Compatibility of Canon MX870 & MG5620 with new Mac OS Catalina...

[larryis1]

I have not upgraded yet to Mojave to Catalina on my two iMac (27" & 21.5", both 2019 versions).  Does anyone know or have experience yet with OS Catalina compatability with both the AIO Canon MX870 & MG5620 printers?

Your feedback will be greatly appreciated.  

Thanks,  Larry

[larryis1]

Any use the MX870 printer successfully with Mac OS Catalina?

[Patrick]

Hi larryis1,

The PIXMA MG5620 is supported using macOS v10.15.  The drivers are available using this link:

https://www.usa.canon.com/internet/portal/us/home/support/details/printers/inkjet-multifunction/mg-s...

The PIXMA MX870 is not supported with macOS v10.15. You are eligible for Canon's Upgrade Program.  This is for out of warranty units which have been diagnosed to require service, or for some reason are incompatible with a new or upgraded system.  This option allows you a one-time opportunity to purchase a replacement product, discounted from the list price.

To help you get up and running quickly, we also offer free standard shipping (if the order is completed by 12:30PM ET).  If you would like to take part in this option, please call our Sales Department at (866) 443-8002 seven days a week, 8am to Midnight.  Let them know you have been working with technical support and the Canon Upgrade Program was offered.

[dm1723]

I d not believe that this is 100% correct.  I hjave the MX870 set up on my daughter's MacBook Pro working just fine, having installed in before upgrading the Catalina.  My wife's new Air came with Catalina and I would like to get the printer installed on it, the same way it works on the Pro.

[Patrick]

Hi dm1723,

The PIXMA MX870 is not supported with macOS v10.15.  At this time, there are no plans to release drivers for the PIXMA MX870 for this operating system.

[larryis1]

The MX870 Canon Printer may not be "formally" supported on the latest/current version of Mac OS Catalina, but I can attest 100% that this printer operates FULLY for me with this latest version of the Mac OS Catalina on my iMac (27" - 2019 model).

Take care, Larry

[dm1723]

I am in agreement; I got the driver off my daughter’s MacBook And copied it to my wife’s MacBook and it works just fine now.

[leodvthorn]

This is great news! Is there any way you could provide a little more detail as to how I copy an old driver and transfer it to my new computer? This is exactly the answer I was looking for, but now I'm stuck again...

[dm1723 · Accepted solution]

Sure...I got the instructions from here:

https://www.dmoonc.com/posts/canon-pixma-mx870-and-macos-catalina/

I followed the instructions on this page, and it was a mostly smooth trip.  I may have had to reboot after copying the PPD file to the appropriate location, but it eventually worked.

Now, I also wanted to change some of the default settings, but couldn't figure out how to do that in the normal printer dialog boxes.  Since macOS uses the CUPS printing system, you can go into the CUPS setup for the printer and find a lot of default items to change to your liking.

To get to the interface, you may first need to enable the web interface.  To do that, open up the Terminal and enter the following:

cupsctl WebInterface=yes

Once you do that, access the interface from a web browser by entering this in the address box:

localhost:631

When prompted, enter your account name and password.

[leodvthorn]

SUCCESS!!

Thank you so much for the help dm1723!!

It is definitely possible to easily set up a new Catalina mac with the Canon Pixma MX870 printer. 

Here were my steps, hoping to pay it forward to someone else with the same problem.

Full credit to https://www.dmoonc.com/posts/canon-pixma-mx870-and-macos-catalina/

1) When I would hit Add (+) on my Catalina 10.15.4 Macbook, nothing would show up in the menu. 

2) I have an older macbook (running Mojave 10.14.6) that was successfully able to connect to the printer. 

I clicked the box to Share the Printer on the Network. 

3) After sharing, the Catalina macbook did show the Canon MX870 printer (after a pause for my network to catch up)

4) Under the "Use:" menu, there was apparently no driver installed, which makes sense as this is my new computer. 

I went to https://support.apple.com/kb/DL1742?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US to download what are apparently old drivers. I went through the install process, and at the very end, the installer made me click "Quit" after telling me that the software was outdated and no longer supported by my computer. DESPITE THIS sad moment, the "Use:" menu now had a new option reading "Canon MX870 series" 

5) I clicked "Add" at the bottom, and after thinking for a good while (1-2 minutes?) the printer was successfully added! And my test page worked too. 

Cheers and good luck!