-available printers from System Preferences. The latter would require a bit more work to resolve.


If you do need to try the latter, the steps would be:

  1. Open a Finder window.
  2. From the Finder menu bar, select Go > Go to Folder ...
  3. Enter: /System/Library/CoreServices/Applications
  4. Run the Directory Utility.
  5. Select Directory Editor
  6. In the Viewing box, select Groups
  7. In the Search box, enter print
  8. In the left-side window, select Print Administrator
  9. In the right-side window, select GroupMembership, then select the "+" plus button immediately to right of GroupMembership.
  10. Enter the name of the user account where you are seeing these pop-ups, replacing new_value, and then, click on Save.
  11. Quit the Directory Editor.
  12. Log out, and then, log back in with this user account.
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printtool is trying to modify the printer settings.

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