So I was struggling to add my newly purchased HP Desktop printer to my Ubuntu 10.04 ( old skool ) laptop.
Whenever I attempted to remove my old Canon and Kodak printers, or add the new HP printer, I was prompted to authenticate as root even though I was logged in as a non-root user, which is a pain as Ubuntu doesn't typically use the root account, instead allowing one to use sudo bash to achieve root.
I then tried to access CUPs via the web UI: -
Similar issues there - I received the exception Forbidden when I tried to remove either of the two old printers, despite authenticating as my non-root user ( claire ).
When I checked the system messages: -
$ dmesg
I saw: -
E [08/Feb/2013:17:48:40 +0000] cupsdAuthorize: pam_authenticate() returned 7 (Authentication failure)!
E [08/Feb/2013:17:51:33 +0000] cupsdAuthorize: pam_authenticate() returned 7 (Authentication failure)!
E [08/Feb/2013:17:51:35 +0000] cupsdAuthorize: pam_authenticate() returned 7 (Authentication failure)!
When I checked the CUPS error log ( /var/log/cups/error_log ). I saw: -
E [08/Feb/2013:18:59:34 +0000] Returning HTTP Forbidden for CUPS-Delete-Printer (ipp://localhost/printers/Canon-iP4000) from localhost
E [08/Feb/2013:19:00:10 +0000] Returning HTTP Forbidden for CUPS-Delete-Printer (ipp://localhost/printers/Canon-iP4000) from localhost
Following this forum post: -
E [08/Feb/2013:17:51:33 +0000] cupsdAuthorize: pam_authenticate() returned 7 (Authentication failure)!
E [08/Feb/2013:17:51:35 +0000] cupsdAuthorize: pam_authenticate() returned 7 (Authentication failure)!
When I checked the CUPS error log ( /var/log/cups/error_log ). I saw: -
E [08/Feb/2013:18:59:34 +0000] Returning HTTP Forbidden for CUPS-Delete-Printer (ipp://localhost/printers/Canon-iP4000) from localhost
E [08/Feb/2013:19:00:10 +0000] Returning HTTP Forbidden for CUPS-Delete-Printer (ipp://localhost/printers/Canon-iP4000) from localhost
Following this forum post: -
I checked the CUPS configuration for the relevant administration group: -
$ cat /etc/cups/cupsd.conf | grep SystemGroup
...SystemGroup lpadmin
…
and then checked the groups of which my user ( claire ) was a member: -
…
and then checked the groups of which my user ( claire ) was a member: -
$ cat /etc/group | grep -i claire
…
lp:x:7:claire
admin:x:119:claire
claire:x:1000:
claire:x:1000:
…
That explained it - claire needed to be a member of the lpadmin group.
That explained it - claire needed to be a member of the lpadmin group.
That was easily fixed: -
$ usermod -G lp,admin,lpadmin claire
and then verified: -
$ cat /etc/group | grep -i claire
$ usermod -G lp,admin,lpadmin claire
and then verified: -
$ cat /etc/group | grep -i claire
...
lp:x:7:claire
lpadmin:x:105:claire
admin:x:119:claire
claire:x:1000:
…
lpadmin:x:105:claire
admin:x:119:claire
claire:x:1000:
…
Having done that, all was well, and I was able to remove the Canon and Kodak printers.
Finally, I downloaded the required HP Linux Imaging and Printing (HPLIP) software for the new printer from the HPLIP site.
This is the link to what I ended up downloading: -
and this page takes one through the installation, using a terminal session ( of course !! ).
When I upgrade the Linux box to 12.10, I'll need to go back through the same set of steps …..
And now I have a lovely shiny new HP 3055a printer up and running.
This printer was recommended by Which? as being a good combination of function, price and affordability ( running costs ).
I bought it in Argos for £45 ( as I was in dire need of a working printer earlier this week ), but it's almost certainly cheaper online.
So far, so good, it was easy to set up, and has WiFi, which means that I can use AirPrint from my iPhone, iPad, Mac and … now the Ubuntu boxen.
Sweet :-)
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