Inability to install printer

Atlante · 2026-02-19 22:33:31

Hello everyone.

The printer in question is my old Epson XP-2101. CUPS detects it as an Epson XP-2100 (Series) with a USB connection.

The procedure I follow, once CUPS detects the printer, is as follows:
1) I download the printer and scanner drivers from the official Epson website. I verify the architecture (64-bit), and the only ones available for download are those labeled DEB X 64 (ARM).

2) I extract them using Xarchiver (using the "Extract Here" option). Xarchiver graphically displays the extraction process. I've also used the "Extract To" option.

3) I go to the localhost 631 website and register as a user.

4) I go to "Add Printers." I select my printer, which has already been detected.

5) I add the URI provided by the CUPS graphical wizard. 6) I enter my printer name correctly, exactly as CUPS detects it.
7) The procedure ends with the message "Printer added."
8) I restart the computer, try to print, and the printer neither prints nor scans.

I've successfully performed this procedure several times with KDE Plasma and Cinnamon. I'm not sure if the problem lies with Xarchiver, as I understand it's a very powerful tool.

Some important details:

A) The drivers from the official Epson website are downloaded in tar.gz format, so I have to convert them to .deb format. I did this using the Alien program. After completing this operation, the terminal output was as follows:

"mkdir: cannot create directory ‘epson-inkjet-printer-escpr-1.8.6’: The file already exists
unable to mkdir epson-inkjet-printer-escpr-1.8.6: at /usr/share/perl5/Alien/Package.pm line 257, <FILELIST> line 718."

Does this mean that the package already exists in .deb format? If so, where is it? How can I find it? How do I install it?

B) The CUPS graphical wizard doesn't respond to the "Troubleshooting" screen; that phase never opens (the mouse cursor is stuck in a spinning circle).

What am I doing wrong? Thank you for your comments.

P.D. Please excuse the syntax errors. I speak Spanish and I'm using an automatic translator. Thank you and my apologies.

rolfie · 2026-02-19 23:27:14

1) I download the printer and scanner drivers from the official Epson website. I verify the architecture (64-bit), and the only ones available for download are those labeled DEB X 64 (ARM).

If you really mean ARM as architecture then that is wrong, cannot work. You need an AMD64 deb package.

3) I go to the localhost 631 website and register as a user.

I am used to administer my printer as root.

Last edited by rolfie (2026-02-19 23:27:39)

Dutch_Master · 2026-02-19 23:30:48

First error in step 3: you need to log in as root, not a regular user.

Chances are Cups already has the drivers as it only needs the ppd files. Try installing the printer in step 3 as root first, if that fails we go from there.

Andre4freedom · 2026-02-20 09:05:43

All what's said is correct.
One additional point:
If you want to manager printers as "user", this "user" has to be added to the lpadmin group.

If needed, you can extract the ppd file from a driver package, preferably from X86-64. But I've always found the driver CUPS proposes works well. Mostly I have to add no other software to make it work.
Good luck.

kapqa · 2026-02-20 10:57:00

you can find driver for the rpinter here

https://download-center.epson.com/softw … anguage=en

Atlante · 2026-02-20 23:00:01

I followed the instructions to log in with my superuser (or "root") password. But first, I removed the printer connected by the administrator (or "sudo").

I updated the CUPS Administration log with my new password (the superuser or "root" password). A detail about the "root" username: it's my first name in lowercase, so there was no need to change it.

So, I saved the new password (the "root" password). I closed the CUPS page and reopened it to log in. The "This page asks you to log in" pop-up window appeared. I checked that my username was there (my first name in lowercase, no problem), and I checked that the new password (the "root" password) was saved. It was saved... I clicked "Log in"... And eternally the pop-up window "This page asks you to log in" appears, allowing me to press the "Log in" button for eternity, which repeats and repeats and repeats the same tedious and frustrating process.

kapqa · 2026-02-21 07:18:59

you could try with another browser like chromium , sometimes it function better with CUPS.

also, if you have trouble with login, you could try this approach here, it is outdated, but has helped me several times.

https://www.howtogeek.com/169679/how-to … -computer/

good luck

Atlante · 2026-02-21 22:21:25

you can find driver for the rpinter here
https://download-center.epson.com/softw … anguage=en

These drivers didn't work for me. They have the same problem as the drivers of the same type that I download in my country: when I accept the license in the license description box, ideographic characters from another alphabet appear (Chinese, Korean, or Japanese, I'm not sure) and the option to download the drivers disappears.

