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I have had many issues with printers - can never get the same result - sometimes they work - sometimes they dont - some times they print out blanks - just want to remove all printers but cant - Tried removing them in settings/printers but they just keep reappearing. I want them purged from my computer if possible.

I read where browsing can be turned off but I want them removed completely if possible.

Thank you kindly

greatfiction
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2 Answers2

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Removing cups-browsed may not be the correct approach. You've effectively removed potentially useful functionality from your Ubuntu system.

Instead, the issue is not with your Ubuntu system. Your printers are setup to broadcast their services, and any system running cups-browsed is going to pick them up.

  • cups-browsed is "a daemon for browsing the Bonjour broadcasts of shared, remote CUPS printers."

  • Bonjour, "also known as zero-configuration networking, enables automatic discovery of devices and services on a local network."

Therefore, a better approach may be to turn off Bonjour on your printer. Bonjour can be easily disabled for individual printers without uninstalling software on every computer on your local network.

Note that turning off Bonjour does not prevent you from printing to and communicating with your printer, as long as you have explicitly set it up in Ubuntu.

Your printer should have a setting to turn Bonjour on and off. Here is an example from an HP printer...

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Enterprise
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  • That is a better answer +1 from me – Rinzwind Dec 29 '20 at 21:12
  • Turning off Bonjour on the printer means that cups-browsed will not detect the printer. It's "useful functionality" becomes unusable! It also means the printer will be invisible to CUPS via DNS-SD and setting up a temporary print queue becomes moot. – brian_p Dec 31 '20 at 16:57
  • Note: You can still setup your printer using a USB cable, or using the printer's network address. You would have to manually setup each printer on each PC you want to use it on. This is the same technique used to setup printers before Bonjour was introduced as a technology. – Enterprise Dec 31 '20 at 17:21
  • @PJ Singh Setting up a modern printer without using Bonjour is, of course, always possible. But most users expect a printer to be immediately available, just like a mouse is. This is what our modern printing system gives them (bugs not withstanding). – brian_p Dec 31 '20 at 20:15
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An absolutely certain way of preventing printers reappearing is to remove cups-browsed. apt purge cups-browsed. Never again will a printer you delete appear again.

brian_p
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  • Thank you for the response - I was able to remove the printer but need to reboot to make sure it stays gone. I was able to remove it once before but came back after restarting my machine. I will update this comment - thank you very much – greatfiction Dec 29 '20 at 19:37
  • That solved it! - Thank you greatly! – greatfiction Dec 29 '20 at 19:42