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How do I stop Cups from detecting and installing printers automatically?

When I go to print, I only want to see the printers I have added manually.

When I remove auto detected network printers in the Cups browser page, they just reinstall, which is extremely annoying. Users should approve printers before they just get installed like this.

I have read posts from a couple years ago, but only saw possible work arounds. I'm looking for a proper solution.

I am using Ubuntu 20.04.

Thanks.

Kevin Berry
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    This reference should help – graham Jul 12 '21 at 15:58
  • it is the avahi daemon that does that. See https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/cups-filters/+bug/1753509/comments/11 for instance for -a- method – Rinzwind Jul 12 '21 at 16:08
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    @user68186 I skimmed that one and it might be still useful even if it is from 2013. The bugreport had an answer from 2019. Might be a better method to try 1st. – Rinzwind Jul 12 '21 at 18:57
  • @Rinzwind Even though the original accepted answer was from 2013, it was substantially edited in 2019. There is at least one other answer from 2020, though it may not be the best approach. Do you think adding the text from the comment #11 of the bug report as a new answer to the 2013 question will help? – user68186 Jul 12 '21 at 19:43
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    Thank you everyone for your suggestions. The simple solution was the reference from 24601: systemctl stop cups-browsed, and systemctl disable cups-browsed. The unwanted network printers are gone from the Cups admin page and from settings and from document print menus. But if I go to add a printer, I can see the network printers still. This is exactly what I wanted! This problem was really an annoyance. Thanks again! – Kevin Berry Jul 13 '21 at 02:36
  • Good to have a solution - but it turns out stopping detection of printers was not your objective. And, incidentally, if cups-browsed is unneeded, why not apt purge cups-browsed? It is of no value to you. Why carry it forever on your machine? – brian_p Jul 13 '21 at 17:35
  • Hi Brian_p. Stopping the auto installation was my objective. Auto detection is still working. If I click Add a Printer in Cups Admin panel, I see the network printers, which is exactly what I want. If I knew more about the cups-browsed service, I might feel it's safe to purge it, but in practice, I do enable irritating services occasionally when I need them for something and then disable them again. – Kevin Berry Jul 13 '21 at 19:10
  • @Kevin Berry Thank you for the explanation. You have chosen a correct technical solution. Personally, I think auto-installation is of benefit to many users, but I understand and sympathise with your view. My argument against your view has been silenced by hiding my answer. – brian_p Jul 14 '21 at 18:11
  • https://askubuntu.com/a/1436064/456438 – Dominic108 Oct 19 '22 at 09:03

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