macOS refuses to download printer software.

Question

Level 1

12 points

macOS refuses to download printer software.

Years ago, I thought we left behind having to install printer companies' proprietary BS software. I loved how you could just plug in a printer and OS X would just work with it. Then they stripped out the drivers to save space, which was fine, cuz they'd automatically download.

But now apparently that doesn't work either.

According to this page (Printer and scanner software for macOS Sierra, El Capitan, Yosemite, and Mavericks - Apple Support), it's supposed to still work, and my printer is supported. But it doesn't work. The App Store shows no updates available. I've tried restarting, resetting printer settings, nothing. I really don't want to have to go hunting down and installing printer drivers like I'm on Windows 98. What am I missing??

MacBook Air (13-inch, Early 2015), macOS Sierra (10.12.6)

Posted on Aug 22, 2017 8:54 PM

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Answer 1

Hawkdive

Level 1

58 points

Aug 22, 2017 10:00 PM in response to dburke

You will have to reset the printing system in printing preferences and then download the updated drivers for all the brother printers if you want to load it automatically when you connect any brother printer to your system. Here is the update from Apple for all the brothers printer driver Brother Printer Drivers 4.1 for OS X ( This update installs the latest Brother printing or scanner.).

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Answer 2

Eau Rouge

Level 8

42,656 points

Aug 22, 2017 10:13 PM in response to dburke

That link is for all Brother printers not for ALL printers, is the upgrade showing in the App Store.

You can check if the download has been installed, click on About This Mac, click on System Report, then go to Software and Installations, here you will see all software installed on your mac.

There is no harm in downloading it again, it will overwrite what Brother drivers are installed, so no difference in space.

Have you tried resetting the printing system? macOS Sierra: Reset the printing system

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Answer 3

John Galt

Level 10

155,318 points

Aug 23, 2017 6:05 AM in response to dburke

dburke wrote:

Thanks, but I really just consider that a Band-Aid. I don't want to manually track down the driver for every printer I need to use.

You shouldn't have to. Drivers for all installed printers should automatically be downloaded and updated in the normal course of using a Mac. The list of printer drivers on your Mac is indeed unreasonably short. The Macs I use typically contain hundreds of drivers.

I want to get the system working correctly again, as it's supposed to.

The vast majority of problems such as that are due to the installation and use of a wide range of ill-conceived "anti-virus", "cleaning", and / or "Internet Security" products that should never be installed on any Mac. If that describes yours, then uninstall those products, reinstall macOS, and ensure it is kept updated according to Keep your Mac up to date - Apple Support.

I see that the full download there is about a quarter of a gig. If I do that for all the printer manufacturers, that's gonna eat up some serious storage space.

The aggregate size of all the printer drivers on the Mac I happen to be using at the moment is slightly less than 2 GB.

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Answer 4

dburke Author

Level 1

12 points

Aug 22, 2017 9:16 PM in response to John Galt

Thanks, but I really just consider that a Band-Aid. I don't want to manually track down the driver for every printer I need to use. I want to get the system working correctly again, as it's supposed to.

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Answer 5

dburke Author

Level 1

12 points

Aug 22, 2017 10:02 PM in response to Eau Rouge

Am I correct in remembering though that for the last several versions of macOS (well, OS X then I guess), it would only download the drivers on demand? I see that the full download there is about a quarter of a gig. If I do that for all the printer manufacturers, that's gonna eat up some serious storage space.

Is there a way to get it back to having an accurate list of what printers it can download on demand, without actually having to download the full package for every individual manufacturer?

Again, I just want to restore it to working exactly as it's supposed to.

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Answer 6

dburke Author

Level 1

12 points

Aug 22, 2017 10:11 PM in response to Hawkdive

I do appreciate the time you're taking to reply, but I think you're missing the point of what I'm going for here. I'm not just trying to get this one printer working.

The way it's supposed to work, macOS is aware of a whole wide range of printers that Apple provides drivers for, from several printer companies. When you connect one of these printers, it downloads the drivers on demand (unless it's already installed.

The solution you're proposing will only help with Brother printers, and it will take up a quarter of a gig, installing all of them, rather than only downloading them as needed.

