Driver for Brother HL2040 for High Sierra?

Does the printer not work any more?

How did you choose to connect it? Your options come down to directly connected (USB, including parallel adapters) or networked (Ethernet or wireless).

Review the applicable Apple Support documentation:

• Reset the Mac printing system to solve a problem, including Printing troubleshooting
• Add or remove a printer on Mac, including Add a network printer by its IP address

Brother's latest printer driver is here:

http://support.brother.com/g/b/downloadtop.aspx?c=us&lang=en&prod=hl2040_all

Choose the latest version, for Yosemite. It might not install, or you might not need it, but there is no harm in trying. If it doesn't work try Apple's generic PostScript driver. That should work.

That assumes the printer is already connected (wired USB or networked).

I find a source claiming to offer such a driver, but this is not from the Brother site, and I'm a bit reluctant to download it.

Don't. Those sites are Petri dishes of malware and scams.

If you accepted Setup Assistant's offer to transfer information from another Mac when initially setting up the new iMac, it would convey the best possible chances for having your printers continue to work. People are understandably eager to start using a brand new Mac, but I highly recommend transferring information even though it will take some time (hours). Attempting to install Brother's "older" drivers on a "newer" Mac might not work, whereas migrating them from a previously operational Mac probably will.

Since the Mac is new, you might want to consider erasing it, reinstalling macOS, and choosing that option when it appears. Obviously, don't do that if you have already been using the Mac for a while and have information on it you need that is not available elsewhere.

Setup Assistant / Migration Assistant does a pretty good job of identifying and isolating incompatible software. It will be placed in an "Incompatible Software" folder. I agree the greater number of intervening macOS versions, the greater potential for something to go wrong. The worst that could possibly happen is that it just won't work though.

So I'm wondering where all the printer drivers are stored?

"All over the place" isn't much of an exaggeration.

Perhaps simply import the entire "printers" folder in the Library?

That probably will not work. You can certainly try it though.

I confess as well to being highly irritated that Brother would not even allow me to search for possible drivers compatible with High Sierra for this printer without creating an account opening me up to intrusive nagging, only to learn that it was too much trouble to update their drivers for this printer.

Count your blessings. Literally every other printer manufacturer is worse. A lot worse. As soon as Apple abandoned the printer market, it was a quick race to the bottom for everyone else. Brother makes printers I hate the least, and that's high praise.

Owen Daly1 wrote:

John, I don't know how you managed to get that download link for the newest (not so new) driver from Brother, but I downloaded the dmg and installed the driver, which went without any hitches, and it prints like a dream. If I tag this conversation as having solved my issue, which it did, then any time any of us needs to find your link to the dmg they'll be able to do that and know that it will work in High Sierra. I cannot fathom why Brother made it seem impossible for me to do the very thing you have done.

Beats me. It was easy. Perhaps it's because I don't use Google.