Problems with "Printers & Scanners" preference pane under Mavericks

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Problems with "Printers & Scanners" preference pane under Mavericks

Since installing OS X Mavericks I can no longer print to our WiFi enabled Epson WF-7515 network printer, and attempting to access the "Printers & Scanners" preference pane in System Preferences either produces a Preferences Error which reads "Could not load Printers & Scanners preference pane", or gives a corrupt version of the preference pane which then in turn leads to a different Preferences Error reading "There was an error in Printers & Scanners preference pane".

* Restarting in Safe Mode gives same results.

Posted on Oct 30, 2013 3:33 AM

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Answer 1

Oct 30, 2013 3:36 AM in response to Art Machine

Open the Finder. From the Finder menu bar click Go > Go to Folder

Type or copy paste the following:

~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.systempreferences.plist

Click Go then move the com.apple.systempreferences.plist file to the Trash.

Theb visit the Epson website. Download and install v10.9 Mavericks compatible printers.

Then open System Preferences > Printers & Scanners > Print

Then click + to add the printer.

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Answer 2

Art Machine Author

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Oct 30, 2013 4:00 AM in response to Carolyn Samit

Hello Carolyn.

I omitted to mention that the currently installed printer drivers are compatible with Mavericks - a colleague is using the same printer with Mavericks.

Edit: I followed your instructions anyway, but had the same problem with the "Printers & Scanners" preference pane.

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Answer 3

Oct 30, 2013 4:00 AM in response to Art Machine

No problem ..

Did you delete the com.apple.systempreferences.plist file yet?

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Answer 4

Art Machine Author

Level 1

10 points

Oct 30, 2013 4:57 AM in response to Carolyn Samit

Carolyn, I deleted the plist file but nothing seemed to change: I got the same Preferences Errors when I tried to access the Printers & Scanners pane and, again, it was corrupt when I did manage to bring it up.

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Answer 5

Oct 30, 2013 8:28 AM in response to Art Machine

Do you have any printers in your home directory's Library/Printers folder? If so, try deleting them, then reopening the print & scanners prefs. You'll have to re-add your printer.

Hope this helps.

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Answer 6

Art Machine Author

Level 1

10 points

Oct 30, 2013 9:05 AM in response to John Blanchard1

Thanks John

I tried that but nothing changed - same old Preferences Error

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Answer 7

Art Machine Author

Level 1

10 points

Oct 31, 2013 8:39 AM in response to Art Machine

I contacted Apple's Tech Support - they had a fix.... the trouble is, it involves erasing the hard drive and reinstaling OS X and all my apps.... so I think I can live without being able to print for the meantime.

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Answer 8

stueey

Level 1

14 points

Nov 1, 2013 5:30 AM in response to Art Machine

Any chance of sharing what the work around was or was it just to erase everything and start again? If then how do we stop it happening again?

The problem started as soon as I tried adding a printer, befor ethis the preferences opened normally.

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Answer 9

Art Machine Author

Level 1

10 points

Nov 1, 2013 8:22 AM in response to stueey

Hello Stueey

After four chat sessions and trying various different approaches to no avail, Apple Support's final suggestion was to backup everything and do a bare-metal reinstall. I received the distinct impression that I was the first person to experience such a problem and they basically had no idea what was going on or how to fix it.

To say I am not happy about it would be an understatement... even Windows has an ability to check individual system files for corruption and to replace them if needed (the so-called "System File Check").

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Answer 10

stueey

Level 1

14 points

Nov 1, 2013 9:34 AM in response to Art Machine

Good grief. I'm gobsmacked.

This would imply that I should not try to install print drivers on my new Macbook Pro, that's insane.

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Answer 11

Art Machine Author

Level 1

10 points

Nov 4, 2013 2:26 AM in response to stueey

Stueey - have you tried Apple Support yet?

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Answer 12

camokid

Level 1

19 points

Nov 4, 2013 4:38 AM in response to Art Machine

I'm having the same issue here.

Printer Preference pane just fails with the same message.

Very frustrating.

One thing that did occur was when I first plugged the printer into the USB, before installing the vendor drivers was that Mavericks asked if I wanted to install drivers. I said no, as I had downloaded drivers already. Wonder if that makes a difference.

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Answer 13

stueey

Level 1

14 points

Nov 4, 2013 9:13 AM in response to Art Machine

No.

I tried creating a new user account to see if I could then get into the preferences again but it was the same so presumably it's something that happens to the main system when you try to install a print driver.

I've made an external start up drive with Mavericks on it, I'm going to try adding a printer using a built in setting rather than adding the Roland PPD that I was trying to use when it all went pear shaped. Also this will be installed before I have installed anything else at all.

I'll report back after I've finished doing it.

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Answer 14

Nov 5, 2013 2:25 AM in response to Art Machine

It's dissapointing and frustrating altogether.

Printers & Scanners not working (There was an error in Printers & Scanners preference pane.), while Sharing preference is as good as dead when I check the Printer sharing option.

PLEASE DO SOMETHING!!!

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Answer 15

Nov 5, 2013 3:48 AM in response to Art Machine

Same problem here, and also using a Roland PPD. I can print to our Xerox copier, but not to the Roland, and same error when trying to access the Printers & Scanners pref pane.

I've been on the phone a few hours with Apple's tech support and at the moment they are stumped and my case is somewhere in the world of Apple engineers.

My "i'm not an engineer" suspicion is that it has something to do with Mavericks using the Gutenprint code for printing, as the specific error that seems to crop up is:

Dyld Error Message:

Library not loaded: /usr/lib/libgutenprint.2.dylib

Referenced from: /usr/libexec/cups/driver/gutenprint.5.2

Reason: image not found

But the Apple tech support guys haven't zoomed in on that yet.

Still waiting to hear back from them.

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