Installing HP printer and scanner on Qubes OS

newqubesosuser · July 26, 2021, 6:29pm

Hi,

I have trouble installing HP LaserJet M1132 MFP printer and scanner.

I’ve created new qube for that purpose and installed hplip. Then opened HPLIP toolbox and I was able to install the driver. It said that driver was installed.

But when I refresh the list of printers/scanners, it shows me again that main window which says no devices are configured - and this time it doesn’t even see my printer to install.

Any help appreciated!

Thank you

deeplow · July 27, 2021, 5:53pm

I’ve had success running the hp-setup tool after running installing the hplip package. Is that what you did?

newqubesosuser · July 27, 2021, 8:42pm

Hi, what I have tried was as follows:

I’ve enabled network on the template which I use exclusively for HP printer and scanner.
Started hp-setup from terminal (on template)
Attached HP device
Installed it (using ‘root’ as password)
Installed plugin, which was requested by the application
Restarted my laptop
Started HPLIP Toolbox from qube (not template)
Attached HP USB to qube
Refreshed the whole list - nothing was on the list
Started hp-setup from HPLIP Toolbox
Could see “No devices found”

Basically, the steps 10 and 11 seems unnecessary for me but as step 9 didn’t show my my printer, I’ve also tried with those. In other words, it was successfully (or at least it looked so) installed on the template but I cannot use it on the qube. Thanks!

Plexus · July 27, 2021, 10:01pm

I may be missing something but why do my spidey senses tingle at this?

deeplow · July 28, 2021, 9:02am

Not sure if it could be this but I’ve never actually installed it. Maybe try doing the process on an appvm and see if it does work. If it does, then it’s an issue with the hplip tool storing files in the template’s user directory which gets overwritten when you open an appvm based on that template.

newqubesosuser · July 28, 2021, 4:56pm

@Plexus: Probably I also miss something. This is not the password I’ve set, it worked like this by default (just tried with empty pass, it didn’t work, this with pass the same as user and it worked). I guess it’s default password in the templates. Could it be right? Anyway, computer is protected by encryption and anyway the DOM0 doesn’t require any specific password (although I almost never need to do anything there). Is there any way to enforce some password on DOM0 or templates? Or do I miss something important here?

@deeplow: I was able to “install” in on the qube but then there was the same problem - it claimed that it was installed but I couldn’t see the scanner/printer when I refreshed the list of installed devices. I don’t know what is wrong here.

Plexus · July 28, 2021, 5:11pm

@newqubesosuser honestly ive never tried to enter root passwords in qubes, as sudo is passworldess in qubes.

deeplow · July 29, 2021, 5:13pm

Yes. Maybe doing sudo hplip. There’s no risk in doing that in Qubes.

Then there’s also this guide in the community docs, but I’m not sure it is of value here:

github.com

Qubes-Community/Contents/blob/fc841d00c50f6751ea746522201f49da34086520/docs/configuration/network-printer.md


Configuring a network printer for Qubes AppVMs
==============================================

Where to configure printers and install drivers?
------------------------------------------------

One would normally want to configure a printer in a template VM, rather than in particular AppVMs.
This is because all the global settings made to AppVMs (those stored in its /etc, as well as binaries installed in /usr) would be discarded upon AppVM shutdown. 
When printer is added and configured in a template VM, then all the AppVMs based on this template should automatically be able to use it (without the need for the template VM to be running, of course).

Alternatively one can add a printer in a standalone VM, but this would limit the printer usage to this particular VM.

Security considerations for network printers and drivers
--------------------------------------------------------

Some printers require third-party drivers, typically downloadable from the vendor's website. 
Such drivers are typically distributed in a form of ready to install RPM packages. 
However, they are often unsigned, and additionally the downloads are available via HTTP connections only.
As a result, installation of such third-party RPMs in a default template VM exposes a risk of compromise of this template VM, which, in turn, leads automatically to compromise of all the AppVMs based on the template.