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Answer 7

Hawkdive

Level 1

58 points

Aug 22, 2017 10:16 PM in response to dburke

Normally macOS Sierra downloads the driver on demand when it does not find it in the /Library/Printers/ folder. The exact same problem happened with my Mac and I got it fixed by deleting the old printer driver from /Library/printer/Brother folder and then deleted the cache and all the printing preferences files associated with brother printer which begins with name com.brother.print* from ~/Library/Preferences. You can try this and then restart the Mac and connect the brother printer it will say the driver is not available and needs to be downloaded from Apple server

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Answer 8

dburke Author

Level 1

12 points

Aug 22, 2017 10:17 PM in response to Eau Rouge

Right, I get that, but it's a very large download, and I don't want to install drivers for all Brother printers. And next time I go plug into an Epson, I don't want to have to download another giant set of drivers for all Epson printers. I just want it to work as it's supposed to. I'm just looking for a way to sort of blow up the printer driver system and start from scratch, short of reinstalling the whole OS.

I have tried the printing reset system too, to no effect. There are no Brother drivers already installed in /Library/Printers, so it will definitely have an effect on space.

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Answer 9

Eau Rouge

Level 8

42,656 points

Aug 22, 2017 10:23 PM in response to dburke

Well first of all you did mention a Brother printer so its no wonder that we are giving you links to the Brother set of drivers.

If you use other printers then you will need to download drivers for those printers, and the way that mac works is that you download a manufacturers package like the Brother link above, this has been standard in mac OS's for years.

You can of course go to the manufacturers direct and see if you can download individual drivers and software.

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Answer 10

dburke Author

Level 1

12 points

Aug 22, 2017 10:32 PM in response to Eau Rouge

Yep, I get that I used a Brother as an example, but again, I think you're misunderstanding my purpose here. I'm not just looking to make this one printer work. That's easy enough. I can track down and manually install the drivers, sure. But the OS is supposed to handle that for you, and right now, that functionality is broken on my Mac. I'm looking to fix that functionality. What a solution here looks like isn't having this one printer working, it's next time I plug in a new supported printer, the OS taking care of it for me, as it's supposed to.

Downloading the entire set of drivers for a manufacturer when you plug in a new printer is definitely not how it's worked in the past. In the past, it's identified which driver you need and downloaded just that one. The entire set for each manufacturer is big.

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Answer 11

Eau Rouge

Level 8

42,656 points

Aug 22, 2017 11:19 PM in response to dburke

Well I have been using Mac for years and anytime a new printer is connected you access the App Store and click on Updates once the App Store has found the printer software/ drivers it will notify you. The update is the manufacturers package whether it be for Epson, Canon, HP or Brother etc it will be a generic download for that make of printer and not an individual driver for your particular model.

On my installation of Sierra I have an update pending for my HP printer and it is the full download for all compatible HP printers at 500Mbs.

I do understand that you want to be able to connect your Mac to a number of different printers from different manufacturers, but if you want them to work properly you will need to download the packages from Apple or seek out individual drivers either from the manufacturer or from another source.

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Answer 12

dburke Author

Level 1

12 points

Aug 23, 2017 6:37 AM in response to John Galt

I appreciate the input, but I don't think that's it either. I did have MPlayerX installed at one point, but a version without the adware installed. The only other software like that I've used is Malwarebytes.

I'm thinking for now I just have to use the manual way, and when I get a chance, I might just have to clean install.

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Answer 13

dburke Author

Level 1

12 points

Aug 22, 2017 9:06 PM in response to dburke

This seems to be a full list of the printer drivers macOS thinks it has access to. It seems way too short. Is there a way to reset this system and have it download the list again?

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Answer 14

dburke Author

Level 1

12 points

Aug 22, 2017 9:21 PM in response to dburke

It's specifically listed right here as being supported by the built-in system.

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Answer 15

Hawkdive

Level 1

58 points

Aug 22, 2017 10:07 PM in response to dburke

You should not download the who;e bunch of printer drivers. You can just download drivers for Brother printer ad scanner from Brother Printer Drivers 4.1.1 for OS X its just 261.10 MB.

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