Trying to connect Canon MG7170 to MacBook Air retina 2020 running macOS 15.5

Canon – Pixma MG7170

There are no printer drivers for Sequoia, or anything later than Catalina. So, if separately-installed drivers were the only way you could get this thing to work, you would be hosed.

The good news is that this printer is AirPrint-compatible. That means that it has a certain amount of driver support "built in" so that macOS can print to it (and maybe also scan from it) without the need for separate drivers. You just need to go through the steps to set it up as an AirPrint printer.

About AirPrint - Apple Support

Add a printer to your printer list so you can use it on Mac - Apple Support

That's what I had to do to get another old Canon MG71xx all-in-one printer to work again when replacing an old Mac running High Sierra with one running Ventura. I'm using AirPrint to do printing, and VueScan to do scanning. So far, so good.

"Trying to connect Canon MG7170 to MacBook Air retina 2020 running macOS 15.5: I have an old Canon MG7170 printer that I'd like to make available for my nieces and nephews, but my Mac is not finding it. I've restarted the computer, restarted the printer, plugged and unplugged the connector, but when I try to add the printer ... it's not found.?"

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Installing Canon MG7170:

A. Printer Not Being Found:

First off, you'd need to be connected to the same WiFi network. You would also need drivers. Above that, they'd need to be an Administrator, or have administrator password, if set to. But, looking on Canon's drivers Website, this model has no provided drivers: MG7170 - Support | Software & Drivers - Canon

B. Dried Print Head:

Printers can fail all together. How so? Well, the printhead will dry, and think of the printed as if it were a sponge --ink is wet, and if you don't use it, the printhead goes dry, and you get white lines. So, if this has a screen, try doing a test print page.

The Support article describes three options to try:

• Add a USB printer
• Add a Wi-Fi or network printer
• Add a network printer by specifying its IP address

You need to connect the printer by a USB cable for the first one – and possibly also when setting up the second one, to help the computer discover the printer.

With the third method, you would not need a USB cable, but you would need to know the IP address assigned to your printer. This presumably would be available from the menu/screen on the printer – or from your Wi-Fi router, assuming that you had set things up so that it was the router that gave the printer an IP address.

P.S. – You may need to connect that printer wirelessly. I'm using a USB cable, but I'm not sure if "AirPrint over USB" is a supported thing for most AirPrint printers, or only for a few of them.

P.S. – If you ever get another printer, make sure that it supports AirPrint, too.