How to Enable or Disable a Printer

1. Log in as superuser, lp, or assume an equivalent role on the print server.

2. Stop printing print requests.

   # disable [-c | -W] [-r "reason"] printer-name

   disable

   Cancels the current job, then disables the printer. The current job is saved to reprint when the printer is enabled.

   -c

   Cancels the current job, then disables the printer. The current job is not printed later.

   -W

   Waits until the current job is finished before disabling the printer.

   -r "reason"

   Provides users with a reason why the printer is disabled. The reason is stored and displayed whenever a user checks on the status of the printer by using the lpstat -p command.

   printer-name

   Specifies the name of the printer that will stop printing print requests.

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   Note –

   You cannot enable or disable classes of printers. Only individual printers can be enabled or disabled.

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3. Start printing print requests.

   # enable printer-name

4. Verify that the printer is enabled.

   # lpstat -p printer-name

Example 5–14 Enabling or Disabling a Printer

The following example shows how to stop the current job on the printer luna, save the job to print later, and provide a reason why the printer has stopped printing print requests.

# disable -r "changing the form" luna

The following example shows how to start printing print requests on the printer luna.

# enable luna
printer "luna" enabled