We purchased a couple of dirt cheap LaserJet 1020 printers for the office and home. While they work fine in Windows and Ubuntu Linux (with proper hackery applied) getting it to work on OSX is not straight forward. If you google around you’ll find both success and horror stories on this printer. It seems HP supports the newer 1022 model officially but not the 1020. Turns out the 1022 driver will work fine for a 1020 if, and that’s a big IF, you get Mac OSX to list it in the printer list. This thread on macosxhints.com was the most informative of all. I tried the suggestions a couple of days ago but to no avail. This morning I tried again and with success! All the steps seem to be there, but the following order worked for me:
- Download; http://www.railsguru.com/assets/2007/4/16/1601_LJ_1022_Series_OSX.dmg;
- If you have anything for the HP 1020 in ”/Library/Reciepts” delete it.
- Delete anything for the HP 1020 in Printer in “Printer Setup Utility”
- Install the downloaded printer drivers
- Remove all files from /Library/Printers/hp/laserjet. Leave the 1020 subfolder! You’ll need the contents in the next step;
- Move all files from the 1020 subfolder to /Library/Printers/hp/laserjet (the parent);
- Restart Mac OSX, just for luck;
- Add new printer in “Printer Setup Utility”, select HP LaserJet 1020, driver should come up, click ADD
Disclaimer: this worked for me™. No guarantee the above steps will hose your printer setup or other things.
OMG! THANK YOU! I have the new Leopard and this worked THANK YOU!
I am running Leopard. I have tried everything suggested to add an HP 1020. The system recognizes the printer as an HP 1020 but it doesn’t appear in the driver list. Please help.
The strange thing is that everything worked fine on Leopard a couple of days ago, and then it just stopped.
Any suggestions on why the driver may not appear on the list please!!
Also could someone please send me the list of the files that should be in the "Laserjet" subfolder in the Library.
Thank you.
Thank you! Followed your instructions and my HP1020 is up and running after the restart. Thanks again!
I reinstalled Leopard with Archive and Install; I reinstalled the HP 1020 driver from the CD that came with the printer. The iMac immediately recognized it and it works fine, like before.
I ran "monolingual" yesterday. Bad idea because I think it deleted printer files that are not part part of the driver and cannot easily be reinstalled. Monolingual is not Leopard ready, suggest you don’t run it.
It worked! I can use the 1020 with Leopard! Thanks!
Can anyone guide me? Is it the same way if my printer is connecting thru a network, meaning there is a host computer which connected the printer while I am the network client that send printing job to the printer? Is it the same way as well> TQ!
Thanks very much for the tip. After upgrading to Leopard, getting my 1020 to print was driving me bananas, but your solution worked beautifully.
Tony
Beautiful, worked first time in Panther, (even without restart ; ), many thanks.
Leon
You rock! Worked perfectly on my PowerBook G4 running 10.4.11. Thanks a million.
Excellent directions! I have a Mac Mini (Intel), Mac Mini (PowerPC) and MacBook Pro notebook on my wireless network. My HP LJ 1020 is connected to the ‘net via the Apple AirPort Express. based on the instructions here, everything worked very well. BTW, I am running Mac OS X Leopard.
Thank again!
Andy, you’re a God send, many thanks, my iMac G5 running Tiger is now working great with the printer. I just bought this printer and called HP, where the wanker told me that they didn’t support this printer for Macs. Ridiculous I say, as I knew someone must have sorted this issue out.
We have used the driver you have listed on this page to connect Hp1020s to Macbooks. The driver is great and it works very well. However, when we try to connect to a HP1018 it does not work. Can anyone tell me how to connect a HP1018 to a Macbook using Leopard operation system. Please I’m not very technical so could you break in down into easy to follow non tech language? Thank you so much to anyone who can answer this question.
After 6 hours of continuously trying to create a workaround for my mac mini (10.5.2) i stumbled upon this site.
fanbloodytastic… followed instructions as stated, rebooted and after about 10 secs my 1020 whirred to life.
Thanks heaps, couldn’t have done it without your help.
This worked GREAT!!! Thanks for the advice!!!
MP
dude, good work, wife is very happy.
Your steps worked for me too. 10.5.2
Just to note that after step 6:
"Move all files from the 1020 subfolder to /Library/Printers/hp/laserjet (the parent);"
I then deleted the 1020 empty folder. Wasn’t sure if that was what I was supposed to do but I am a bit OCD and did not want to leave an empty folder in my system
Just a tip for everyone:
Move PrintQuality.plugin, Paper.plugin, and Options.plugin from move PrintQuality.plugin, Paper.plugin, and Options.plugin to /Library/Printers/hp/laserjet to /Library/Printers/hp/laserjet/1020Series to get the various print options to show up in the print dialog.
Thanks Andy!
hey guys. i got the 1022 printer to work in leopard, but i don’t see any of the options (print quality, etc) is there any way to get these back?
