Fixing Lexmark Printer Driver Installation in Ubuntu 11.04
April 17, 2011 90 Comments
Recently I just installed the Lexmark printer driver in my 64-bit Ubuntu 11.04 installation. As you may or may not notice, the installer is broken by default in Ubuntu 11.04, and it just exits with an error message, saying
Lua error detected: While parsing install.lua: config/run.lua:1374: attempt to index global ‘ownhership’ (a nil value)
After playing with the installer, I finally got it to work perfectly, so I emailed the Lexmark support team to let them know how to fix this, but for now, I’m going to share what you need to do on my blog.
First, you need to extract the files for the installer. To do this, you need to run
./lexmark-inkjet-legacy-wJRE-1.0-1.amd64.deb.sh –noexec –keep
It’s worth noting that there are two hyphens before noexec and keep. Once you run that command, the files for the installer will be extracted to the tmp folder in the current working directory. For now, just type cd tmp and press enter. Now, open up a text editor, such as gedit and navigate to the config folder in the tmp folder we just extracted. Open up the file “run.lua”. The problem is that Lexmark misspelled ownership as ownhership, which broke the installer. Around line 1484, you will find a line that says
if tonumber(ownhership[1]) == 0 then
delete the errant h in the word ownership and save the file. Now, go back to your terminal and run sudo sh startupinstaller.sh in the tmp folder. The installer will work as expected now.
Update: Special thanks to Mathieu Triclot for your $5 donation! Glad I could help! 
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Thanks! I came upon this blog entry looking for a way to solve this problem, and this solution fixed it.
I can’t believe Lexmark doesn’t even test their own install script. I thought it was some kind of big incompatibility with 11.04, but it’s just a small typo that could have been easily fixed.
Anyway, thanks again!
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I do agree, but keep in mind – that’s the beauty of open source – that this young man Dylan was able to look into the script and find and test the correction himself. It can be frustrating, I know, but look at the alternative(s) and keep the advantages in mind. So don’t be too quick to criticize.
What I don’t get though is this exact same script worked flaulessly for me with Ubuntu 10.10.
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I never criticized open source. In fact, I’m an advocate of free software and I’m always a little reluctant to use proprietary software.
The only thing thing I was criticizing was how Lexmark didn’t even test their own script before publishing it. For such a big company, this seems a little unprofessional. Of course, it IS nice that the script can be extracted and corrected manually (as opposed to having to wait for Lexmark to fix them themselves), but it would have been better if no problem was present in the first place.
I’m sorry if my message was misunderstood, that was not my intended meaning.
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Thank you very much. I got stuck with the same ownHership problem ! It works perfectly now thanks to your post.
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I”m new to linux I can open the file and edit it but I can not save it due to permission issues. Can you elaborate on how to do that?
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You probably typed sudo before the first command I mentioned, or ran that command as root. Delete the tmp folder, try running the command as yourself, and try again.
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Hi
After running the command below
./lexmark-inkjet-legacy-wJRE-1.0-1.i386.deb.sh –noexec –keep
… i still have the same msg displayed
Lua error detected: While parsing install.lua: config/run.lua:1374: attempt to index global ‘ownhership’ (a nil value)
What am I doing wrong ?
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Ok
What i was doing wrong was missing – before noexec and keep
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be carefull, it’s not – but 2 “-”
–noexec –keep
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Unfortunately it did not work for me in 32bit Natty.
Got this after the correction of the misspelled word:
:~/Downloads/tmp$ sudo sh startupinstaller.sh
Collecting info for this system…
Operating system: linux
CPU Arch: x86
Error: Couldn’t find any suitable frontend for your system
Thx
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Thank you very much!
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Thanks a lot !!!!
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Well – embarassing!
I tried with the specific driver for my printer which didn’t work but when I tried the ‘legacy’ driver instead (as you pointed out!) it worked perfectly. Even the scanner!
Thx a lot.
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Thank you for this article. It helped me a lot.
Now let’s just hope Lexmark will fix it soon, so that non-tech-savvy people get their printers to work as well.
@FutureWaves: what model of the scanner/printer combination do you have?
Thanks again.
David
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This same issue plagues the Dell v313w driver for ubuntu. I noticed the misspelling, but wasn’t sure how to fix it. Thanks for the help!
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I’m also trying this for my v313w, but after I type the initial command, it says “no such file or directory.” I’m a complete noob, so take it easy on me. Also, how do I run a command in a particular folder, such as that in the last step. Thanks and sorry for the simple questions.
