Can't install printer driver for Samsung C410W on M2 Mini (Ventura 13.5)

Question

I've downloaded the correct file from Samsung but the file is not recognized and the open command is unavailable. Can't install it on this new Mini, but my old Mini (late 2014) can still print to that device. Can I somehow get the driver file from the old Mini and use it on the new one? Any other ideas?

Answer 1

I just had the same issue with Samsung SCX-4500, and finally figured it out.

Turns out there is a way, but it requires a bit of work. The new driver package from HP site is not going to work, because it's missing your printer model. I also would be reluctant to use some shady sites that distribute drivers and claim that they are working. Not sure it's ok to trust those. The solution below only uses Apple tools, and is free.

Small disclaimer: this will only help you if you can't install the driver onto your new OS. If you already had driver and it stopped working this guide is not for you.

How this works: There is a legacy driver from Apple itself, which is fully ok to use, but it won't install out of the box because the install scripts expect OS version 10.XX - remember these times when OS X seemed to stay forever?

However, it's safe to use the driver even on the latest Sonoma: if you were lucky to install your driver years ago, it just continues working as you update the system.

Here is how you can do it:

1. First, you need to download the legacy Samsung Printer Driver 2.6 for OS X - from apple website: Samsung Printer Drivers v2.6 for OS X

2. Mount the dmg

3. Copy .pkg file to your Desktop or something

4. Open terminal

5. run pkgutil --expand ~/Desktop/SamsungPrinterDrivers.pkg new

6. if you go to your home directory, you'll find a folder named new there.

7. Open it, there is a file named Distribution - right click it and open with Other -> Text Edit

8. Search for text (cmd+f) system.compareVersions. That's your OS version check: it wants minimum 10.6.1, maximum 11. Replace 11.0 with 15.0 (since the current MacOS version is 14) - or with whatever your MacOS version is + 1. I think you can really put any big number there.

9. There are two places in this file with this string where replacements need to be done.

10. Save the file

11. go back to your terminal

12. Run pkgutil --flatten new ~/Desktop/SamsungPrinterDrivers1.pkg

Voila. You got another .pkg file on your Desktop, and it should install without problems, just double click it.

This was tested on Monterey 12.7.2; confirmed the same driver version works with Sonoma.

Unfortunately, this method will stop working sooner rather than later, since pre- and post-install scripts inside the driver package are Perl scripts, which AFAIK Apple is deprecating. But it works for now; Perl is still supplied with Macs - although some people on the internet claim it's partially broken. You always can check if perl is installed on your machine by running which perl, or install it separately, maybe through homebrew, if perl stops working in the future.