Cups service stopped - UM 18.04

I did search the web and AskUbuntu - no solution at hand… So I’m here.

I tried: sudo systemctl status cups.service
I got:
Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/cups.service; enabled; vendor preset: ena
Active: failed (Result: start-limit-hit) since Tue 2018-07-24 21:41:44 EDT; 8
Docs: man:cupsd(8)
Process: 2617 ExecStart=/usr/sbin/cupsd -l (code=killed, signal=TERM)
Main PID: 2617 (code=killed, signal=TERM)

Jul 24 21:41:44 Name systemd[1]: cups.service: Service hold-off time over, s
Jul 24 21:41:44 Name systemd[1]: cups.service: Scheduled restart job, restar
Jul 24 21:41:44 Name systemd[1]: Stopped CUPS Scheduler.
Jul 24 21:41:44 Name systemd[1]: cups.service: Start request repeated too qu
Jul 24 21:41:44 Name systemd[1]: cups.service: Failed with result 'start-lim
Jul 24 21:41:44 Name systemd[1]: Failed to start CUPS Scheduler.
lines 1-13/13 (END)…skipping…
● cups.service - CUPS Scheduler
Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/cups.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
Active: failed (Result: start-limit-hit) since Tue 2018-07-24 21:41:44 EDT; 8min ago
Docs: man:cupsd(8)
Process: 2617 ExecStart=/usr/sbin/cupsd -l (code=killed, signal=TERM)
Main PID: 2617 (code=killed, signal=TERM)

Jul 24 21:41:44 Name systemd[1]: cups.service: Service hold-off time over, scheduling restart.
Jul 24 21:41:44 Name systemd[1]: cups.service: Scheduled restart job, restart counter is at 5.
Jul 24 21:41:44 Name systemd[1]: Stopped CUPS Scheduler.
Jul 24 21:41:44 Name systemd[1]: cups.service: Start request repeated too quickly.
Jul 24 21:41:44 Name systemd[1]: cups.service: Failed with result ‘start-limit-hit’.
Jul 24 21:41:44 Name systemd[1]: Failed to start CUPS Scheduler.
~

What do I do then ?

The CUPS print spooler does not appear to be running (when it was minutes before). To ‘troubleshoot’ I choose System->Administration->Services from the main menu…but there is no ‘Service’…

UM 18.04

After quite a bit (i.e. a lot) of searching, I finally found a post of a similar problem and that there is a default configuration file which should be installed in /usr/share/cups/cupsd.conf.default.

So… I ran as suggested:

sudo cp /usr/share/cups/cupsd.conf.default /etc/cups/cupsd.conf
sudo service cups restart

and it now works !

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Worked!!
Thanks so much! I’ve also been googling for a whole while until I found this

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Thank you. I deleted an old printer earlier today and all of my printers and scanners diapered. I am running Ubuntu 18.04 with LDXE and not Mate but this worked perfectly just as I was about to give up for the night. Thanks again.

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After 2 months of looking for a solution this worked first time, thank you very much!
18.04 LTS with a Brother DCP-J152W old printer, printer would not appear, despite working for years on 14.04LTS and 16.04 LTS before the upgrade to 18.04 LTS, (and a recent recognition of the printer as a scanner!) HP250 laptop. Thank you again for this relief!

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After 4 hours of Googling, and 3 hours in #LinuxMint-help, I was ready to reinstall from scratch.
Then I stumbled on your post and it solved my issues as well.

Thank you!

After quite a bit (i.e. a lot) of searching, I finally found a post of a similar problem and that there is a default configuration file which should be installed in /usr/share/cups/cupsd.conf.default.

So… I ran as suggested:
Run copy command (cp) and copy the cups.conf file share folder etc folder.. Run the following commands in terminal

sudo cp /usr/share/cups/cupsd.conf.default /etc/cups/cupsd.conf

sudo service cups restart

Check it.. now it will works !

SANITY RESTORED!!
Much boogie dancing
Thank you so much for posting. :smiley:
....and to Google for letting me find it.

I'm using an Acer Verton i5 with Tina Cinnamon.
My printer is the Brother MFC-J470DW.

Thank you for the inform, this saved me also.

You are truly a life saver. Many thanks

Thank you so much sir,
This was the last page that i was searching and was seriously making up my mind to go for a fresh/clean install. But then i stumbled upon your solution.
thanks once again.

Still works in 2024 (generic Ubuntu 18.04 - not Mate).

Printing was not working.

sudo service cups restart - failed with "Job for cups.service failed because the service did not take the steps required by its unit configuration."

sudo cp /usr/share/cups/cupsd.conf.default /etc/cups/cupsd.conf
sudo service cups restart

Problem solved. I noticed that the file in /usr/share/... was dated last week so something had just got updated.

2 Likes

Welcome @Steve_McCampbell to the community!