How to completely reinstall CUPs/ reset all user config?

In the process of trying to get a new canon printer on my network, I managed to bork all of my printing abilities, including the ability to print from my old printer using USB. I believe that the easiest thing to do at this point would be to reinstall CUPS and reset all the cups-related user config files to default.

If I delete the cups folder in the root/etc directory, then reinstall cups, would those files get recreated with the defaults so I could start fresh? Is there a better way?

I am not quite a newbie to linux, but clearly I know just enough to get myself in trouble.

(In case you need to know, I am unable to get to cups using the localhost option, and any attempt to reach the printers using the GUI results in a ā€œprint service unavailable, bad file descripterā€ message.
the system log shows it reaches the printer, then a bunch of attempts to get CUPs started, ending in failure.
example: 9/7/20 9:21 AM systemd org.cups.cupsd.service: Failed with result ā€˜protocolā€™.)

Also I am using KDE with the latest update.

Thanks for your help in advance!

As long as noone else is trying to help - here is what I would do:

First, stop & disable the corresponding service

sudo systemctl disable --now org.cups.cupsd.service

Then remove manjaro-printer by

sudo pacman -Rsn manjaro-printer

Afterwards, check if cups is still installed by

pacman -Qi cups

If yes, then remove it as well by

sudo pacman -Rsn cups

You will still have config files left over, I would start to look for all files / folders within your hidden /home folders and delete anything linked to cups.

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Thanks, Iā€™ll give that a try!

Thank you, your instructions were very clear.

I am having the problem that I am unable to delete related files in dolphin, even though I am logged in with admin privileges. I used to get a prompt for a password, but now any option for moving, deleting, renaming any root file is greyed out. Web searching led me to some old posts about how dolphin doesnā€™t let you do root, but those were three years ago. Surely this has been fixed and Iā€™m just missing something? How do I get around this?

I tried skipping that step, but it seems that the problem is being caused by something in those root level config files in etc/cups., and dolphin wont let me touch them. (Itā€™s giving me windows flashbacks!)

Edit: it appears editing root directories are impossible now in KDE? Since there appears no other way to delete/replace the cups config files that seem to be causing my problems, I am now in the process of backing up my personal files so I can reinstall all of Manjaro. Sigh. Thank you again for your help, though!

Use a terminal window and apply the ā€œrmā€ command. If you are not familar with the syntax you can check the manual by ā€œman rmā€. If you combine it with sudo itā€™s usually deleting your targets. Be careful with ā€œ*" and "-rā€ option to avoid deleting files you actally want to keep. Best is to remove the files - file by file and not recursive (uunless there are too many filesā€¦ :grin:)

Thanks, I saw this on the web abd tried it, but it kept telling me no such file or directory existed. Iā€™ll try once more before giving up.

YAY that time it worked, I was able to remove the config files! Iā€™d already started backing up my home files, though, so I think I will finish that and then try once again to reinstall Manjaro printer/cups. Thank you again for all of your help!

UPDATE: that did it! Thank you so much!!! Ive never been so happy to be back at square one. :upside_down_face:

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