Where did "Bonjour plus AirPrint" disappear-to as an option? And, why?

Question

Where did "Bonjour plus AirPrint" disappear-to as an option? And, why?

With "Big Sur" and before, I had no problems attaching my HP Color LaserJet – which supports "AirPrint." It simply appeared to "Bonjour," and one of my options was "Secure AirPrint." Boom. Over and done.

With Monterey – I don't know yet about Ventura – this is no longer an option. "AirPrint" can only be selected (and, it's not "secure" anymore) if I describe the printer by its "IP Address." This makes utterly no technical sense to me. It should not matter how I choose to "find" my printer – and, until very recently, it didn't.

Why did Monterey remove this? And, did Ventura bring it back?

MacBook Pro 15″

Posted on Sep 2, 2023 10:07 AM

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Answer 1

Jan Hedlund

Level 7

24,235 points

Sep 4, 2023 9:05 AM in response to Twelve Shades Publications

Hi,

If possible, any change if you try the following power-cycle procedure (do not forget the router), provided that all computers/devices are on the same network (subnet)?

Power off the Wi-Fi router, the printer, the Mac, any iPhones and iPads, and all other computers/devices. Wait two to three minutes. Power on the router. Wait two to three minutes. Power on the printer. Wait a minute or two. Power on the Mac. Power on any iPhones and iPads. Finally, power on all other computers/devices. The idea is to update discovery (Bonjour/mDNS).

Any information about the exact HP printer model? Are you using a wireless printer connection to a router, or Ethernet?

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Answer 2

dkosovic

Level 1

8 points

Sep 19, 2023 6:52 PM in response to Twelve Shades Publications

Try issuing the following on the command-line to see what sort of connection is being used to the printer(s) you have added:

sudo grep DeviceURI /etc/cups/printers.conf

The URL (aka URI) you will see will contain one of the following :

ipps i.e. secure IPP
ipp i.e. in-secure IPP

I'm guessing newer macOS versions have switched from ipp to ipps for their default Airprint setting making "Secure Airprint" redundant.

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Answer 3

Sep 4, 2023 9:05 AM in response to Jan Hedlund

Saying this most kindly, Jan ... "everything that you have just said has zero to do with my concern."

When my Mac was using "Big Sur," I had zero problems: my printer appeared on the network, and "Secure AirPrint" was an option. With "Monterey," suddenly it is not: "AirPrint" is only available if I can define my printer based on its local IP-address. (And, it is no longer "secure.")

And this, very simply, "makes no sense at all." What "Big Sur" did was perfectly sensible: "who cares(!)" how you locate the printer, and if "AirPrint" is the sensible way to access it, "just do it." Unfortunately, with Monterey I can no longer do this ... and, to my my mind, there is zero "technical reason" why not.

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Answer 4

Jan Hedlund

Level 7

24,235 points

Sep 4, 2023 9:05 AM in response to Twelve Shades Publications

Normally, Bonjour would handle device discovery for AirPrint operations without the need for manual intervention. Xerox has a white paper Enabling Apple® AirPrint® with Your Xerox®AltaLink®Multifunction Printer. The general technical information about how AirPrint works, including details about Bonjour/mDNS, could perhaps be of interest to you.

https://www.office.xerox.com/latest/XOGWP-18U.PDF

However, the network as such (including the router) is important in this context. Thus my three simple questions.

Only Apple knows the exact reason why an operating system works a certain way. This is a user-to-user forum, and I am a user just like you.

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Answer 5

Sep 4, 2023 9:05 AM in response to Twelve Shades Publications

Where "Secure AirPrint" was the default choice along with Bonjour discovery in Big Sur, in Monterey you can only find AirPrint as a choice if you specify the IP-address of the printer. This makes utterly no sense to me. (I haven't installed Ventura yet.)

As you say, "Bonjour" is a device-discovery method. "AirPrint" is a driver-free printing protocol. The two are unrelated. Given that MacOS used to offer this choice, I see utterly no reason why it should not continue to do so now.

Maybe I should report this as a bug to Apple Support.

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Answer 6

Sep 20, 2023 9:55 AM in response to dkosovic

I'm not really sure what they did "behind the scenes," nor do I really care. The "way that you discover a printer" has nothing to do with "what driver [technology] it uses." I submitted a "/feedback" ticket describing the present situation (in Monterey) as "a bug." It used to work this way, and it worked just fine. There's no technical reason why it shouldn't work the same way today.

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Answer 7

ku4hx

Level 7

23,688 points

Sep 20, 2023 11:50 AM in response to Twelve Shades Publications

Please keep us informed on the bug fix you're requested.

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Where did "Bonjour plus AirPrint" disappear-to as an option? And, why?

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