If you are using an HP printer to print anything from your Mac Computer, you need up to date HP printer drivers for the Mac computer to interact with your HP printer. So, if your HP printer drivers currently installed on your Mac are outdated, you need to update them first before printing anything on your Mac. But, how do you update HP printer drivers on Mac computers?
As a general guide, to update HP Printer drivers on a Mac computer, you need to download the official HP printer drivers for Mac and install it on your Mac.
Since HP has released a lot of printer models for various purposes, you can find all the latest official HP printer drivers listed on the support page of the website. However, to make things easier for you below is a step-by-step guide on how to update HP Printer Drivers on Mac Computers:
- Step 1: Go to the HP official website at hp.com and select your country or region.
- Step 2: On the next page, enter “Software & Drivers” in the search box. Then click on “Enter”.
- Step 3: On this page, you can find all types of drivers for your HP Printer. Click on “Printers and all-in-one”. Then, enter the name of your HP Printer in the search box and click on “search” button.
- Step 4: On this page, you can find all type of drivers for your HP printer and download it first to update HP printer drivers on Mac computer.
- Step 5: After the download completes, you can find all type of drivers for your HP printer in your folder. Open “HP Universal Print Driver” and select [Open] to install it on Mac computers.
- Step 6: Once installed, select [Close]. Then open System Preferences > Printers & Scanners and click [+] to add your HP printer.
- Step 7: Now, select [Add] and then select [HP] in the Kinds list. Then, enter the “Print Using” menu and choose [Select a driver to use]. You can also find all types of drivers for your HP printer directly under this menu. Select [HP Universal PCL 6 Printer] and click [Add].
- Step 8: Once added, select [Printer: (name of your printer)] and open the “Print Using” menu again. Then, choose [HP Universal Printing PS] and then [Make Default].
- Step 9: Now, your Mac computer has successfully updated HP printer drivers and you can use your HP printer on Mac computers without any printing problems.
As you can see that in this article I am providing you with clear guidelines on how to update your HP printer drivers on a Mac computer, the one thing I want you to keep in mind is having that HP printer manual next to you as you update is vital if you are not a confident tech-savvy individual.
First thing first; make sure that your new or old HP printer is compatible with the version of the Mac operating system (OS) installed on your computer. If not, updating the HP printer driver on your Mac computer will not help.
To help get you started, here is a list of HP printers that are Mac compatible :
- HP Deskjet 1000 J110 series
- HP Deskjet 1050 All-in-One Printer Series
- HP Deskjet 1055 All-in-One Printer Series
- 1000 J110 series
- 1050 All-in-One Printer Series
- 1055 All-in-One Printer Series
- HP Deskjet 1050 J410 series
- HP Deskjet 1055 All In One Printer
- HP Envy 100 D410 series
- HP Envy 110 D411 series
So, if your HP printer is not listed above, please do not try updating the HP printer driver on your Mac. For most printers, you can download drivers from the official website of the manufacturer.
Updating HP Printer Drivers On A Mac Computer.
To update your HP drivers on your Mac computer for your OS, do the following:
1. Download the latest HP drivers for your printer from the official website of the manufacturer. If you do not know how to get it, please look in your manual or online tutorials on how to download and install HP printer drivers for Mac.
2. Check if your current version of the driver is compatible with Mac operating system by going to Apple menu option > About this Mac or More Info.
3. If your current version of HP drivers for Mac is not listed in the compatible list, please do not install it on your computer. The updated version should be compatible with your Mac OS to avoid printing issues caused by outdated drivers.
4. After downloading the latest HP driver for Mac, run the installer file to install the updated version of the HP Printer Driver on your Mac.
5. Restart your computer after updating the driver for accurate printouts.
Re-installing HP Printer Drivers On A Mac Computer.
There are plenty of good reasons why you would want to re-install HP printer drivers on a Mac. If you are, begin by searching for and opening the Printers & scanners list available on your Mac computer. When you have the printers and scanners list, go a head and select your HP Printer by clicking Add a printer or scanner. As long as your printer is in the list, and you have selected it, clicked it to Add the device, then the prompts to reinstall the drivers will prompt.
