Restore Deleted Printers

Hi MacRussell,

I had a similar problem - I made a huge mistake yesterday by going into System Preferences, left-clicking on the printer I wanted to connect to, and clicking on the "Reset Printing System" which led to a box that said "Are you sure you want to reset all of your existing printer queues and all pending print jobs?" and then I clicked OK. I thought it would cancel any open print jobs (and there were none open) and reset the printer that I was trying to connect to. What the prompt SHOULD have said is "DO YOU REALLY WANT TO DELETE ALL OF YOUR PRINTERS???" Because that is exactly what happened. I searched for a very long time on these discussion boards and on the rest of the Internet for a way to get back all of my installed printers. Why not just reinstall them? Because I had way too many network printers, local printers, etc. and all with their own customized settings that I couldn't remember. But I finally found the answer, and I hope you don't mind me posting it as an answer to your question, but when I found your post I was upset that no one responded because I also really needed to know what to do. But I did fix it, everything is back to normal, so this is for all those folks out there that are in the same situation we were in.

Here's what I did:

Step 1: Open Finder, go to Macintosh HD > Users > (YourName) > Library > Printers. That folder should be empty since you deleted those files when you reset the printers. Leave that folder open. Open another Finder window and go to your Time Machine backup. For me, the path was TimeMachine > Backups.backupdb > (2011-05-19-034706 - use your latest backup date, this is just the date of my last backup) > Macintosh HD > Users > (YourName) > Library > Printers. That folder should have some files that have your printer name.app (i.e. hp officejet 5500 series.app). Copy all of those files , and paste them into the Printers folder on the first Finder window we opened above. Now, close both those Finder windows.

Step 2: This is a bit tricky, as we now need the Mac to show us some hidden files, copy those files, and then hide those files again when we are done. Do exactly as follows to avoid any problems:

Open the Application Terminal (in the Utilities subfolder)

At the prompt, type these two commands (hit enter after each command)

defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles TRUE killall Finder

Now, hit Command-N to open a new Finder window (or just open it from your dock). Click on your Macintosh HD under Devices, then you will see a bunch of folders that are normally hidden. You want to go to the etc folder by double-clicking it. Then, expand the cups folder and you will see the ppd folder. On your Hard Drive, it will be empty since you deleted those files when you reset your printers. So here's the path in case I confused you: Macintosh HD > etc > cups > ppd. Now, open another Finder window and go to the same path on your Time Machine backup. For me, it was TimeMachine > Backups.backupdb > 2011-05-19-034706 > Macintosh HD > etc > cups > ppd. You will see that folder should have some files that have your printer name.ppd (i.e. hp officejet 5500 series.ppd). Copy all of those files , and paste them into the empty ppd folder on the Finder window on your hard drive. You will be asked if your sure and to type your password, so just go ahead. It will be okay.

Step 3: We are not done yet. There are some files in the cups folder that we also need to copy from the Time Machine backup into your hard drive. So keeping both those Finder windows open, go up one level to the cups folder (on your hard drive, Macintosh HD > etc > cups ; on your Time Machine backup, TimeMachine > Backups.backupdb > 2011-05-19-034706 > Macintosh HD > etc > cups. Copy the following files from your Time Machine backup to the hard drive:

cupsd.conf

cupsd.conf.bak

printers.conf

printers.conf.O

Now, there was a file on my hard drive in the cups folder that was not in my time machine backup called cupsd.conf.O that I didn't know what to do with, but I figured it couldn't be good. So I copied it into a temporary folder (just in case) and then deleted it from the cups folder on my hard drive.

Step 4: You are almost done. Go to System Preferences and click on Print & Fax, and you should now see all your printers back in the list. Congratulations, your printers have been restored! But we still need to hide all those pesty hidden files and folders in Finder, so close all open windows and go back to the Terminal application and type the following commands (hit enter after each command):

defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles FALSE

killall Finder

Then close your Terminal application and open a new Finder window and it will be back to normal with no hidden files or folders showing.

You now have your printers back to where they were before you hit the same "Reset Printers" button that I did (in error) and took me 2 hours of research to figure out how to undue the damage, or had some printers deleted in error when installing an unsupported printer.

If for any reason this doesn't work for you, all I can say is that it worked for me and I wanted to share the fruits of my labor with others who are in a similar predicament as I was. I am by no means an expert in this area, so although I don't see any reason why it wouldn't work, you just never know how one persons computer differs from another, so I apologize if it doesn't work out for you. But I really think it will, so good luck and happy printing!

Hi Paul- Just wanted to thank you for these instructions. I used these to hook up my old printer (Canon MX870) to my new MBP with OS Sierra. Canon is no longer supporting this printer on the new operating system, and downloading software and drivers for previous OSs did not work; my computer could not detect the printer at all (although funny enough, it could see the scanner portion). Canon's solution was for me to buy a new printer- not happening, this one works fine (for now). Using your steps above from an old backup of an earlier machine/ OS (and also copying some Canon files from the Printer folders inside the System and Library folders), I was able to get my computer to recognize the printer, trigger an update to the software, as well as repair permissions automatically. At that point, my computer thought I was printing although nothing was coming out of the printer. I then reset the printing device from the System Preferences window (right click on the device in the Printers and Scanners window), which deletes any user preferences and essentially restores defaults. Low and behold, my printer now works despite what Canon said.

I just wanted to throw this out there in case anyone happens to be in a similar situation to mine where an old printer is no longer supported on their new machine, but in which they have access to a Time Machine backup from an earlier device/ OS.

