macOS Sonoma 14.4 is breaking printers

The Sonoma 14.4 update is causing more problems, this time with printers by removing or corrupting the drivers needed to print, and there is not yet a comprehensive solution to the issue.

We recently learned of an issue where updating macOS to Sonoma 14.4 caused some USB hubs embedded in monitors to stop working. Now, it looks like macOS Sonoma 14.4 is breaking printers, too.

Reports have begun rolling in on Reddit and the Apple Community forums, where users note that after updating their Macs, they no longer could print.

According to a post on Reddit, it seems that macOS Sonoma 14.4 removes the core CUPS software, leaving no way for the printer and Mac to interface.

Redditor nicover84 says that, according to some JAMF discussion groups, the issue could be caused by Microsoft Defender. Some users say that granting full disk access to com.microsoft.dlp.daemon in Privacy & Security settings either locally or with a JAMF config profile fixes the problem.

Initial reports seem focused on users with HP printers. Commonalities between the reports aren't clear — Microsoft Defender isn't the only cause, nor is the use of JAMF mobile device management software.

For the time being, if you print routinely from your Mac it may be wise to wait to update if you haven't already. The update in question was released on March 7.

13 Comments

coolfactor 2341 comments · 20 Years

About 9 months ago

There you go using the "break" word again.

Are the printers themselves actually broken, or just the functionality to make them work? That's an important distinction.

We love you, but let's stop with the clickbait headlines, eh? :D

Sonoma 14.4 is off to a rocky start.... I hope my printer still works!

BlueLightning 156 comments · 7 Years

No problem with an Epson WF-3620 attached via a 10 year old USB hub to a MBP 14" M2 Pro, using macOS 14.4 (downloaded early this morning). No problems with a 24" Lenovo monitor attached by HDMI. No problems with two iPod Classics (attached via a USB hub). Update from 14.3.1 seemed to take longer than several previous updates, but otherwise, nothing to complain about.

bobolicious 1177 comments · 10 Years

... I had to delete & reload my HP & Brother printers with Ventura 13.6.5 ...

citpeks 253 comments · 10 Years

First, it's important to note that in general CUPS printer drivers have been deprecated in favor of IPP, and for Apple in particular that means AirPrint.

However, CUPS is still present in Sonoma, and hasn't been removed. Yet. It is still possible to install CUPS drivers from older OSes in Sonoma, and they will still function. I just verified this with my Brother AIO laser printer, for which I installed the CUPS drivers meant for Catalina, which was the last version of Mac OS supported by Brother for my printer model. It does not support AirPrint.

The "core CUPS software" has not been removed, at least from my 14.4 installation, and my printer still functions, albeit in unsupported fashion.

It would be a d!ck move for Apple to completely remove a framework in a point release. That said, I wouldn't bet against that happening in Mac OS 15.x, or another future version, so users should be prepared for that inevitability. Personally, I will rue that move because my decade+ old printer would become obsolete for no reason other than OS support. It has been dependable, durable, and economical to operate. And I have little desire to buy a new printer just to accommodate a new OS.

Whatever issues those users are having probably result from a cocktail of MDM, MS software, and a deprecated framework, but, they are not universal.