Atlante · 2026-02-21 22:25:26

you could try with another browser like chromium , sometimes it function better with CUPS.
also, if you have trouble with login, you could try this approach here, it is outdated, but has helped me several times.
https://www.howtogeek.com/169679/how-to … -computer/
good luck

I wasn't lucky, what bad luck!

Thank you for trying to help me, Kapqa.

Sending you a hug and sincerely thanking you.

Atlante · 2026-02-21 22:45:45

If you want to manager printers as "user", this "user" has to be added to the lpadmin group.

It seems I'm already added as a user to the lpadmin group.

I ran the command "getent group lpadmin" in the terminal and it returned the following:

"lpadmin:x:110:juan"

Thanks, friend, for your help. Cheers.

Atlante · 2026-02-21 22:55:23

If you really mean ARM as architecture then that is wrong, cannot work. You need an AMD64 deb package.

There might be a key piece of information in what you're saying. I had no choice but to resort to ARM architecture because they have the same problem as the drivers of the same type that I download in my country: when I accept the license in the license description box, ideographic characters from another alphabet appear (Chinese, Korean, or Japanese, I'm not sure) and the option to download the drivers disappears. Could it be a mistake by Epson, the company that owns the download page? It's possible... I've thought about it...

steve_v · 2026-02-22 01:23:56

ARM binaries simply will not work on an AMD64 architecture, trying them is pointless.
The driver linked in post #5 is the correct architecture and already in the correct format (so no mucking around with xarchiver or alien required), just install with apt or dpkg, e.g.:

apt install ./epson-inkjet-printer-escpr_1.8.7-1_amd64.deb

Whether it works is another question, I don't have applicable hardware.

ideographic characters from another alphabet appear

Are you sure that's not just Epson's website setting x-content-type incorrectly, causing your browser to render the binary file as text rather than downloading it?
Try wget or curl on the URI you get, e.g.:

wget https://download-center.epson.com/f/module/e81c57ab-d783-435d-bd64-e74bac7c72b4/epson-inkjet-printer-escpr_1.8.7-1_amd64.deb

rolfie · 2026-02-22 08:56:18

when I accept the license in the license description box, ideographic characters from another alphabet appear (Chinese, Korean, or Japanese, I'm not sure) and the option to download the drivers disappears.

I think its simply Firefox fooling you. Use Chromium or the wget-command steve_v posted.

steve_v · 2026-02-22 09:13:15

Firefox fooling you

If you inspect the stream, you'll see that the webserver incorrectly sets "content-type: text/plain" in the response header. Firefox is believing what it's told, as it should.
This is a disturbingly common misconfiguration in javascript-infested eula-gated corporate "download portal"s, and the javascript nonsense they use to make mirroring painful and ensure you agreed to all the things and clicked all the boxes tends to interfere with client-side mime-sniffing that might otherwise work around it.
It's not a browser bug.

Last edited by steve_v (2026-02-22 09:25:26)

kapqa · 2026-02-22 10:33:12

These drivers didn't work for me. They have the same problem as the drivers of the same type that I download in my country: when I accept the license in the license description box, ideographic characters from another alphabet appear (Chinese, Korean, or Japanese, I'm not sure) and the option to download the drivers disappears.

you can try with this "workaround"

click on link to download > then you will get the characters > now click on the url-tab-bar and copy the url and insert in terminal the link do download with "wget" and you should download the .deb file correctly.