Thanks again!

OH MY GOD, PAUL!

Add me to the list of people thoroughly grateful for your directions; my horrible problem was solved, too!

Like you and everyone else, I stupidly deleted all my printers and their settings. In my case I have a somewhat old but wonderful Samsung ML-1210 laser printer, that I want to use forever, whose software and drivers had long stopped being updated for Mac OS. As it is now July 2017, I am now at OS Sierra 10.12.4, and a few years back when the printer stopped working after an OS uprade, I found a Linux workaround that had specific, detailed instructions on downloading stuff and typing this and that (sort of like your instructions), where I had no idea what I was doing, but simply following a kind person's instructions helped me to continue using my old printer.

So when I accidentally deleted all my printer settings, I was truly screwed. I went back to that Linux page and tried to go through the same instructions step by step but for whatever reason (perhaps because my OS had significantly changed and been updated since I first utilized that trick maybe 3 or 4 years ago), it didn't work anymore.

Then I found your brilliant but intimidating instructions. The trail of overwhelmingly positive responses to them convinced me this was my last real hope of getting back use of my printer. After putting off doing so for a few days out of fear of that it may end up not working, leaving me totally screwed and needing to completely revamp my computer setup, I finally whipped out my backup drive and followed your steps.

I have to say, I have never been as grateful and relieved to have created backups as I am now. Your instructions are golden but useless if I did not hold up my end of being a responsible computer owner. So anyway, everything went smoothly as you described, except for the part about transferring those four cups files:

cupsd.conf

cupsd.conf.bak

printers.conf

printers.conf.O

I didn't have the cupsd.conf.bak in my Time Machine backup folder, BUT there was a version already in my current HD's folder. I also already had a printers.conf file in my current HD, and like one of the other people who replied, I was asked if I wanted to replace it or just add it on, and I chose to play it safe and add it on. The original then got renamed by the computer as printers.conf (Original).

I completed the steps and the rest was just a perfect, beautiful, fantastic end to this first-world technological nightmare. I test-printed files and everything was just like the way it used to be.

I can't thank you enough, Paul in LA. The relief I feel is echoed by all the others before me. You have provided an unquantifiable service to so many of us, and continue to do so more than six years later. Thank you so much.

Just wanted to mention that I had attempted ncprius2's suggested solution (stuck somewhere early in this thread, and then reposted by him/her later on in an attempt to get more visibility) before implementing Paul in LA's, and it DID NOT HELP.

In fact, I would recommend to anyone considering ncprius2's input to skip it and go straight to Paul in LA's instructions. It worked like a charm for me as well as for many others, as evidenced by this string of replies over the past several years. Don't make things worse by trying something that doesn't work.

I just logged into this old Apple ID I have and saw that folks like yourself are still using the instructions I wrote many years ago and it is still working. I am so glad to hear that this post is still helping - it made my day. Thanks everyone for the positive comments.

I've had similar problem when I accidentally deleted my HP Envy 4502 Printer. I just turned off the printer for a minute and turned it back on. I opened Word for Mac and tried to print a page, I got the message to select a printer. I clicked the required space and the last used printer was there as one of the selections. Just clicked and there you are. Try this simple trick.

Because I have never played with terminal before and don't know what I'm doing. Do you hit enter after each string of code in bold (per your instructions) or just copy and paste them all and then hit enter?

Thanks Paul in LA, I want to join the group of people who were saved by you too.

Tara in Sacramento.

Just do this:

You can add the Printer by going to System Preferences > Print and Fax. In Print and Fax, click the add(+) button and you can see the list of active printers. In there select your printer and add it. Let me know if that didn't worked.

Paul,

Thank you! Thank you! Your instructions were perfect, as I made the same error: i.e. hit "reset," which lost all my network printer settings.

After following your suggestions, my settings are back and printing is restored. Good job. I'm grateful you took the time to post your fix.

Glad to be of help. And I'm really glad to see that it worked for someone else, not just me.

I really think that Apple should change that message to "DO YOU REALLY WANT TO DELETE ALL OF YOUR PRINTERS???" so none of us would have to go through this in the first place.

Thanks for letting me know that it worked for you too! 😀

I fully agree that the warning message should be explicit. I recall that I highlighted just one printer entry, (which was only used temporarily when I was out of town.) So, I simply thought I was deleting that one from my printer options, since I didn't need it there any longer. When all the printers disappeared instead, I had this awful sinking feeling, but thought surely there was a quick way (single key stroke) to restore them.

I also recalled the hours it took to install a network printing option (HP printer) at home when my Macbook Pro was newly purchased a couple of years ago. At that time the tech support guy who helped me on the phone seemed nearly as clueless as I was, and we tried so many configurations before something finally worked. I had even stopped taking notes, because we went through so many trials. I think it took literally 3 hours on the phone with him. The dreaded prospect of going through that again was playing through my mind last night when I lost those settings.

I found a number of less helpful threads before seeing your step-by-step fix. I also had not needed to use Time Machine for restoring prior to this. Just glad I had it!

This does seem like an area (printer settings AND network printer setup) where Apple could use some improvement in regard to user friendliness.

Thank you so very much for your specific instructions. I wished others would learn from such, instead of merely redirecting you another unhelpful post. The problem experienced here is a very understandably common one.

Glad to help. Hope it worked for you, too! 😀

Thank you very much Paul. I also deleted all my printers by mistake and I was able to restore them using your step-by-step instructions.

Cool !!! 😀