Printer problems after installing Ubuntu 20.04

Question

After installing 20.04 on my desktop, my printer has stopped working.

Printer: HP Envy 5640, connected via USB. hplip installed. cups installed.

Any suggestions appreciated. Printer itself is OK as I have used it wirelessly to print from another PC on the network.

Solution 1

Try sudo hp-setup -i. At least for USB. That finally helped me with a HP LaserJet Pro P1102w.

Solution 2

If the printer was working for you with hplip before, just uninstall ippusbxd package:

sudo apt remove ippusbxd

The problem, at least in my case, was that ippusbxd was automatically creating a printer that was not working and was conflicting with my hplip printer.

Solution 3

I have solved with the following steps, don't know if all are required, most likely only step 3 is the fix.

1. Removed and reinstalled some packages:

   sudo apt-get update
   sudo apt-get remove hplip cups-filters cups hplip-data system-config-printer-udev
   sudo apt-get install build-essential tix groff dc axel cups
   sudo apt-get install cups-filters unp system-config-printer-gnome
   

2. installed hplip from the hp's Developer Portal: https://developers.hp.com/hp-linux-imaging-and-printing/gethplip

   ver 3.20.5 claims to be compatible with 20.04 but in my case was not solving the issue:

3. Finally, changing permissions to the ppd file:

   sudo chmod 644 /etc/cups/ppd/HP_ENVY_4520_series_XXXXXX_.ppd 
   

   where (i suppose) XXXXXX should be part of the serial number of the printer

Now the printer works fine. It took me several days to achieve this result, the printer was working perfectly on 19.10, so I am a little disappointed of this issue.

Solution 4

1. install hplip gui as below

   sudo apt install hplip-gui
   

2. from hplip gui go to actions and then install required plugin.

And this fixed it for fr model HP LasetJet 1018

Solution 5

No end of pain but got my LaserJet p1102w working on fresh install xubuntu 20.04.1 LTS.

1. Turn printer off, open "Printers" control panel, delete the default printer installed by Ubuntu.
2. In terminal, remove the USB driver apt purge ippusbxd
3. Install new ipp-over-IP driver (DEB) from https://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:/pzz/xUbuntu_20.04/amd64/
4. Power on printer
5. In terminal run hp-setup -i and install USB printer with PPD plugin as suggested by installer. Test page will not work.
6. From any program (ex Libre Office) choose Print and you will find two (!) printers, one with the hostname suffix added to it, (1) mylaserjet, and (2) mylaserjet-lenovo
7. Print to the the second printer with hostname suffix, ex mylaserjet-lenovo. This printer is not visible in the "Printers" control panel.

And now, finally, magically, I can print. On previous versions of Ubuntu I just plugged in the printer over USB and was up and running. Something has changed. Thank you to all who contributed to the solution in this thread.

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Comments

[Eaten by a Grue]

There are a lot of other people complaining about printer driver issues in 20.04 here as well

[matanster]

Any printers brand known to work seamlessly across modern Ubuntu versions? The time spent on hacking my HP printer is simply not worth it ....

[8bitjunkie]

@therobyouknow absolutely how I feel about this exact problem right now. Signed, someone who is missing out on spending time with their family because they're now fighting Ubuntu when they just needed to print something (urgently)

[therobyouknow]

+1 thank you so much @8bitjunkie I feel your pain as you have mine. I have good regard generally for CUPS - the Common Unix Printing System & hopeful that issue is resolved but needn't have happened in the first place,of course. Writing tests, test code, and test results should be part of the development process and stored alongsie the source code in version control. I'd have thought devs working on 20.04 ought to know dependencies that would be impacted by changes between 18.04 and 20.04, inc printing, so again my previous comments stand - thank u for support & hope it works out for you soon!

[Ryan]

This got my printer working on Ubuntu: askubuntu.com/questions/1296010/…

[trond hansen]

this did not work for me,using the exact same printer and connected via usb.i hope this get fixed in the updates soon i have never had this problem in any version of ubuntu i started with 9.04 and is at 20.04 now.

[mikakun]

that 'd explained a lot about why in my case the printer was printing after a 20.04 fresh install (was on & plugged during install) and this although many dependencies were missing for hplib, but not after deleting the printer & trying to reinstall it the normal way (not in admin mode) with all dependencies installed. will check tomorrow (pc not with me) but pretty sure that'll do it for me, thanks in advance !

[user99513]

Worked perfectly on my Ubuntu 20.04.1 LTS machine connected wirelessly to an HP OfficeJet Pro 9010 series All in one printer. Thanks for your help on this!

[Bad Loser]

Thank-you very, very much. This was the cause of a 'Printer Busy' problem which plagued me for MONTHS after I installed Ubuntu 20.04.1 LTS by preventing correct wireless installation and hp-toolbox deployment. Did I say thank-you?

[matanster]

Can't believe this worked after so much other tinkering! it now says the printer queue is "driverless" but it just makes the printer do its job ...

[oulenz]

Running sudo hp-setup -i and changing the permissions of the ppd file didn't help (on their own), this did!

[Mrnatural]

Ubuntu Mate; recent upgrade to 20.04, Dell printer. This single step (remove ippusbxd) plus a reset and the queued job printed automatically.

[Yan Li]

This is the correct answer. The problem with Ubuntu 20.04 and later versions (as of 2021-03-07) was that it could automatically detect many HP printers and would set them up automatically using the driverless mode, leading to frustration. Instead, Ubuntu should automatically run "hp-setup" when it detects the printer.

[MMD]

the best. it should be the accepted answer!