HP Color LaserJet M452dw Missing Duplex Functionality

[Michael Siroskey]

I'm running RHEL 7.4 and trying to setup a HP Color LaserJet M452dw. I'm able to print to the printer using the ppd in the HPLIP version 3.17.11 but two-sided property is greyed out and there is no option for duplexer.

[brian_p (claremont102)]

From the CUPS web interface at localhost:631 go to Printers, select the queue and move on to Administration and Set Default Options. Then Options Installed and set Duplex unit to On.

OK now?

Cheers,

Brian.

[Michael Siroskey (siroskey.3)]

The driver does not show duplex as an option. The only option that is display is for the 3rd tray. I've also looked at the ppd and didn't see any mention of a duplex settings in it.

Thanks,
Michael

[brian_p (claremont102)]

You have installed the printer with the wrong PPD file. (Or you do not have an M452dw).

Cheers,

Brian.

[Michael Siroskey (siroskey.3)]

Hi Brian,

I believe I tracked down the issue that is occurring. It appears that there are two PPD files for the M452, hp-color_laserjet_m452-ps.ppd and hp-color_laserjet_m452d-ps.ppd. The m452d PPD file contain the option for the duplexer.

However both PPD files have the same name defined which causes some issues. Configuring through system-config-printer, only one PPD is displayed which is m452 PPD. I assume this is due to the name collision. Configuring through cups web interface, two PPD's are displayed with the same name with no ability to differentiate between them.

Ideally the hp-color_laserjet_m452d-ps.ppd needs to be updated to include the 'd' in its name or combine the drivers together and just have one for the printer and all of its features.

Let me know if you need any additional information.

Thanks,
Michael

[brian_p (claremont102)]

Hello Michael,

Good on you for sorting the issue out. There is no bug in HPLIP but there could be one in your distribution's packaging of the HP PostScript files PPDs. On Debian and (I assume) Ubuntu there is an m452-ps.ppd and an m452d-ps.ppd.

Cheers,

Brian.

[Michael Siroskey (siroskey.3)]

Hi Brian,

I'm using packaging that is provided on developers.hp.com as the distribution doesn't have this PPD bundled yet. The download from developers.hp.com has both PPD's but the only difference between the two files are settings for duplex, but share the same name. The issue appears to be in the PPD files, I was under the assumption that these files are maintained by the hplip project.

Thanks,
Michael

[brian_p (claremont102)]

Thanks for pursing this, Michael; because I always use Debian's packages I tend to forget about developers.hp.com as a source for HPLIP. BTW, I have no connection with the project; I am just a user, like you.

Anyway, I got the latest release, ran 'bash hplip-3.17.11.run' and looked in /prnt/ps. I see two files - hp-color_laserjet_m452-ps.ppd.gz and hp-color_laserjet_m452d-ps.ppd.gz. Sorry, I still do not see any bug in hplip, bu cannot account for your experience.

Cheers,

Brian.

[Afshan F (afshan)]

Hi Michael,

The ideal ppd should be hp-color_laserjet_m452d-ps.ppd. I tried reproducing the issue here but I am able to see the duplex option clearly, hp-setup took the hp-color_laserjet_m452d-ps.ppd.

Can you please do hp-setup -g and post the output here?
And also can you share the screenshot of the grayed out option of duplex?

Thanks,
Afshan

[Michael Siroskey (siroskey.3)]

Hi Afshan,

Correct, hp-color_laserjet_m452d-ps.ppd is the correct PPD file for the printer and it works correctly when selected. The problem is that the hp-color_laserjet_m452-ps.ppd and hp-color_laserjet_m452d-ps.ppd share the same name in the PPD (HP Color LaserJet Pro M452 Postscript). This causes issues configuring the printer through system-config-printer (RHEL7) as only one PPD is displayed which is the hp-color_laserjet_m452-ps.ppd PPD. I assume this is due system-config-printer expecting a unique NickName for each PPD. Configuring through cups web interface, two PPD's are displayed with the same name with no ability to differentiate between the two PPD's.

If I edit hp-color_laserjet_m452d-ps.ppd and change the following line '*Nickname: "HP Color LaserJet Pro M452 Postscript (recommended)"' to '*Nickname: "HP Color LaserJet Pro M452d Postscript (recommended)"' then everything is happy.

Ideally the hp-color_laserjet_m452d-ps.ppd needs to be updated to include the 'd' in its name or combine the drivers together and just have one for the printer and all of its features.

Let me know if you need any additional information.

