MacOS - Modifying the Driver a Printer Uses After Installation

Problem

After MacOS 10.8, the ability to change the printer driver for an already configured printer was removed. In order to make this adjustment it is required to go through the CUPS interface.

Solution

  1. Open up a Terminal window and run the following command:cupsctl WebInterface=yes
  2. Open up Safari and go to http://localhost:631
  3. Select the Printers tab
  4. Select the printer you are interested in modifying
  5. On the second dropdown that defaults to Administration select Modify Printer
  6. You will need to enter ASCTech credentials
  7. Select the printer you are interested in modifying and select Continue at the next two windows
  8. At this window you may select the appropriate driver from the Model field or provide a file from the Choose File option. Once you have a file selected click Modify Printer
  9. Verify the change was effective by going to Printers & Scanners in System Preferences and viewing the Kind field when the printer is selected

Example

TD Ticket 9877922

  • Xerox was connected via USB to an iMac and was selecting the Xerox Fax driver instead of a print driver. This lead to the device prompting the user with a Fax window when they attempted to print.
  • Using the CUPS interface the Xerox driver was shifted to the appropriate printer driver to print successfully.
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