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newqubesosuser · July 29, 2021, 6:55pm

Thank you. I can run sudo hp-setup (but sudo hplip shows nothing). I can install with sudo hp-setup and it seems to work but later there is nothing in HPLIP that I run from the qubes menu. Maybe if I could run sudo hplip-gui from terminal that would help - but hplip or hplip-gui shows ‘command not found’, I can only start ‘hp-setup’ and ‘hp-plugin’ from terminal and HPLIP from the Qubes menu. If, after “successful” installation I run HPLIP from Qubes menu, it doesn’t even see the printer (I’m sure it’s attached to template qube). Similarly on ordinary qube (not template).

sudo apt install hplip-gui shows that it is already installed in the newest version

Sven · July 29, 2021, 8:24pm

@newqubesosuser wrote:

If, after “successful” installation I run HPLIP from Qubes menu, it
doesn’t even see the printer (I’m sure it’s attached to template
qube). Similarly on ordinary qube (not template).

I am not sure if I get the gist of your question right. I do use a HP
LaserJet like this:

In the template I install hplip and hplip-gui as well as
qubes-usb-proxy obviously
I attach the printer to the template and run sudo hp-setup
Shutdown template and start actual qube you want to print from (it’s
important that that qube was (re-)started AFTER you shutdown the template.
Attach the printer to that qube (not the template anymore!)
Print

Can you try the above steps and tell me where it fails for you?

newqubesosuser · August 8, 2021, 12:38pm

Thanks. Actually, I have done earlier second step in different way because this way I receive the following:

sudo hp-setup
HP Linux Imaging and Printing System (ver. 3.18.12)
Printer/Fax Setup Utility ver. 9.0
...
QStandardPaths: XDG_RUNTIME_DIR not set, defaulting to '/tmp/runtime-root'
Searching... (bus=usb, search=(None), desc=0)
error: Unable to load Qt4 support. Is it installed?
Traceback (most recent call last):
 File "usr/share/hplip/ui5/setupdialog.py", line 1296, in NextButton_clicked
  self.showDevicesPage()
 File "/user/share/hplip/ui5/setupdialog.py", line 561, in showDevicesPage
  smart_install.disable(GUI_MODE, 'qt4')
 File "/user/share/hplip/base/smart_install.py", line 235, in disable
  dialog.exec_()
AttributeError: 'NoneType' object has no attribute 'exec_'
Aborted

So this may be the cause of this problem I have. Please advise.

SteveC · October 11, 2022, 4:06am

Well, I’m not the original poster.

But hp-setup fails for me (and yes I’m in my template) because “Daemon not running.”

Which daemon? What the heck IS a daemon? and how do I run it?

The only thing I can find is “sudo service cups restart” but doing that changes nothing.

I am able to print test pages, but the printer apparently cannot see my computer for some reason, and I have no idea how to set up to do scans. (I scan far more often than I print.)

Full output to terminal I ran hp-setup in:


HP Linux Imaging and Printing System (ver. 3.21.2)
Printer/Fax Setup Utility ver. 9.0

Copyright (c) 2001-18 HP Development Company, LP
This software comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY.
This is free software, and you are welcome to distribute it
under certain conditions. See COPYING file for more details.

QStandardPaths: XDG_RUNTIME_DIR not set, defaulting to '/tmp/runtime-root'
Searching... (bus=usb, search=(None), desc=0)
error: Channel write error
error: Unable To read the XML data from device
error: Channel write error
error: Unable To read the XML data from device
Failed to create client object: Daemon not running
Failed to create client object: Daemon not running

Done.

And again…even if I can print (in spite of these error messages), I can’t scan.

SteveC · October 11, 2022, 7:59am

OK, I found a useful page: Scanner - Debian Wiki

and on following the instructions, everything was successful. Except for scanimage > image.pnm which returned:

scanimage: open of device hpaio:/usb/OfficeJet_Pro_7740_series?serial=[redacted] failed: Error during device I/O

It does print, but the printer/scanner insists it’s not hooked up to a computer when you use its front panel.