Atlante · 2026-02-22 20:39:25

ARM binaries simply will not work on an AMD64 architecture, trying them is pointless.
The driver linked in post #5 is the correct architecture and already in the correct format (so no mucking around with xarchiver or alien required), just install with apt or dpkg, e.g.:
apt install ./epson-inkjet-printer-escpr_1.8.7-1_amd64.deb
Whether it works is another question, I don't have applicable hardware.
ideographic characters from another alphabet appear
Are you sure that's not just Epson's website setting x-content-type incorrectly, causing your browser to render the binary file as text rather than downloading it?
Try wget or curl on the URI you get, e.g.:
wget https://download-center.epson.com/f/mod … _amd64.deb

First reply Steve_v:

Thanks for your help, friend. I really appreciate it. But unfortunately, neither of the proposed solutions worked. Please read how it went in the following comments where I reply to other commenters, because you contributed key points that I not only agree with, but which have also proven effective. Therefore, your contributions have been very important.

when I accept the license in the license description box, ideographic characters from another alphabet appear (Chinese, Korean, or Japanese, I'm not sure) and the option to download the drivers disappears.
I think its simply Firefox fooling you. Use Chromium or the wget-command steve_v posted.

Reply to Rolfie:

That's right, my friend. I installed Chromium and for the first time I was able to download a .deb file. It was for the printing tool. I installed Gdebi, and it successfully installed the print drivers. Excited, I thought to myself, "Well, at least I'll be able to print!" But I was wrong. The printer went through all the printing procedures, but nothing printed. The scanner tool file was automatically converted to a tar.gz file. And I don't understand why. I'm tempted to go to Epson's official technical support and have them explain what's going on.One important detail: I had to configure Chromium to its highest security and privacy settings to download the .deb drivers. Therefore, a properly configured browser is key in this process. I don't know if Firefox configured in the same way would produce the same results, but only with that configuration was I able to download the print drivers.

Firefox fooling you
If you inspect the stream, you'll see that the webserver incorrectly sets "content-type: text/plain" in the response header. Firefox is believing what it's told, as it should.
This is a disturbingly common misconfiguration in javascript-infested eula-gated corporate "download portal"s, and the javascript nonsense they use to make mirroring painful and ensure you agreed to all the things and clicked all the boxes tends to interfere with client-side mime-sniffing that might otherwise work around it.
It's not a browser bug.

Second reply to Steve_v

Thanks, Steve_v. Please read my reply to Rolfie. I really appreciate your valuable help.

These drivers didn't work for me. They have the same problem as the drivers of the same type that I download in my country: when I accept the license in the license description box, ideographic characters from another alphabet appear (Chinese, Korean, or Japanese, I'm not sure) and the option to download the drivers disappears.
you can try with this "workaround"
click on link to download > then you will get the characters > now click on the url-tab-bar and copy the url and insert in terminal the link do download with "wget" and you should download the .deb file correctly.

Reply to Kapqa:

Thanks, friend, for your interest in the topic and for your willingness to help. Please read my first reply to Steve_v and my reply to Rolfie.

kapqa · 2026-02-22 21:22:26

if you have installed the driver correctly, and added the printer to CUPS, and it still would not print over USB,
you chould try to "uninstall" package "ipp-usb"

if it doesnt help you, you can always re-install it afterwards
(on my devuan-box i had to de-install it to get the printer to print reliably over USB cable)
, with epson printer ET

Atlante · Yesterday 22:47:47

if you have installed the driver correctly, and added the printer to CUPS, and it still would not print over USB,
you chould try to "uninstall" package "ipp-usb"
if it doesnt help you, you can always re-install it afterwards
(on my devuan-box i had to de-install it to get the printer to print reliably over USB cable)
, with epson printer ET
wink

Thanks, Kapqa, for your continued help. I uninstalled the ipp-usb package with the command “sudo apt purge ipp-usb”, restarted my computer, turned on the printer, tried to print… and it failed. So I reinstalled the ipp-usb package.

I'll tell you what I've been doing, because I've been on the lookout: the official Epson Technical Service in my city told me they aren't responsible for software installations that they provide but don't install. They also said they don't install software for individuals (only for companies). I told them they have to be responsible for the quality of the products they supply to the end consumer, and they didn't respond. I might go to the Consumer Protection Office on Wednesday to raise the issue.

