osx change printer ip address without adding new printer

Question

Is there a way to change a printer's IP address in OSX (Lion) without having to add a new printer? I did find Printer IP Remedy, but was curious if there was an 'official' method.

Answer 1

The configuration information is stored in a system file in /etc/cups/printers.conf. You could edit the file and just change the IP address, but you can easily run into permission problems and end up screaming with frustration.

Here are several options that should work; most require using the terminal command line.

• Pick your text editor of choice, launch it with administrator privileges, and edit the file directly.
  Example: using terminal, type: sudo vi /etc/cups/printers.conf
  (sudo will launch vi with adminstrator privileges; which will require that you enter your password.)

• Use sed to modify the file from the command line; here are some examples:

  • sed command line to change IP from 10.1.1.21 to 192.168.1.47, creating a new file:
    sudo sed -i.bak s/10\.1\.1\.21/192\.168\.1\.47/g printers.conf
    To verify the changes, type:
    sudo diff printers.conf printers.conf.bak
    
  • sed command to change all IPs from 10.1.1.x to 192.168.1.x (leaving final segments unchanged); this will backup the file to printers.conf.bak:
    sudo sed -i.bak s/10\.1\.1\./192\.168\.1\./g printers.conf

Hope that helps.