System extensions blocked in Sequoia 15.4.1 update

The HP OfficeJet Pro 9012e All-In-One Printer is an AirPrint-enabled device: About AirPrint - Apple Support.

Apparently HP had you install some kind of driver for that printer, but it was never necessary to do that. All that may be required is to add that printer to Printers & Scanners as an AirPrint device, if it is not already added as such.

As the dialog states and as Kurt Lang explained that extension (driver or whatever it happens to be) will cease to function at some future date as Apple continues to make macOS completely invulnerable to any kind of modifications whatsoever, even ones that you want, those that you authorize, including those released by legitimate developers with signed, notarized, Apple-approved code. It's the price we pay for vendors of utterly useless, arguably malicious junk people nevertheless insist upon installing on Macs.

There is nothing to authorize. It is merely informative. The reason for the dialog is that macOS makes no effort to determine what that software does, leaving that responsibility to the user. In your case you don't need to do anything, since that printer is already AirPrint-enabled and requires no such modifications to macOS for it to work.

It means just what it says. Kernel extensions will be completely disallowed in a near future release of macOS, and the extension your HP device uses will no longer work (the OS won't allow it to load).

As you've installed one major release of macOS over the previous, Apple's security protocols keep changing. This is just another step towards eliminating software that has too much direct access to the OS layer.

The fix is to uninstall the current HP software for your printer (or whatever it is) and then install the latest drivers from HP. Or, if you don't need all of the options in the vendor's drivers, see if the default AirPrint drivers will suffice.

If you do nothing, then you will be able to continue using your HP product. But as you continue to install each succeeding major OS release (roughly late fall every year per past comparison), eventually, the HP software simply won't work.

Double click the main drive icon on your desktop, where you would normally see this list of root level folders:

Applications

Library

System

Users

Double click the Library folder, then the Extensions folder within that. These are, normally, the only two items you'd find in that folder:

HighPointIOP.kext

HighPointRR.kext

In your case, you'll likely find others with 'HP' in the name.

What model device do you have?

Notarization is Apple's approval process. All apps must now be signed and notarized.

I use those Keyspan devices. Yes they are now Tripp-Lite (Eaton) models USA-28X and USA-19H which differ only in the number of ports and connector types. They're good. The drivers are identical. I have also successfully used other devices based on the FTDI chipset.

As I recall the device won't appear in /dev/ unless and until you are actually using it, and the only recent product that I have used with the M series Macs is unhelpfully named Serial.

It's in the App Store: https://www.decisivetactics.com/products/serial/

Whereas other devices have difficulty finding those USB to serial devices Serial just works. I don't happen to have a Newton.

Thank you for noting AirPrint. I did mention that in my first response, but then didn't add it as a third possibility later.

So then, yes (of course), bolinj2 can remove the currently installed HP drivers entirely, then add it back as an AirPrint device. Upgrading the OS will then be no issue at all.

The only thing I don't like about AirPrint is not all features are always available. For our Xerox VersaLink C405, there are no color management controls at all via AirPrint. I have to use the full drivers from Xerox in order to get all of the functions.

Thanks. That model was first released in late May of 2021. It must have been a fairly inexpensive model, because quickly dropping support for lower end models is what all printer manufacturers do.

Already at HP's site, all you can download for that model is a firmware update. That's pretty pathetic to not make even the last Windows or Mac drivers available.

Given that, you only have two choices. Never upgrade the OS so the drivers you have installed still work, or replace what you have with a new supported printer.

AirPrint generally seems to incorporate only a subset of a printer's full capabilities, and I can't find any Apple documentation regarding how a manufacturer might expand upon them through AirPrint.

The HP OfficeJet Pro 9012e seems to be a consumer grade product that doesn't offer nearly the functions of your Xerox, so unless Apple expands AirPrint to allow certain manufacturer-specific options (which doesn't appear to be forthcoming) then I suppose those manufacturers will need to continue to provide a means of support that doesn't rely upon system extensions.

In my experience most if not all the "drivers" that consumer grade printer manufacturers are fond of installing are just nags to replace ink and toner.

> including those released by legitimate developers with signed,

notarized, Apple-approved code

Seems kind of overly restrictive, especially if Apple does have an "Apple approval process" (which I'm sure they don't..)

> It's the price we pay for vendors of *utterly useless, arguably* malicious *junk*

Peripherals that would use such kernel extensions? Or the Mac computers that won't let you actually use them?

Anyone know where to get a USB-Serial adapter (for an Apple Newton, ironically enough) that has a drive that will actually *install*? I found *a* Keyspan driver (Tripplite/Eaton/whatever it's called now) that maybe installed (keyspanUSAdrvr 4.0b4). The usb device shows up with "system_profiler SPUSBDataType", but doesn't seem to show up anywhere in /dev/

Thanks, but wrong one. The HP device.