Ubuntu – How should I install HPLIP binary/proprietary plugin/driver for the HP printer or printer+scanner

drivershpprintingscanner

Let's assume that one has some modern HP printer and/or scanner which is supported by HPLIP package from official repository. Or supported by newer version of HPLIP package (see this answer about installation).

From official documentation (HP Developer Portal | All Supported Printer Models) it is known that device needs proprietary/binary driver or plugin.

How should one install such plugin?

Best Answer

For HPLIP from APT make sure that you have installed hplip-gui package. If it is not installed - install it with:

sudo apt-get install hplip-gui

According to official HP documentation we need to have HPLIP installed and then install binary plugin as follows.

To install the plug-in using the GUI you can follow these procedures:
Launch a command-line window and enter:
hp-setup
Select your connection type and click "Next".

Select your printer from "Selected Devices" list and click "Next".

Enter your root password when prompted and click "Next".

Use the recommended installation method and click "Next".

Check the box to accept with the "Driver Plug-In License Agreement" and click "Next".

Finish the installation of the printer as normal, however you may be prompted to re-enter your user name and password.
If you run into any additional install problems you can go to our known issues page and check for a solution.

For advanced users who wish to install HPLIP components manually, a utility exists (hp-plugin) which will download and install the plugin file, but it does not also install a printer queue like hp-setup does.

Do the following:
Launch a command-line window and enter:
hp-plugin
Follow the directions above for navigating the GUI but remember that the printer queue will not be installed through this process.

Installation

Currently there are no PPAs with newer hplip packages.

But user can download and install binary from HP as described in their manual.

Before you proceed you should remove any hplip related packages to avoid possible future conflicts.

HP have note about this problem on support page:

Warning: If you are upgrading HPLIP and HPLIP is already preinstalled with your distribution, or you if you installed HPLIP using an RPM, DEB, or other package, please uninstall the previous version using the method specific for your distribution. If you do not do this, you may have package conflict issues or functionality problems.

I have experimentally determined the list of packages (tested on 16.04 LTS and 18.04 LTS) and below are commands:

sudo apt-get purge hplip hplip-data hplip-doc hplip-gui hpijs-ppds \
libsane-hpaio printer-driver-hpcups printer-driver-hpijs
sudo rm -rf /usr/share/hplip/

sudo apt-get autoremove

Then you should perform the following steps:

Step 1: Download the Automatic Installer (.run file) from official link for the Ubuntu or as for today using wget
```
wget https://download.sourceforge.net/project/hplip/hplip/3.21.2/hplip-3.21.2.run
```
Step 2: Run the Automatic Installer
```
sh hplip-3.21.2.run
```
Then follow instructions on screen (it should ask password of your sudo-capable user to run apt, and remove hplip-gui files if they were installed). The installation process is already well-documented on HPLIP site.

After installation it will show printer installation wizard and you can add printer to the system.

Uninstallation

Here we start with binary HPLIP installation (so we do not have HPLIP-related deb-packages installed).

Let's consider that we have installation file hplip-3.21.2.run in the current directory. We need to extract archive from it and then run uninstallation script.

sh hplip-3.21.2.run --noexec
cd hplip-3.21.2
sudo python3 ./uninstall.py
sudo rm -rf /usr/share/hplip/

Afterwards we install official Ubuntu packages instead (optionally):

sudo apt-get install hplip-gui

Note: I have reported bug 1782137 to HPLIP's LaunchPad account asking developers to include uninstallation feature of deb-packages HPLIP components from Ubuntu.

Ubuntu – How to install HPLIP on the Ubuntu to support the HP printer and/or scanner

Currently Ubuntu have the following HPLIP versions in universe pocket:

trusty (14.04LTS): 3.14.3-0ubuntu3.4
xenial (16.04LTS): 3.16.3+repack0-1
bionic (18.04LTS): 3.17.10+repack0-5
focal (20.04LTS): 3.20.3+dfsg0-2
groovy (20.10): 3.20.5+dfsg0-3build1
hirsute (21.04): 3.21.2+dfsg1-2

This leads to the following variants.

HPLIP installation

(a) Required HPLIP version ≤ repository HPLIP version

So if one sees that Min. HPLIP Version is lower or equal to the version of the HPLIP package from repository, then the installation of the following packages will be enough with:

sudo apt-get install hplip hplip-gui

(b) Required HPLIP version > repository HPLIP version

If one sees that Min. HPLIP Version is greater than the version of the HPLIP package from repository, then then one needs to install binary HPLIP by following my other answer.

(o) Optional HPLIP binary/proprietary plugin/driver

If one sees that Driver Plug-in is set to yes (or required), then one needs to install the binary/proprietary plugin/driver by following my other answer.

Examples for Ubuntu 18.04 LTS (hplip 3.17.10) and some HP device models:

| Model Name                  | Min. HPLIP Version | Driver Plug-in | Action |
| HP LaserJet 6l Printer      | 0.9.5              | No             | (a)    |
| HP LaserJet Pro MFP m426fdn | 3.15.11            | Required       | (a)+(o)|
| HP Tango                    | 3.18.12            | No             | (b)    |
| HP PageWide MFP 774dn       | 3.18.9             | yes            | (b)+(o)|