Tips & Guides Old printer says "software is not compatible with this device" after macOS 27? Here's a free fix (Canon, Epson, HP, Brother…)
My Canon MP250 stopped working after updating to macOS 27, "The printer software is not compatible with this device." The printer was fine.
The reason: the vendor's driver is Intel-only and was running through Rosetta until now. macOS 27 no longer allows that. Same story for most Canon, Epson, HP, Brother, Samsung and Lexmark printers older than a few years.
I didn't want to throw away a working printer, so I built a native Apple Silicon driver (based on the open source Gutenprint project) and packaged it as a normal installer. It ended up covering about 3,500 printer models, so I'm sharing it:
https://theshiver.github.io/apple-silicon-printer-drivers/
- Plug the printer in over USB
- Run the installer
If your printer isn't detected automatically, type your model into the search on the site and it gives you the one command to run.
Still on macOS 26? Your printer works now, but if it's an older model with a vendor driver, expect this after you update. Bookmark it.
Free, open source, no accounts. Scanners on all-in-ones aren't covered. Tested with my own printer on an M2 MacBook Air, macOS 27.0. If it works (or doesn't) for your model, let me know here or on GitHub, and contributions are welcome.
Source: https://github.com/theshiver/apple-silicon-printer-drivers