After upgrading to the recent Linux Mint “Victoria” version 21.2, I was unable to print. I use an EPSON ecotank printer (Epson ET-4850) and in the prior version called “Vera” 21.1 the printer was recognized without me doing anything to install it. After upgrading, my printer wasn’t recognized and going through the steps of Start Menu –> Administration –> Printers –> Add –> Find Network Printer, etc. didn’t work. The Epson printer did show in the list on a few different lines after choosing “Find Network Printer” but after hitting “Forward” to finish the process, I kept getting a CUPS server error, no matter which choice I selected.
I found a solution in the Linux Mint forums that got me printing again. After finding my printer’s IP address, I was able to use the following suggested script. To use the script, make up your own printer name where you read PRINTER_NAME and enter the printer’s IP address where I’ve noted X’s:
lpadmin -p PRINTER_NAME -v "ipp://XXX.XXX.X.XX/ipp/print" -E -m everywhere
Yesterday, I ran a search on something like “printer not working after upgrading to Linux Mint Victoria” and then another more general search like “problems adding printer to Linux Mint”. It was getting late, and the search results yielded a lot of older articles that didn’t help me. Today, I just used a more general search of “how to add a network printer to linux mint” and after viewing a video result that didn’t help, one result a little way down on the results page caught my eye, and the solution ended up being successful.
Let me know of what you’ve found helpful with dealing with printer problems using Linux and I may add the solution to this article in order to help others with a similar problem.
Related or Cited Resources:
- Linux Mint Forums: https://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?t=377973