Q: I just received notice from Canon that they will not develop a printer driver for OS10.10.1 for their Pixma MX850 product. Does anyone have a recommendation? thx.

latest APPLE drivers for your printer follow the link

OS X: Printer and scanner software available for download - Apple Support

please follow this link

http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1742?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US

If adding this printer using the printer pane in preferences does not work at all then you will probably be out of luck since no working drivers are in the Apple database.

henricmga wrote:

 

The printer does not show in the printers & scanners "add" box. Contacted support who said that there was as of yet no driver made by Canon for this printer and suggested I contact Canon.

The lack of a printer driver does not stop a printer from appearing in the Default view of the Add printer window. This is an issue with the Bonjour protocol that many users you upgraded to Yosemite are experiencing.

henricmga wrote:

 

... I contact Canon. I did, and their response is basically "sorry, but we're not going to make one..."

You can use the v10.84 driver for OS X 10.9 on Yosemite. But since you cannot see the MX via the Default view, then you can add the printer using the LPD protocol. To do so you will need to know the IP address being used by the MX. You can find this using the control panel on the MX. Once you have the IP address, open Printers & Scanners and click the plus button to add. With the Add printer open, change the view from Default to IP. Enter the IP address of the MX. Change the Protocol to Line Printer Daemon. Leave the Queue name blank. Change the name from IP address to MX850. Leave the Location blank and then for the Use menu, select the Canon MX850 series driver (assuming that you have already installed the 10.9 driver I have linked to above). Click the Add button to complete the printer creation and then see if you can print.

Thank you PAHU! Replacing the (newer) driver with v10.84 was all I needed. I deleted all other mx850 devices in Printers & Scanners. When I added a new device the mx850 driver was in the list and selecting it worked.

I think you may have just saved me from buying a new printer too! Thanks.

Hi Pahu,  Thanks for your contributions to the forum.  Your post is the only thing that come close to my problem.  I have a new macbook with OS 10.10.3 in an office of macs that connect to my MX850 over the network, but I still can not connect the new macbook.  I have followed your post exactly but when I get to the USE menu, the MX850 is not in the list?  Would you know where I am going wrong?  It is most frustrating when these companies do not work together, I am not a tech, I just want to upgrade when I need to and keep working, I have already wasted several days on this and if I have to go and buy a new printer, it wont be a Canon!

Thanks again for your contributions

PreTravel wrote:

 

I have followed your post exactly but when I get to the USE menu, the MX850 is not in the list?  Would you know where I am going wrong?

If you have run the v10.84 driver installer but the MX850 is not appearing in the Printer Software window, then open Finder and select Go > Go to Folder and then copy and paste the following line, then press the Go button

/Library/Printers/Canon/BJPrinter/

Here you should see a number of folders, if the driver installer has completed correctly, and one of those folders will be PDEs. Open this to see the file "CanonIJPDE.bundle" and then perform a Get Info (⌘ I or File > Get Info). The window that appears will show the version which should be v10.84.11. If you do have this file then try restarting the Mac to see if this will help with populating the Printer Software window. If you don't have this file then try running the v10.84 driver installer again.

Hi Pahu,

Thanks so much for your response.  I followed the instructions and the correct version is showing  where it should be.  I re-booted and it is still not populating that box.  I also re-installed from the dmg file and same result.

I can video screen grab all the process if it is easier for you to target the problem.  Many thanks again for your very kind support.

Paul.

Hi Paul,

The next action would be to reset the printing system. To do this, open Printers & Scanners and position the mouse over the Printers section. Then right-click (or Control-click if right click is not enabled) and select Reset from the pop-up menu. You will then be prompted to authenticate.

Note that this action removes all devices from Printers & Scanners but not the supporting drivers, so you will only need to add the printer again.

If the Reset still fails to get the MX850 appearing in the Printer Software window, then you can manually browse to the MX850 PPD. To do this, change the Use menu to Other. Then browse to HD > Library > Printers > PPDs > Contents > Resources and here you should see the file "CanonIJMX850series.ppd.gz" Select it and press OK. This should now populate the Use menu with "Canon MX850 series" and if so, click Add to complete the printer creation.

PaHu

Thank you PaHu,

I am a step closer.  That worked getting it to populate the field.  I then click add and got an error message.  I added anyway and when I try to print I get a printer is in use message as per screen pics.  (The printer was not in use)  Then it just hangs there.  I also double check the IP address on the MX850 and it is correct. 

Thanks again so much for your time, it is sincerely appreciated.

The "Unable to verify the printer" message will appear if you select a non-supported protocol or the protocol is disabled. So if you were selecting the Line Printer Daemon protocol when adding the printer then it would suggest that it is disabled on your MX850. To enable it, open a web browser and enter the IP address of the MX850 as the URL. This will connect to the internal web page of the printer. Press the Advanced button and then on the left menu, select Other Settings. On this page you will see "LPR protocol setting". Change the drop menu to Enable (assuming it is set to Disable) and then press the OK button for the setting to be saved. Then close the web page of the MX850 and restart it. Once it has reconnected to the wireless network try to add the printer again using the LPR protocol.