Firefox can’t establish a connection to the server at localhost:631.

[dandola]

unable to print. Message on the terminal: cups.service: Job cups.service/start failed with result 'dependency'.

This has occurred on two Ubuntu 22.04 LTS machines after the latest system update.

[Marc Deslauriers (mdeslaur)]

What's the contents of /var/log/cups/error.log when you restart the service?

[dandola (dandola)]

Thanks for responding, Marc.

This is from the log file:

E [01/Dec/2025:07:21:46 -0500] Unknown directive JobPrivateAccess on
line 126 of /etc/cups/cupsd.conf.

This same message is in the log for each time that I tried to restart
the service.

On 12/1/25 9:34 AM, Marc Deslauriers wrote:
> What's the contents of /var/log/cups/error.log when you restart the
> service?
>

[Marc Deslauriers (mdeslaur)]

Thanks for the error message.

Looks like this is the same issue as bug 2133207

I'm not sure what exactly is happening that folks are getting invalid configuration files, but commenting that unknown directive at the end of your /etc/cups/cupsd.conf should solve the problem.

How are you typically adding printers on this system? Is it exclusively through the web interface? Is this a desktop system or a server?

[dandola (dandola)]

This problem occurred after an update was installed last week and I have
found other references on the web with the same error after that recent
update, so it appears that the update was flawed.

I have two laptops and one wireless printer. I added the printer through
the CUPS web interface, but now the interface only returns the error
“Firefox can’t establish a connection to the server at localhost:631.”

I am not a programmer, but believe that # at the beginning of a line
means that it is commented out.  What is the unknown directive that
needs to be commented out?

Will such a change bring back the CUPS web interface?

This is from the terminal.  Do you see anything below that can be
changed to fix the problem?

dandola@ad-XPS-13-7390:~$ journalctl -xeu cups.service

░░ Subject: Automatic restarting of a unit has been scheduled

░░ Defined-By: systemd

░░ Support: http://www.ubuntu.com/support

░░

░░ Automatic restarting of the unit cups.service has been scheduled, as
the result for

░░ the configured Restart= setting for the unit.

Dec 01 14:29:12 ad-XPS-13-7390 systemd[1]: Stopped CUPS Scheduler.

░░ Subject: A stop job for unit cups.service has finished

░░ Defined-By: systemd

░░ Support: http://www.ubuntu.com/support

░░

░░ A stop job for unit cups.service has finished.

░░

░░ The job identifier is 6757 and the job result is done.

Dec 01 14:29:12 ad-XPS-13-7390 systemd[1]: Dependency failed for CUPS
Scheduler.

░░ Subject: A start job for unit cups.service has failed

░░ Defined-By: systemd

░░ Support: http://www.ubuntu.com/support

░░

░░ A start job for unit cups.service has finished with a failure.

░░

░░ The job identifier is 6757 and the job result is dependency.

Dec 01 14:29:12 ad-XPS-13-7390 systemd[1]: cups.service: Job
cups.service/start failed with result 'dep>

lines 695-717/717 (END)

░░ Subject: Automatic restarting of a unit has been scheduled

░░ Defined-By: systemd

░░ Support: http://www.ubuntu.com/support

░░

░░ Automatic restarting of the unit cups.service has been scheduled, as
the result for

░░ the configured Restart= setting for the unit.

Dec 01 14:29:12 ad-XPS-13-7390 systemd[1]: Stopped CUPS Scheduler.

░░ Subject: A stop job for unit cups.service has finished

░░ Defined-By: systemd

░░ Support: http://www.ubuntu.com/support

░░

░░ A stop job for unit cups.service has finished.

░░

░░ The job identifier is 6757 and the job result is done.

Dec 01 14:29:12 ad-XPS-13-7390 systemd[1]: Dependency failed for CUPS
Scheduler.

░░ Subject: A start job for unit cups.service has failed

░░ Defined-By: systemd

░░ Support: http://www.ubuntu.com/support

░░

░░ A start job for unit cups.service has finished with a failure.

░░

░░ The job identifier is 6757 and the job result is dependency.

Dec 01 14:29:12 ad-XPS-13-7390 systemd[1]: cups.service: Job
cups.service/start failed with result 'depedency'.

Your help is appreciated!