I contacted a friend who uses Linux Mint and the same printer as me (he recommended it). We asked if he had the drivers for the latest installation (Linux Mint is currently on version 21.3, and the installed drivers are from version 20, so they're a bit old, but they might still work). He said yes and sent them to me. I saved them in a folder on my computer's desktop. I tried installing the printing package first with Xarchiver... and the error I got was:

"Cannot execute compression. No such file or directory."

I tried using the Gdebi installer... and the error was: "A later version of this package is already installed," which is reasonable.

The scanner package comes as a tar.gz file, so I had the same frustrating result as with the current packages when trying to convert it to a .deb package with the Alien program.

kapqa · Today 01:27:03

yes, you need different versions of the driver for differnt versons of the linux operationg system.

have been using now again epson since the first release of ET and have used most often the driver package directly from epson homepage

thy have been difficult to install for some time on Debian Linux since for some reason they decided to deprecate "lsb" package
(no such issue on previous ubuntu linux)

now with recent driver packages a trick that oi have been using to install lsb-package on debian/devuan is no longer needed.

basically epson provided from the start packages for linux on amd64 and armhf, and now also on arm64;
they are hardly at fault. (imho))

however, with recent linux there is also "pòush" for "driverless" printing.

have found that this can make it hard to use "usb" connection properly with said epson printer - cannot talk fron experience for other printer company well.

you will need the appropriate package and it makes a difference (from my experience) if you use linux mint 20 or 21 or 22 for the like, beccause those packages have changed.

this is the site i normally go to for downloading the packages

https://epson.com/Support/wa00821

the site has been changed lately so it is become bit more difficult to download the driver, especilayy since there seem error involved with firefox browser (at least when using linux)

there used to be asection below the drivers where one could download "old packages" for previous versions of linux (eg. like debian wheezy, jessie etc)

this section is no longer visible .

you might checck with Epson directly if you need an older version of the driver - personally i have not made an archive of those (probably should have)

however, it is possible to use the driver from epson correcctly but it can be involved process;

sometimes you need to manually insert things (at least i had to) - and for this to my understanding the "blame" lies entirely with CUPS software or debian handling of it (especially more difficult on debian 13/devuan 6)- but i am not knowledgeable enough to entirely understand the whole operation that is involved.

and yes, you should state which operating system you use to begin with.

què tengais suerte.

EDIT: have seen that today the download center is not providing results.
maybe there is error with database
https://download-center.epson.com/searc … anguage=en

Last edited by kapqa (Today 02:02:05)

ralph.ronnquist · Today 02:54:26

@Atalnte: you should have installed the package printer-driver-escpr and not confused yourself and your system with dowwnloaded drivers. You will still need to go through the printer setup after installing the package.

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#1 2026-02-19 22:33:31

Inability to install printer

#2 2026-02-19 23:27:14

Re: Inability to install printer

#3 2026-02-19 23:30:48

Re: Inability to install printer

#4 2026-02-20 09:05:43

Re: Inability to install printer

#5 2026-02-20 10:57:00

Re: Inability to install printer

#6 2026-02-20 23:00:01

Re: Inability to install printer

#7 2026-02-21 07:18:59

Re: Inability to install printer

#8 2026-02-21 22:21:25

Re: Inability to install printer

#9 2026-02-21 22:25:26

Re: Inability to install printer

#10 2026-02-21 22:45:45

Re: Inability to install printer

#11 2026-02-21 22:55:23

Re: Inability to install printer

#12 2026-02-22 01:23:56

Re: Inability to install printer

#13 2026-02-22 08:56:18

Re: Inability to install printer

#14 2026-02-22 09:13:15

Re: Inability to install printer

#15 2026-02-22 10:33:12

Re: Inability to install printer

#16 2026-02-22 20:39:25

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Re: Inability to install printer

#18 Yesterday 22:47:47

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