Install HPLIP does not accept root password

Question

I am running in my shell:

./hplip-3.18.7.run

Then it wants me to enter the root password, but does not accepting it!

Anybody know what this is?

If I run the script with sudo sudo ./hplip-3.18.7.run , then it tells me at some step in the installation process: warning: hp-systray should not be run as root/superuser.

I am using Ubuntu 18.04:

NAME="Ubuntu"
VERSION="18.04.1 LTS (Bionic Beaver)"
ID=ubuntu
ID_LIKE=debian
PRETTY_NAME="Ubuntu 18.04.1 LTS"
VERSION_ID="18.04"
HOME_URL="https://www.ubuntu.com/"
SUPPORT_URL="https://help.ubuntu.com/"
BUG_REPORT_URL="https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/"
PRIVACY_POLICY_URL="https://www.ubuntu.com/legal/terms-and-policies/privacy-policy"
VERSION_CODENAME=bionic
UBUNTU_CODENAME=bionic

This what the installer outputs at the beginning:

Solution 1

Analysis

From hplip source-code we can learn the following about auth. Auth is performed in base/password.py file.

The main AUTH_TYPES are for:

• Debian - su
• Ubuntu - sudo

During chat session and in comments we have discovered interesting moments:

• the first check is made python platform module. On Ubuntu it should return "Ubuntu".

• second distro check - lsb_release -i | cut -f 2 returns "Ubuntu"

• third distro check - cat /etc/issue | awk '{print $1}' | head -n returns "Ubuntu".

But OP has installed Anaconda in home folder, and added this directory to the path. And what is interesting - in such case python -c "import platform;print platform.dist()[0]" returns "Debian" (!!!) on distro check. So installer tried to use su. But root account is disabled on Ubuntu by default, so problem arises ("Please enter the root/superuser password:" instead of "Please enter the sudoer (%s)'s password: ").

Conclusion

Always check your $PATH variable for Python versions.
Many software in Ubuntu depend on Python. APT does not know about Anaconda, so system may have unpredictable behaviour with third-party pythons and pips. I can recommend to exclude third-party pythons from $PATH variable.

Then binary hplip installer should work normally. And you can follow my instruction then.

Solution 2

I had the same issue. I am from the Czech Republic and my password contained some special characters which are not available in the English alphabet (ě, š). What fixed the issue was to temporarily change the password so that it does not contain these characters. After that, the password was finally accepted and the rest of the installation finished without any other issues.

Comments

[pLumo]

Ubuntu has no root password. Did you try sudo ./hplip-3.18.7.run ?

[sunwarr10r]

The I get warning: hp-systray should not be run as root/superuser

[pLumo]

Any reason to not use the version from the repo? sudo apt-get install hplip-gui. See this.

[sunwarr10r]

How can I uninstall the one I have installed?

[N0rbert]

Possible duplicate of How to install latest HPLIP on my Ubuntu to support my HP printer and/or scanner? Also please make sure that you really need binary version from HP site. It is very likely that your printer is supported in hplip- packages from repository.

[sunwarr10r]

@RoVo Have installed it now from the repo, it doesn't start :-/ this is so annoying :-/

[George Udosen]

Which version of Ubuntu is this?

[sunwarr10r]

It is version 18.04.

[N0rbert]

Please add output of cat /etc/os-release to the question. And please remove comments on other topic (it is not related to your original problem with permissions).

[sunwarr10r]

OK, but all comments are already removed. thanks for the help

[N0rbert]

I asked about /etc/os-release because of the fact that hplip-installer have hardcoded sudo auth mechanism for Ubuntu (and even Mint). Please run installer again and insert text starting with "Distro appears to be" to the question. I can't guess why it tries to use su instead of sudo. Is it possible that you are running Ubuntu-derivative (ElementaryOS or something)?

[N0rbert]

Please add output of the following commands to the question: python -c "import platform;print platform.dist()[0]", lsb_release -i | cut -f 2, cat /etc/issue | awk '{print $1}' | head -n 1.

[sunwarr10r]

Both command lines output Ubuntu

[N0rbert]

Let us continue this discussion in chat.

[Silicomancer]

The installer tells me "You are running the installer as root. It is highly recommended that you run the installer as error: a regular (non-root) user. Do you still wish to continue?". Did you get the same?

[Fouad Djebbar]

no, because I tried to do it as a sudo user and not a root user. unix.stackexchange.com/questions/291454/…

[Paparazio]

If your issue is with Anaconda, as @n0rbert suggested, you can just temporarily turn conda off with 'conda deactivate'

[Matias Andina]

conda deactivate is the most straight-forward way to solve this issue

[Matias Andina]

but still issues with pyqt5, see here