On 12/1/25 1:23 PM, Marc Deslauriers wrote:
> Thanks for the error message.
>
> Looks like this is the same issue as bug 2133207
>
> I'm not sure what exactly is happening that folks are getting invalid
> configuration files, but commenting that unknown directive at the...

[Marc Deslauriers (mdeslaur)]

What is the contents of your /etc/cups/cupsd.conf file?

[dandola (dandola)]

Got it.

I located the file, but it cannot be opened by me.  The file icon has a
red X and the file properties indicate that the owner is root.

Any suggestion for accessing the content?

On 12/1/25 5:16 PM, Marc Deslauriers wrote:
> What is the contents of your /etc/cups/cupsd.conf file?
>

[Marc Deslauriers (mdeslaur)]

You need to edit the file as root. If you are using the Ubuntu desktop environment, you can open the file browser, and then in the top bar, type "admin:/etc/cups" (without the quotes). That should ask you for your password, and then browse the folder with root privileges, allowing you to edit the cupsd.conf file.

[Marc Deslauriers (mdeslaur)]

If you have these lines as the last lines in the file, comment them out by adding a # in front of them.

JobPrivateAccess default
JobPrivateValues default
SubscriptionPrivateAccess default
SubscriptionPrivateValues default

Once saved, you can reboot and see if printing is back.

[dandola (dandola)]

I logged in as root in the terminal. In the file browser, I typed
/admin: /etc/cups, /but there are no items matching the search. Am I
missing something?

On 12/1/25 8:02 PM, Marc Deslauriers wrote:
> You need to edit the file as root. If you are using the Ubuntu desktop
> environment, you can open the file browser, and then in the top bar,
> type"admin:/etc/cups" (without the quotes). That should ask you for
> your password, and then browse the folder with root privileges, allowing
> you to edit the cupsd.conf file.
>

[Marc Deslauriers (mdeslaur)]

If you are logged in as root, you can probably edit /etc/cups/cupsd.conf directly.

If you are logged in as your user, I believe the syntax is a bit different in Dolphon, type Ctrl-L and enter "admin:///etc/cups"

[Marc Deslauriers (mdeslaur)]

The new CUPS security update released today should now accept invalid or
outdated configuration directives, so installing updates should make
printing just work again without having to edit the configuration file.

[dandola (dandola)]

Thanks, Marc.  Will this fix be available through the Ubuntu software
updater?

On 12/4/25 11:22 AM, Marc Deslauriers wrote:
> *** This bug is a duplicate of bug 2133207 ***
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/2133207
>
> The new CUPS security update released today should now accept invalid or
> outdated configuration directives, so installing updates should make
> printing just work again without having to edit the configuration file.
>
>
> ** This bug has been marked a duplicate of bug 2133207
> cups security update causes issues with invalid config file
>

[Marc Deslauriers (mdeslaur)]

Yes, it should appear within the next couple of hours.

[dandola (dandola)]

Many thanks for your assistance with the printer problem, but I only got
one of my machines to work.

I have two machines; a Toshiba, on which I installed Ubuntu and a Dell
XPS 7390 Developer Edition, which was purchased with Ubuntu installed.
Both have Ubuntu 22.04 LTS.

The Toshiba is now able to print, but clearly, I messed up the Dell
machine while trying to get wireless printing to work, before the CUPS
software update was available.

I saved the data from the Dell on a portable drive, so a clean
re-installation of the operation system is not a concern.  I was able to
boot it and get to the Firefox browser, but have not shut down the Dell
since.  All of my documents and settings still appear, but Thunderbird
email will not load on the Dell and I must use a wired connection
because the wireless connection is no longer available.

Any entry in the Dell terminal returns :

“*sudo: /usr/bin/sudo must be owned by uid 0 and have the setuid bit set*.”

I found various references on the web concerning this terminal error,
but no workable solution.

Booting to the Dell repair screen does not provide a fix because the
choice to reset to factory settings is grayed out. I have not been able
to get to the GRUB screen.

I have downloaded *Ubuntu-22.04.5-desktop-amd64.iso* to the desktop, but
have not tried to use it.

Since losing data on the Dell is not a concern, please advise me of a
method that can make it fully operational again.

On 12/4/25 12:48 PM, Marc Deslauriers wrote:
> *** This bug is a duplicate of bug 2133207 ***
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/2133207
>
> Yes, it should appear within the next couple of hours.
>