Printer Not Working After a macOS Update: Tahoe and Sequoia Fixes (2026)

A printer that disappears or refuses to print after a macOS update is nearly always a permission or driver issue rather than a broken printer. Since macOS 15 Sequoia, apps must be granted Local Network access before they can talk to a printer on your Wi-Fi, and macOS 26 Tahoe carries the same requirement forward. Check that setting first, then rebuild the print queue. Only reset the printing system if both fail.

Quick fixes first

1. Open System Settings › Privacy & Security › Local Network and switch on the app you print from, plus any vendor utility.
2. Restart the Mac and the printer. Power the printer off at the wall for 30 seconds.
3. Open System Settings › Printers & Scanners, select the printer, click Remove Printer, then Add Printer and pick it again.
4. When adding, choose AirPrint or Secure AirPrint in the Use menu rather than an old vendor driver.
5. Confirm the Mac and the printer are on the same Wi-Fi network, not one on guest Wi-Fi and one on the main network.
6. Open the print queue and clear any paused or failed jobs, then click Resume.

Why a macOS update breaks printing

Three separate changes converge on this problem.

Local Network permission. Apple added a privacy gate that requires every app to ask before it can discover or contact devices on your local network. Printer discovery uses Bonjour on the local network, so an app without that permission simply sees no printers, or sees the printer and cannot reach it. After a major upgrade the permission list is re-evaluated, and apps that were working silently stop.

Driver removal. Apple has been retiring bundled legacy printer drivers for several releases. Modern printers do not need them because AirPrint and IPP Everywhere handle printing driverlessly, but a queue that was built on an old vendor driver can break when the driver is no longer present, which typically shows as "Filter failed" or a job that goes to Completed without anything coming out.

Queue state. The printing system stores per-queue configuration that can be left inconsistent by an upgrade. Rebuilding the queue is quick and non-destructive, which is why it fixes so many cases.

Fix 1: Grant Local Network permission

1. Open System Settings.
2. Go to Privacy & Security, scroll down and click Local Network.
3. Turn on the switch for every app you print from: Safari, Chrome, Preview, Microsoft Word, Adobe Acrobat, and any vendor app such as HP Smart or Epson Smart Panel.
4. Quit and reopen the app you were printing from. The permission applies at launch.

System printing from the standard print dialog usually works without this, but anything that discovers the printer itself, including scanning software and vendor apps, needs it.

Fix 2: Remove and re-add the printer

This rebuilds the queue against whatever driver or driverless profile macOS has now.

1. Open System Settings › Printers & Scanners.
2. Click the printer, then Remove Printer and confirm.
3. Click Add Printer, Scanner or Fax. Wait for the list to populate; Bonjour discovery can take 20 to 30 seconds.
4. Select the printer. In the Use menu choose AirPrint or Secure AirPrint if offered.
5. Click Add and print a test page from TextEdit or Preview.

If the printer does not appear in the list at all, it is a discovery problem rather than a driver problem: check Local Network permission again, confirm both devices are on the same band and network, and see our AirPrint no printers found guide.

Adding by IP when discovery fails

Print the printer's network configuration page from its own panel to get its IP address, then in the Add dialog click the IP tab, enter the address, set Protocol to Internet Printing Protocol - IPP, leave Queue blank and choose Secure AirPrint or Generic PostScript Printer in the Use menu. Give the address a DHCP reservation in your router afterwards so it does not change.

Fix 3: "Filter failed"

This message means the CUPS filter that converts your document for that queue is missing, mismatched or not permitted to run. It became far more common as Apple removed legacy drivers.

1. Remove the printer as above, then add it again choosing AirPrint or Secure AirPrint rather than a named vendor driver.
2. If you need vendor features, download the current macOS driver from the manufacturer, install it, restart, then add the printer again.
3. Try printing a different file type. If a PDF prints from Preview but a specific app fails, the fault is in the app's output, not the queue.
4. If it persists across queues, run the reset in Fix 5.

Fix 4: Clear a stuck queue

Open System Settings › Printers & Scanners, click the printer and choose Printer Queue. Delete every job, including ones marked on hold. If the printer shows Paused, click Resume. If a job refuses to delete, restarting the Mac releases it. Our stuck print queue guide has the wider version of this for both platforms.

Fix 5: Reset the printing system

1. Open System Settings › Printers & Scanners.
2. Right-click, or hold Control and click, in the empty area of the printer list.
3. Choose Reset printing system and confirm with your administrator password.
4. Restart the Mac.
5. Add the printer again from scratch and print a test page before installing any vendor software.

Brand notes for macOS 26

HP

The HP app, still commonly called HP Smart, needs Local Network permission for both discovery and scanning. HP Print and Scan Doctor is Windows-only, so on a Mac the equivalent diagnostic is HP Easy Start, which can also remove old HP software cleanly before you re-add the printer. If an HP printer prints but will not scan, the permission is the first thing to check.

Canon

Canon's IJ Scan Utility and IJ Network Tool both need Local Network permission. Many older PIXMA models now run driverless on macOS; if a feature such as borderless photo printing or a specific paper size is missing, install the current Canon macOS driver for the model.

Epson

Epson Scan 2 and Epson ScanSmart also require the permission. If an EcoTank prints but the utility cannot see it, run Epson Software Updater to get the current macOS-compatible builds rather than reinstalling old packages.

Brother

Brother's full driver and software package remains available for macOS and is worth installing if you use the ADF, duplex scanning or fax from the Mac. Driverless AirPrint covers plain printing on nearly all recent Brother models.

Which symptom points where

Features you may lose to driverless printing

When a legacy driver goes and the queue falls back to AirPrint or IPP Everywhere, printing itself keeps working but some options can disappear: specific tray selection, stapling and finishing on office machines, vendor colour profiles, and occasionally automatic duplex on older models that did not advertise it correctly. If those matter, install the current vendor driver for macOS 26 from the manufacturer's support site and re-add the printer so the queue picks it up. Our Mac printer driver guide explains when a vendor driver is still worth having and when AirPrint is genuinely better.

If nothing worked

If the printer works from an iPhone on the same Wi-Fi but not from the Mac, the printer is fine and the problem is on the Mac; the reset in Fix 5 followed by a clean add is the right next step, and creating a fresh macOS user account is a quick way to prove whether the fault follows your user profile. If the printer works from nothing at all, treat it as a network fault and start with printer will not connect to Wi-Fi.

Genuine hardware failure after a software update is rare, so paying for a repair at this stage is usually premature; a bench assessment costs roughly 60 to 120 US dollars or 50 to 100 pounds and will very likely find nothing wrong with the printer. If the reset and re-add cycle has not worked and you would rather not experiment further, you can get help from a printer specialist to rebuild the queue and permissions in one session.