Thanks,
Michael

[brian_p (claremont102)]

Hello Michael,

I think I am now on the same page as you are. The problem when using the CUPS web interface and s-c-p is that what is in the PPD is insufficient to enable these applications to distinguish between the duplex and non-duplex versions of the printer. s-c-p offers a single PPD (the wrong one for your purposes), whereas CUPS offers both PPDs but there is no way to tell (AFAICS) that one is duplex-capable and the other one isn't. There is no problem with lpadmin and lpinfo -v.

Afshan can not reproduce the issue when using hp-setup, but that is to be expected because that utility consults /usr/share/hplip/data/models/models.dat, which does distinguish between hp_color_Laserjet_m452dn, hp_color_Laserjet_m452dw and hp_color_Laserjet_m452nw. hp-setup also features automatic discovery methods for setting up a queue whilst CUPS, s-c-p and lpadmin are manual methods.

I suppose the issue comes down to whether the HPLIP-provided PPDs (more than the m452 is affected) should support manual queue creation in a more useful way than they do now. Only the HPLIP team can answer that question and provide a solution.

Cheers,

Brian.

[brian_p (claremont102)]

lpinfo -v should be lpinfo -m.

--
Brian.

[Afshan F (afshan)]

Hi Michael,

HP Color LaserJet Pro M452 is a family name for the printer HP Color LaserJet Pro M452nw,HP Color LaserJet Pro M452dn, HP Color LaserJet Pro M452dw.

HP Color LaserJet Pro M452nw doesn't support duplex functionality . It is a simplex printer that is why hp-color_laserjet_m452-ps.ppd is created.
HP Color LaserJet Pro M452dn and HP Color LaserJet Pro M452dw is duplex printers and to support duplex hp-color_laserjet_m452d-ps.ppd is been created. There is no duplicate entry of the PPD in the code.

Hence this is not a issue related to HPLIP code. If you do hp-setup the correct PPD gets automatically fetched. But if you set up the printer through cups for HP Color LaserJet Pro M452dw printer, please select hp-color_laserjet_m452d-ps.ppd.

Hope it solves the problem here.

Thanks,
Afshan

[brian_p (claremont102)]

Hello Afshan,

I am sure that with hp-setup the correct PPD gets automatically fetched. But that is not the point at issue.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                            When the printer is set up through CUPS for a HP Color LaserJet Pro M452dw printer it is not possible to select the hp-color_laserjet_m452d-ps.ppd with certainty. This is because the CUPS web interface uses *NickName to display the Model, and *Nickname is the same for hp-color_laserjet_m452d-ps.ppd and hp-color_laserjet_m452-ps.ppd. All the user can do is guess.

Using system-config-printer a user cannot even guess. It seems that s-c-p sees the two PPDs as identical, so it displays only one of them. In Michael's case he got the wrong PPD.

As the PPD specification says:

  *NickName: “text” Required

  This QuotedValue is the local name for the device. It is unique
  for an instance of a device model. It is used primarily at the
  user interface level when selecting a device or to distinguish
  between two otherwise indistinguishable devices (for example, if
  a single controller is used to drive more than one type of marking
  engine).

  There may be only one *NickName in a PPD file. If the PPD file is
  valid for more than one product, that fact must be reflected in
  the *NickName value, as in *ModelName. Initially, the value of
  *NickName is usually the same as the value of *ModelName, but it
  can be edited in a local customization file if necessary, whereas
  *ModelName should not be changed. Alternatively, the value may
  have a translation string for localization.

These two PPDs have the same *NickName and *ModelName. *NickName is intended to be displayed to the user and can be customised to enable him to choose between hp-color_laserjet_m452d-ps.ppd and hp-color_laserjet_m452-ps.ppd with confidence.

Cheers,

Brian.

[Rafael Ponciano Ribeiro (rafaelpribeiro)]

The same is true with the HP Laserjet M12122nf printer. The duplex function is disabled in applications and the two-sided option does not appear in the settings.

Rafael.

[Daniel Smith (dasmi1929)]

Imagine my angst...
when I found the problem with the LaserJet Pro M452dn PPD file was identified and resolved in March 2018 (with a workaround)... much before I ran into this problem in January 2020. I spent *many* hours to install my M452dn in 2020 for duplex printing and finally gave up. Recently (mid-2021) I attacked the problem again and after *many* hours found this discussion.

Yes. There are two PPD files for the LaserJet Pro M452dn as described in bug # 1754079. The correct PPD for M452dn (duplex printing) is *hp-color_laserjet_m452d-ps.ppd* ... how was I to know?

The problem of duplicate PPD files for M425dn PPD was identified but *never* corrected by HP in / hplip/ hplip-3.21.run. I wasted *many* hours of my time. Since 30 years I have purchased for myself and my for companies, millions of dollars of HP products. HP products and services have been excellent...*except* consumer services and support.