HPLIP cups: Unable to get list of printer drivers

coldflame23 · 2011-10-15 16:34:55

After choosing the printer:

Add Printer
Local Printers: CUPS-PDF (Virtual PDF Printer)
HP Photosmart C4400 series (HP Photosmart C4400 series)
HP Photosmart C4400 series USB MY84BHP06W0557 HPLIP (HP Photosmart C4400 series)
HP Fax (HPLIP)

It displays the following error:

Add Printer HP_Photosmart_C4400_series Error
Unable to get list of printer drivers:
Unknown

Already tried to blacklist usblp and installed cups-usblp.

HP Photosmart C4400 Series

dmesg: http://pastebin.com/nW4bxjPa

synthead · 2011-11-03 20:55:39

I'm seeing the same thing here.

azleifel · 2011-11-03 21:07:27

My list is

CUPS-PDF (Virtual PDF Printer)
Serial Port #1
HP Photosmart D6100 series (HP Photosmart D6100 series)
HP Photosmart D6100 series USB MY69RD91Y404SH HPLIP (HP Photosmart D6100 series)
HP Fax (HPLIP)

and I sometimes, but not always, get the same error if I select

HP Photosmart D6100 series (HP Photosmart D6100 series)

rather than

HP Photosmart D6100 series USB MY69RD91Y404SH HPLIP (HP Photosmart D6100 series)

(I was messing about with this the day before yesterday). Not only that but the CUPS browser interface works really slowly when setting up a printer.

Last edited by azleifel (2011-11-03 21:08:26)

Marin M. · 2011-11-16 16:41:30

I'm seeing the same thing here.

gborzi · 2011-11-17 15:30:30

I got the same error message after installation and configuration for a desktop with 2 printers (hp and samsung) attached. I solved it by changing the permission of the device file under /dev/bus/usb/ to 666 instead of the default 664. That is to say, find your printer device file under /dev, i.e. "ls -l /dev/bus/usb/*|grep lp", change it to 666 and add the printer. Once it is configured you can put it back to 664, the change doesn't need to be permanent (no udev rules to write).

pixavi · 2012-01-06 21:21:20

I was experiencing the same issues described above. I have a D2660 printer installed hplip and cups, blacklisted usplp and tried cups-usblp (it didn't compile in my case), tried new hplip version from hp, didn't compile due to python3 setup in Arch.

To enumerate all the symptoms:

* Install cups and the printer is not recogniced neither by cups nor any other interface (kde printer setup in my case)
* Install hplip and the printer is found, but hp-setup didn't find a driver for it, you must select one manually.
* After hp-setup the printer apears in cups, but trying to modify it (e.g.change driver) gives a 'can't find drivers' (or similar I am writing from memory) page.
* General laziness of cups web interface to manege the newly created printer. It is unexpectedly slow. (I didn't realize this after I saw it working properly)
* You cannot print a test page, checking /var/log/cups/error_log will show permission errors with the printer usb device.

After googling and re-reading the wiki, I found in the cups wiki a mention about device permissions and udev rules. First I tried to change the permisions of the usb device in /dev/bus/usb/00X/0YZ (check in /var/log/cups/errors_log the filename of the usb device being accessed in your case) to 666. Bingo!! All abovementioned issues dissapeared.

So I followed the advice in the cups wiki and created a udev rule for my printer that does just that (change device node permissions each time my printer is connected)

In my case the file is /etc/udev/rules.d/10-hp_d2660.rules and it looks like this:

ATTR{idVendor}=="03f0", ATTR{idProduct}=="8011", MODE:="0666", GROUP:="lp"

idvendor and idproduct come from lsusb, in my case for my printer is:

Bus 001 Device 013: ID 03f0:8011 Hewlett-Packard.

Create it, unplug and plug your printer.

Finally restart the cups server.

Now hp-setup should detect and configure the printer and cups will be able to print.

To discuss: the possible security implications of opening the printer to anybody to print and configure (I guess). But until I sort that out I can print.

Last edited by pixavi (2012-01-08 19:17:09)

andremo · 2012-01-25 15:22:06

I ran into a simular problem. It seemed to be caused by the foomatic drivers.
After removing all foomatic packages, and hplip ad well since it depends on foomatic,
my CUPS was able to list drivers.

I am using drivers from the gutenprint package now, and everything works fine.
I hope your printers are supported by gutenprint and this solution solved your problems.

stultus · 2012-02-01 23:06:05

I have the same issue azleifel in that hplib can't find a PPD, and then as pixavi where cups "can't find drivers." This only happens after installing hplib (and removing it allows the drivers to reappear, albeit without my D4260 included). hplib should have my driver per http://hplipopensource.com/hplip-web/mo … eries.html

After HPLIB, my cups error log is full of references like [01/Feb/2012:16:44:28 -0600] [CGI] Missing NickName and ModelName in /usr/share/cups/model/foomatic-db-ppds/[manufacturer]/[files].ppd.gz!

Once I have installed hplib, cups can see my printer (it gives me an option to install usb://HP/Deskjet%20D4200%20series?serial=TH7B6541CV04XT ) but it always hangs/dies at "Unable to get list of printer drivers: Unknown"

I've tried changing device permissions as listed above, but it doesn't seem to make any difference.