If your printer is not in the list of printers and scanners, then you will need to use the Macintosh HD/Library/Printers folder. However, this method can be quite unsafe especially when things go wrong.
Do HP Printers work with Mac Catalina?
As HP printers are some of the most reliable printers for both small and medium enterprise business operators, it’s no surprise that a lot of people tend to use them for their home or office use.
In the event that you have an HP printer, and will be upgrading to Mac Catalina, then it is important to understand that not all printers may function as expected on your new operating system. This is especially true if you are using an older model of the printer which may have been released a few years ago.
In most cases, your HP printer will still work seamlessly with Mac Catalina if you update it to the latest version of the driver. Unfortunately, this isn’t always true as some drivers may not be compatible with Mac Catalina or any other new version of its operating system going forward. If that is the case, then you will need to find a way to get the best possible printing experience.
However, before updating the HP Printer Driver on your Mac computer, make sure that it is compatible with Mac Catalina operating system by checking if it is listed in Apple’s official list of printers that are compatible with Mac Catalina.
For anyone who has a Mac and uses an HP printer, I strongly advise them to check because not long ago, Apple revoked a certificate that verified HP’s print drivers, leaving Mac users with HP printers furious.
Though the issue has since been resolved, there is a sleuth of problems with printer drivers that appears to impact both macOS Catalina (10.15) and Mojave (10.14) users with HP printers.
The most common Mac OS Catalina printer driver problems include:
- Wi-Fi connectivity issues between Mac and printer
- Difficulty accessing HP printers on a local network
- Inability to access the internet from the printer either via an ethernet connection or wirelessly.
How to fix printing problems after updating mac os?
As stated above, updating printer drivers on a Mac is not always easy. Most often, you may have to download the updated driver from the official website of the manufacturer. Unfortunately, this is not always easy especially if the printer is very old or was released much before recent Macs’ OS came to market.
If that is your case, then I suggest checking out HP’s website, and see whether it has an updated version of the driver you need. If it does, I encourage you to download that version and install it on your Mac computer.
As of this writing, HP has already released a new patch for printers with macOS 10.15 Catalina compatibility issues. In fact, if you follow our links, there is a special section dedicated for printers running on Mac OS Catalina. Just go to the HP website and type Mac in the search box on that page.
Why is my Mac not communicating with my printer?
The issue with the Mac computer not being able to communicate with a printer is something that a lot of users have been experiencing especially after updating their operating system. Unfortunately, this may be easy to solve if you managed to install the right printer driver on your Mac computer.
As a general guide, your Mac computer may not be able to communicate with a printer if the software drivers are not compatible. Downloading incompatible Mac printer drivers or outdated printer drivers is a common cause of communication errors between a Mac and the printer.
However, in some cases, there can be several reasons why your Mac is not able to communicate with the printer properly. For starters, it’s important to note that the printer itself is not at fault most of the time. In fact, it’s always a driver issue where you will need to update your Mac computer’s system preferences with a new version of the printer driver.
In my experience, updating a printer is never easy especially if you have an older model of a printer. This is because the old-generation devices do not come with an integrated USB port which means you can’t simply connect the printer to your Mac.
Troubleshooting guide for updating mac os and printing issues
Disconnect all connections between the printer and the computer, then reconnect them one at a time, making sure they are secure. There are many USB ports on each Mac model; if your printer still won’t work after you’ve reconnected the cables, try another USB connection.
If another USB port doesn’t solve your printing problem, try connecting the printer to a different Mac computer. If you’re able to connect to that one, then it’s more than likely that there is something wrong with your first Mac computer.
In some cases, Apple has mentioned that for some reason after upgrading macOS versions, HP printers may fail to work. If this happens, you can downgrade your Mac computer to an older version of macOS.
If you get stuck during these steps, get in touch with Apple support or HP customer service. We also recommend that you bookmark this page as we will keep updating this page as new updates come in.
If the manufacturer’s website has a direct link to the latest version of your printer’s driver, then that is one way to go about it. However, you should note that Apple does not recommend that people download and install third-party drivers on their Mac computer.
