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I need to know the ip address of my printer from OSX to be able to configure it in my daughters Windows laptop. I tried the solution suggested in How do you get a printer's IP in lion? but I only get: dnssd://AL-CX11-08F61E._printer._tcp.local./auto, and I cannot ping AL-CX11-08F61E._printer._tcp.local. because it does not resolve. Still, I can print. How do I get the actual IP address?

Edit: why doesn't it resolve from the commandline, but still OSX can print?

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    Is the printer actually on the network, or is it connected directly to your Mac?
    – Tetsujin
    Jul 29, 2015 at 19:53
  • The printer is on the network, not directly connected.
    – raarts
    Jul 29, 2015 at 21:41
  • Is the IP address of your printer defined manually or through DHCP? If its IP address is dynamically attributed through DHCP, you won't have a stable configuration on Windows if you use an IP address. The correct method starts by defining a name and a static IP address to your printer on your router (ex.: snow-white 192.168.1.128). Then you will be able to configure it from MacOS X and Windows with its network name (ex.: snow-white.local).
    – dan
    Jul 29, 2015 at 21:42
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    Please clarify your comment n°2: how is your printer accessing the network? Add this info at the beginning of your question: this is a key detail.
    – dan
    Jul 29, 2015 at 21:45
  • Is it awake? Mine doesn't respond to arp or nmap if it's asleep, though it will wake & print if it's an already-known device for that machine.
    – Tetsujin
    Jul 29, 2015 at 21:53

5 Answers 5

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There is a tool Bonjour Browser which will show you the connected devices on the current network. The connection types are sorted, and you can usually find the printers in Print Spooler (_printer._tcp.) or Internet Printing Protocol (_ipp._tcp.) sections. Each device will list its IP address, among other information.

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    Thanks. This tool indeed shows the ip address as well as other useful info.
    – raarts
    Jul 30, 2015 at 7:10
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    This tool is now called "Discovery" and is available in the Mac app store. Also, as of today, there is a link to the Mac app store page on the website provided in this answer.
    – Joseph Hansen
    Dec 30, 2019 at 16:19
  • Bonjour Browser does not run on macOS versions newer than Mojave.
    – fferri
    May 6, 2021 at 16:54
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Use http://localhost:631/printers/ to see the list of printers available. The page shows both printer model and its IP/name under the Printers tab. To enable the cups page, run cupsctl WebInterface=yes in terminal.

If it does not directly show an IP address, click on the printer, where usually there is a connection entry like in this example:

Example entry for an auto-detected OKI MC342 printer

Afterwards run cupsctl WebInterface=no in the terminal.

If the above still does not resolve to an IP-address, then try dns-sd as explained in How can I list the IP addresses of all the AirPrint printers on a network?; search for "_ipp._tcp" in that post.

For that to work you MUST be on the same network as the printer: it does not work if you are on a different network (for instance when on the road and the discovered printer is at home).

Example of a printer not showing the IP address:

enter image description here

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    This should be the accepted answer... no cruft to install, simple to use.
    – Mike Williamson
    Oct 24, 2017 at 16:03
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    This does not show the IP for my printer. The column Location is empty :-(
    – alpipego
    Apr 27, 2018 at 8:53
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    @alpipego My Location is a user entered field to show where the printer is physically located. I don't think you'll see an ip address there.
    – tim.rohrer
    Jun 3, 2018 at 2:40
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    @alpipego click on a printer; most printer drivers will show a "Connection" that in one form or the other has an IP address for the printer. I'll add a screenshot to the answer.
    – Jeroen Wiert Pluimers
    Oct 31, 2018 at 6:48
  • apple.stackexchange.com/questions/175241/… really helped me figure it out, thanks!
    – Alex
    May 24, 2019 at 9:27
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Open the Terminal application in Applications/Utilities

type

lpstat -s

Followed by pressing return. You should see a list of all your installed printers. In a common setup, printers have been setup using the Line Printer Daemon protocol. If that's the case where you are, the number after lpd:// is the IP address.

Unless you are using a print server, in which case you’ll see the print server’s fully qualified domain name there.

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  • This is not necessarily true. What if the printer's connection does not use the LPD (Line Printer Daemon) protocol, but IPP (Internet Printing Protocol) instead? Or DNSSD ("dnssd://...)" or AppSocket ("socket://...")? And then, during setup of the queue not the IP address was used, but the hostname??
    – Kurt Pfeifle
    May 16, 2019 at 9:59
  • Would you like me to edit my answer?
    – jasonology
    May 17, 2019 at 5:16
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All modern networkable printers (which have a display) have an option to set and display the IP address. Often times you hold the "go button" down for 15 seconds, or while powering up the printer. Sometimes you need a utility that goes with the printer to set and/or view it. Check your manual or find one online.

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    This is correct, but does not answer the question. I want to get it from OSX, not from the printer.
    – raarts
    Jul 29, 2015 at 21:40
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You should be able to

 ping -c 1  AL-CX11-08F61E.local. | grep PING

(NOT ping AL-CX11-08F61E._printer._tcp.local.).

The line you see then should reveal the IP address of the printer.

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