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Printing does not work: I always get one or more "Printer Error: An error occurred while printing" popup alert

  • 8 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 17 views
  • Last reply by IanG

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This is on OSX 10.12.6. I am an 'admin' user on the Mac.

This problem happens only on my own OSX login account: printing works fine from other login accounts (who are also admin-level users) on the same computer.

If I try to print a regular page I get the following results: 1) I see the "print" dialog (select the printer, single-sided or duplex, etc.). When I press "Print" I see: 2) Print Preview Error: an error occurred while printing. When I press "OK" I see: 3) Print Error: An error occurred while printing.


I tried to fix this in three ways and in the following order: (a) starting in safe mode; (b) stoping and restarting using the Refresh Firefox option; and (c) creating a brand new profile. None of these fixed the problem. I still am unable to print, and I get the result described above.

Does anyone have any other options to consider? I really don't want to lose my history, bookmarks or stored passwords!

This is on OSX 10.12.6. I am an 'admin' user on the Mac. This problem happens only on my own OSX login account: printing works fine from other login accounts (who are also admin-level users) on the same computer. If I try to print a regular page I get the following results: 1) I see the "print" dialog (select the printer, single-sided or duplex, etc.). When I press "Print" I see: 2) Print Preview Error: an error occurred while printing. When I press "OK" I see: 3) Print Error: An error occurred while printing. I tried to fix this in three ways and in the following order: (a) starting in safe mode; (b) stoping and restarting using the Refresh Firefox option; and (c) creating a brand new profile. None of these fixed the problem. I still am unable to print, and I get the result described above. Does anyone have any other options to consider? I really don't want to lose my history, bookmarks or stored passwords!

All Replies (8)

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Hi nai.maharg:

I have many computers including Windows and Mac. I have two Mac one with Mac OS X 10.11 and one with Mac OS X 10.13. both with Firefox 63.0.1. Both can print the web pages I tried printing no problem. Perhaps it's the webpages you are trying to print?

Could you please share the url of the webpages you are trying to print?

Cheers!

...Roland

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Any more specific messages in the Browser Console about printing?

This could be a security or sandbox issue.

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Roland Tanglao said

Hi nai.maharg: I have many computers including Windows and Mac. I have two Mac one with Mac OS X 10.11 and one with Mac OS X 10.13. both with Firefox 63.0.1. Both can print the web pages I tried printing no problem. Perhaps it's the webpages you are trying to print? Could you please share the url of the webpages you are trying to print? Cheers! ...Roland

I can't print any web pages. Every URL yields the same problem.

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I should also admit this isn't a new problem: it came up a few months ago in a previous version of FF. However I have other computers as well and would print from there, and told myself I would 'fix' this problem when I had time to look at it. But now that I've had the time to look at it I found myself unable to fix it, so decided to reach out for help.

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The browser console provides the following messages when I try to print: [Exception... "Component returned failure code: 0x80040154 (NS_ERROR_FACTORY_NOT_REGISTERED) [nsIPrintSettingsService.defaultPrinterName]" nsresult: "0x80040154 (NS_ERROR_FACTORY_NOT_REGISTERED)" location: "JS frame :: chrome://global/content/printUtils.js :: getDefaultPrinterName :: line 109" data: no] In Printing:Print:Done handler, got unexpected rv

                       2147500037. PrintingChild.jsm:358

OpenGL compositor Initialized Succesfully. Version: 2.1 INTEL-10.2.37 Vendor: Intel Inc. Renderer: Intel HD Graphics 3000 OpenGL Engine FBO Texture Target: TEXTURE_2D

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cor-el said

Try to reset the print prefs on the about:config page.

I tried that - did not fix things. I also edited the prefs.js file to remove all the <tt> *print_* </tt> prefs - this also did not fix things.

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So anyone have other ideas? It still doesn't print adn I don't really want to trash my whole profile just to fix this ....