Anyone have any tips?

Last edited by stultus (2012-02-01 23:07:19)

ninian · 2012-02-01 23:16:48

I was getting this "Unable to get list of printer drivers" nonsense too with a couple of different HP printers.
However, on 7 out of 8 systems I managed to eventually get the list of printers just by trying several times (ie. go back in browser and try again) ... sometimes it worked on the first repeat, and sometimes it took up to about half a dozen times! On the last computer, I could never get the list although the system was essentially identical to the others.
No idea what's going on (never encountered this before), but it doesn't seem like a permissions thing if repetition can overcome the problem ...

stultus · 2012-02-01 23:54:56

Definitely unable to brute-force past this error.

pixavi · 2012-02-03 00:00:18

After posting my comments I realized that not everything was so fine with my install. Cups web interface refused to show the driver list again, so I think the problem is deeper or not completely solved by my previous post.

After deleting and creating my printer again, I was able to configure it with hpsetup and with KDE printer applet but never from cups webgui. Trying to change the drivers failed with KDE printer applet refusing to show the drivers (which it showed for the first config).

I am a bit confused with my findings. This weekend I have some spare time, I will try to find a consistent behavior.

Can you check if KDE or gnome print tools work better than cups gui?

stultus · 2012-02-04 11:42:51

I'm running archlinux on a network appliance (pogoplug) with shell access only. Aren't gnome and KDE both GUIs?

stultus · 2012-02-04 13:42:08

Update: I got this installed by doing the following:
Installing hplip
Stumbling into the HP ppd driver folder at /usr/share/hplip/HP
Unzipping PPD
running hp-setup -i and manually pointing it to the PPD (note, for some reason the first attempt failed, it told me to restart cups, so I did and it worked on the second time)

Printer now shows up in cups web interface and test page prints properly.

pixavi · 2012-02-05 10:03:57

@stultus: yes Kde and Gnome are both gui but to my surprise while cups web gui was not showing the available driver KDE cups configuration did.

That was some time ago, I have deleted and created my printer several times and I can confirm now that the only method that worked 100% is teh one described by stultus.

Creating the printer in cups webgui or in kde, failed at teh step of selecting the drivers. Although with kde cups config tool I was able to select the driver and finish the config, the printer was not functional.

Doing as stultus described, the hp-setup choosed in my case the right ppd (probably because of the udev rule I kept) and the printer is functioning almos plug and play.

I can confirm test page print and libreoffice printing.

Lockheed · 2012-02-29 07:49:56

I have the same problem, but solitions here did not work for me. web cups produce the same '
but in hp-setup -i I get this:

Adding print queue to CUPS:
Device URI: hp:/usb/DeskJet_845C?serial=CN1641P4NPSX
Queue name: DeskJet_845C
PPD file: /usr/share/ppd/HP/hp-deskjet_845c-hpijs.ppd
Location: 
Information: 
error: Printer queue setup failed. Please restart CUPS and try again.

Needless to say, I resatarted cupsd, I even tried it with older cups and hplip - all to no avail.

This printed works perfectly fine on the same computer if I dualboot into my old ubuntu 9.04 with cups 1.3.9 and old hplip.

granmoe · 2015-09-13 20:01:42

andremo wrote:

I ran into a simular problem. It seemed to be caused by the foomatic drivers.
After removing all foomatic packages, and hplip ad well since it depends on foomatic,
my CUPS was able to list drivers.
I am using drivers from the gutenprint package now, and everything works fine.
I hope your printers are supported by gutenprint and this solution solved your problems.

Thanks, this solved the issue for me as well :-)

Arch Linux

#1 2011-10-15 16:34:55

HPLIP cups: Unable to get list of printer drivers

#2 2011-11-03 20:55:39

Re: HPLIP cups: Unable to get list of printer drivers

#3 2011-11-03 21:07:27

Re: HPLIP cups: Unable to get list of printer drivers

#4 2011-11-16 16:41:30

Re: HPLIP cups: Unable to get list of printer drivers

#5 2011-11-17 15:30:30

Re: HPLIP cups: Unable to get list of printer drivers

#6 2012-01-06 21:21:20

Re: HPLIP cups: Unable to get list of printer drivers

#7 2012-01-25 15:22:06

Re: HPLIP cups: Unable to get list of printer drivers

#8 2012-02-01 23:06:05

Re: HPLIP cups: Unable to get list of printer drivers

#9 2012-02-01 23:16:48

Re: HPLIP cups: Unable to get list of printer drivers

#10 2012-02-01 23:54:56

Re: HPLIP cups: Unable to get list of printer drivers

#11 2012-02-03 00:00:18

Re: HPLIP cups: Unable to get list of printer drivers

#12 2012-02-04 11:42:51

Re: HPLIP cups: Unable to get list of printer drivers

#13 2012-02-04 13:42:08

Re: HPLIP cups: Unable to get list of printer drivers

#14 2012-02-05 10:03:57

Re: HPLIP cups: Unable to get list of printer drivers

#15 2012-02-29 07:49:56

Re: HPLIP cups: Unable to get list of printer drivers

#16 2015-09-13 20:01:42

Re: HPLIP cups: Unable to get list of printer drivers

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