How to get some HP network printers to work with Mac OS X Leopard
Some HP network printers — such as the HP Color LaserJet 3600n and 3600dn — don’t have what Apple calls “modern” printer drivers. As a result, you may not be able to print over the network. This will happen if both of the following things are true:
- The printer doesn’t have a modern driver.
- You are not using Bonjour to print; for example, if you are on a different network subnet than the printer.
The correct driver won’t even be available in the driver list. Apple has a list of supported printers; an X in the right-hand column indicates modern drivers.
The good news is that there’s a solution. For this to work the printer must have built-in networking and it must be an HP printer (Canon and Epson owners see my note below).
- In System Preferences, open the Print & Fax Preference Pane.
- Click the plus sign to add a printer.
- In the dialog that appears, click the “More Printers” icon at the top.
- In the More Printers dialog, choose “HP IP Printing” from the drop-down list.
- If your printer is on the same subnet as your Mac, you should see it listed. Select it and click Add.
- If you don’t see it listed, click the “Manual” tab and enter the printer’s IP address, click “Connect”, then “Add”.
That’s it. Most of the time the printer model will be automatically detected and you won’t even have to select a driver.
Note for Epson and Canon owners
The steps above are for HP printers only. But the “More Printers” dialog also offers options for “Canon IJ Network” and “Epson TCP/IP” printing. I have no way to test these, but if your printer has built-in networking choosing one of these may work for you.
