HP LaserJet: HPLIP is "Unable to open device" although lsusb sees it

[johanpdx]

My homemade computer running Ubuntu 12.04 had an existing HP inkjet printer which ran normally. I replaced it with HP LaserJet M1132 MFP and installed HPLIP. It installed both printer and scan function successfully, no problems printing.

Then I replaced Ubuntu with Linux Mint 13 and had no success printing. ("/usr/lib/cups/backend/hp failed") Finally I reinstalled Ubuntu 12.04 and had the exact same connection problems as with Linux Mint. I can't repeat my original success--neither with the included HPLIP nor with new downloaded HPLIP. To try to duplicate my original conditions, I reattached my old HP inkjet printer and had no problems connecting with it. I then connected the LaserJet and HPLIP immediately recognized and added it, but cannot connect with it. It constantly reports "Unable to connect with device [name and serial no.]"

In troubleshooting, I:

1) rebooted numerous times
2) used various cables and physical USB ports
3) installed printer via CUPS Web facility (http://localhost:631/admin) as well as HPLIP--again installs successfully but communication fails: "/usr/lib/cups/backend/hp failed"
4) tried all the suggestions I found online regarding groups and permissions (though I am not a Linux hobbyist or pro by any stretch!)

I'm attaching text file of reports generated by following the steps here: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DebuggingPrintingProblems

[johanpdx (johanpdx)]

PS: This is the output when running HPLIP from the command line ... $ python -v /usr/share/hplip/toolbox.py

[goutam kodu (goutam-hplip)]

Hi Johanpdx,

Sorry for our late response on this, we are looking into the issue.
Thanks for the attached logs. We are assuming that error could be because of the driver is unable to open the USB print interface. We are analyzing the issue on Linux Mint 13.
Request you to provide us the "lsusb -v" command output with the printer attached to the USB port.

Thanks & Regards,
Goutam

[johanpdx (johanpdx)]

Goutam--sorry I didn't report right away that I finally borrowed a friend's Windows laptop and ran the utility included on the installation disk to disable the "smart install" feature on the printer. After that, I reinstalled the Linux Mint operating system (simply because I had made so many changes to permissions etc in pursuit of a solution within the Linux universe) and reinstalled HPLIP and everything worked/works fine. With that "smart install" feature out of the way, the computer and printer have no problems communicating; no further adjustments were needed.

[goutam kodu (goutam-hplip)]

Great!! The problem has solved for you then.

We are looking forward to support the disable of SmartInstall from Linux. As we been having many queries on it.
 Its testing is in progress we looking forward to support it in the coming versions of HPLIP driver.

 I read your comments in the bug report https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/hplip/+bug/813482.
Sorry for the inconvenience that you had to face.

Thanks & Regards,
Goutam

[Jan Vlug (jan-vlug)]

See also:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/hplip/+bug/1817214
https://bugs.launchpad.net/hplip/+bug/1821932
https://bugs.launchpad.net/hplip/+bug/1797501