I know yogi left a tip above, but it’s a bit confusing…
still not working – there’s no 1020 folder, no subfolder, nothing. i don’t know what to do and i’m at my wits end. any advice?
i’m using os 10.5.2
i just download the driver from the link above, and don’t do anything else, just plug in the printer and turn it on, and apparently the mac finds it itself, because it just appeared in my list of printers, and i did some test and it works fine, also fast as well.
perhaps you might want to do a software update first?
I seriously love you. Thanks so much for the amazing advice. Finally, my printer is working.
i followed all the instruction but my printer still doesn’t work… there is no hp 1020/1022 in the list and nothing in library\printers, even after downloading the driver from hp’s site…
any suggestion?
THANK YOU!!! I have a MacBook OS X v10.4 and followed your instructions EXACTLY and it worked perfectly!!!
Awsome!!
Cheers
Worked like a charm. Thanks!!!
I am using hp laser jet 1020 but my cartrige is not working properly, The page shows doubling strokes/shades after print out. please suggest me.
Thank you! it’s worked on my new iMac with 10.5.3 …. did initially download some a 2007 version of the driver from another website which did not work at all….
thanks !!!
After having to go through this again after rebuilding my laptop, I decided to just package the right files together and create a quick installer.
Here it is: http://yogipatel.net/static/HP_Laserjet_1020_Leopard_Driver.dmg
Once installed, plug in the printer, go to Printer Setup, and select the printer from the list. The driver should be automatically detected as a "HP LaserJet 1020". I’ve tested it with all versions of Leopard on intel machines.
Works a treat with my MacBook 10.5.4 – thanks very much!
Works like a champ in 10.5.3.
Yogi, you are officially my savior! I’m about to head off to college, and I just bought a shiny new imac, and I thought (naively) that my printer that I already had would work just fine! haha not! So after trying to install all sorts of things to get this printer to work, I found your post and did what you said and it worked in one shot! YOU ROCK!!! Thank you soooooo much! You just saved me from buying a new printer!
Thank u. It works 100%.
Worked great for me. Thanks so much!
Hi guys,
I have been using the Hp laserjet 1020 for over a year now and it is a great lil unit for the price. It is directly connected by usb to my imac (intel) …Mac osx 10.4.final tiger..using the 1022 drivers ..no problem. My only problem was that I could not get it to work on my pc laptop wirelessly or by wired Lan over my network…well i cracked it tonight after all this time. You need a copy of bonjour printer wizard and install it to pc. Go to mac sys preferences and turn off firewall in order for bonjour to pick up the shared printer. Once bonjour picks it up on the pc install using directions as a PCL not Post script printer and wahla… wireless printing. When you have installed print test page if it prints , go back to mac and turn on firewall again and reprint test page. Allow file sharing and printer sharing on the mac side and u may need to create a firewall exception for port 631 (bonjour port) . Thought I would share this.
Cheers
the hp1020 worked fine for me for almost 2 years following the good advice on this page. for no reason, it started to pause in the middle of printing – all of my prints. pdfs, word docs etc… i un-installed the printer and reinstalled everything how it was listed by andy. now my printer preference page doensn’t even recognize, or allow me to chose any printers.
imac intel core duo 10.4.11
any ideas?
I had to totally delete the hp directory out of library printers. Then power down and then load the driver LJ_1022Series_OSX-8.dmg. After that it saw it right away.
Fantastic! It works on my MacBook. Thanks a million!!
Thanks for this. it works great.
I did all the steps… However, I do not have the cd for the setup because I lost it… In the end, when I had to add the printer, it found my printer but then I had to choose the "Print Using:" but the Hp Laserjet 1020 does not appear on the list. I tried to choose the 1200 but then the printer didn’t print.
Please help me!!!
I’d given up on fixing my HP1020, you’ve just saved me having to replace my printer. Thank you.
Many many thanks! After trying this for HOURS (following various steps on other forums), downloading & re-downloading and very close to calling it quits and spending hundreds on new printers for my office, your steps actually worked! Yeah! Thanks again!
Thank you very much for your detailed explaination. It worked just fine!
It safed me buying a new printer. Yuhu! Thx again!
Take care!
Thank you. This worked perfectly w/ Leopard and my new MacBook!
Worked like a charm on my new MBP…thanks so much!
Fantastic! Got it to work on 4.8.11. Just selected the plugin file like Alex said. Just make sure you see the name of the driver at the top of the list afterwards!
Worked for 10.5.5 – Have been chasing this for years. My hat’s off to you!
thank you.
worked for me.
mac book pro.
osx 10.5.6.
Brilliant! Thanks! This printer was sitting in a junk pile after I bought it…ready to give it to an unfortunate PC user. Now I can use it.
Peace.
TJM
Thanks for information the printer works fine
I have Mac Tiger
Thanks Again
thanks man, your the best