Driver Will Not Show Up In Mac For New Printer

Mac OS X Mountain Lion automatically downloads and installs drivers for new printers detected on the system. Using a wireless printer on your company's network makes it less expensive to connect.

I am trying to add a printer to my computer. I go to the Print and Scan utility, click the '+', and the Add Printer box pops up. My Default option is empty, grayed out, I can't manually add anything to it.

My other options are Fax, IP, and Windows. Neither one of my wireless printers are detected on any of these headings. My 'Print Sharing' option is enabled. The printer is online, I can print just fine from my PC. I also tried connecting the printer to my Mac via USB and still it wasn't detected. All my software is updated, including drivers. I tried calling Apple and they want me to pay $50 to have my computer print.

Note: It may be best to restore a backup from a date prior to when the issue began.

I have spent four hours online with no success. I am about 5 seconds away from throwing my MacBook Air out the window, or ripping my hair out. Can somebody help?

PAHU, thanks for the reply. To clarify: I had an existing Canon printer, connected to the wireless network with its own wi-fi. Didn't show up on my Add Printer dialog box. So I took a USB cable (which I know works because it was connecting something else to my PC, and that was fine), and tried hooking up the printer to my computer directly. Still nothing in the Add Printer dialog box.

I had a second printer that came free with my MacBook but was still in the box, so I opened it up, set it up, and connected it to the netwrok (this one also has wi-fi). The printer is on the network for sure, because a) the printer itself has a Wi-Fi light that turns green when connected, and b) I can see both wi-fi printers from my PC. Still, when I open the dialog box to add a printer to my Mac, nothing shows up, so I can't select anything from a list but I also cannot manually input the printer because all fields are grayed out. I called Apple and they want $50 to trouble shoot in case it's a software issue, but they won't even tell me if they think it's a software issue before I pay, s it is very possible that I pay up, go through the steps, and it still won't work. I am so frustrated! This experience has me wanting to go back to Windows products!

Skyblu1212 wrote: To clarify: I had an existing Canon printer, connected to the wireless network with its own wi-fi. Didn't show up on my Add Printer dialog box.

So I took a USB cable (which I know works because it was connecting something else to my PC, and that was fine), and tried hooking up the printer to my computer directly. Still nothing in the Add Printer dialog box. Typically when a wireless printer does not appear in the Default Add Printer view, the cause is from the Mac and the printer set to different IP subnets. But for a printer not to appear in the Default Add Printer view when it is connected directly to the Mac via USB cable, then this would suggest the USB cable or a fault with the printer or a fault with the USB port on the Mac. Even though this cable was working with the PC, it could still be the cable. Because I don't think it is the printer or the Mac.