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I fixed driver according instruction installed and printer still not working. It printing a test page and its OK (scanning also working) but wen i try to print something else I can’t. Debug log showing following error “E [12/May/2011:16:27:48 +0200] Failed to update TXT record for Lexmark_S300S400_Series @ wiktor-Precision-M4500: -2″ if someone know how to fix that problem pls help. I’m using ubuntu 11.04 64bit
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i have read your article on the lexmark driver typo error and Linux operating system.
I have tried the instructions that you wrote and I’m not getting ant were, can you help.
I have downloaded from Lexmark the following driver package:
lexmark-inkjet-legacy-1.0-1.i386.deb.sh.
in this form when I try to auto-run I get the Lua error message and the misspelling of the word ownership
in the text.
What am I doing wrong and how can I get these drivers on my system, Ubuntu 11.03?
Thank you
Chuck
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Ubuntu 11.04: The file “run.lua” was in “/home/walter/tmp/config”. All work perfectly. Thanks a lot.
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Many thanks, it took a while to navigate through the noise on the boards, but this put things in order quickly.
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The problem is pretty simple :
ownhership doesn’t exist
ownership without ‘h’ is correct
well, change this
if tonumber(ownhership[1]) == 0 then
to
if tonumber(ownership[1]) == 0 then
and all will be fixed !!
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Thank you for the instruction. Fixed the issue in minutes. Thanks again!
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I was not able to fix it in 32 bit. After fixing the misspelling I am getting this message…
Operating system: linux
CPU Arch: x86
Error: Couldn’t find any suitable frontend for your system
Any suggestion on what to do?
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The lexmark guys are all looser!
For x86 you need to change the line: “FRONTENDS=”gtk fltk ncurs”" with FRONTENDS=”gtk.tmp gtk fltk ncurs” in the file startupinstaller.sh and after lauch it with “sudo ./startupinstaller.sh gtk” in the tmp directory
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I really like my Lexmark all-in-one, it’s a shame they can’t make better drivers…
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Thanks for this Pasque (and Dylan!)
However, I’m still struggling with these revised instructions:
chris@chris-laptop:~/Downloads/Lexmark driver/tmp$ sudo ./startupinstaller.sh gtk
Collecting info for this system...
Operating system: linux
CPU Arch: x86
[: 169: !=: argument expected
./startupinstaller.sh: 169: /home/chris/Downloads/Lexmark: not found
Unsupported patch version!
chmod: cannot access `bin/linux/x86/libc.so.6/libstdc++.so.6/gtk': No such file or directory
ldd: bin/linux/x86/libc.so.6/libstdc++.so.6/gtk: No such file or directory
./startupinstaller.sh: 169: /home/chris/Downloads/Lexmark: not found
Error: Couldn't find any suitable frontend for your system
Any further advice? Thanks!
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Incredible find. You just helped me fix my mother’s printer!
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@Dylan: thanks for the help solving the first error!
@Pasqu: thanks for helping solve the second error!
@Chris: I had the same (third) error as you. It seems to be caused by running the script from a directory tree with spaces in it. Move the dell “tmp” folder to something like /home/username/tmp and then follow Pasqu’s instructions. That got the installer to launch for me and now I’m printing!
On to troubleshoot networked printing, scanning, and the printer going offline after one or two successful jobs …
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Jay Armstrong = Genius!
Thanks so much
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Pasqu, I’m now running on Ubuntu 12.04 and my printer previously worked fine (on 11.04 & 11.10). Although I have ammended FRONTENDS=”gtk.tmp gtk fltk ncurs” and ran “sudo ./startupinstaller.sh gtk”, but I still get:
sudo ./startupinstaller.sh gtk
Collecting info for this system…
Operating system: linux
CPU Arch: x86
./startupinstaller.sh: 109: ./startupinstaller.sh: gtk: not found
Error: Couldn’t find any suitable frontend for your system
So what can I do know, since Lexmark after all this time still doesn’t seem to have done anything about the faulty driver installtion?
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You are a God! After an enormous amount of hours screwing with this for the last year, you fixed it.
You rock! Thank you so very much.
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Dylan,
Running natty 32bit x86. Ran through the procedure, and everything appeared to work fine.
Can print to Lexmark x1195.
sane-find-scanner shows “found USB scanner (vendor=0x043d, product=0x007c, chip=rts8858c) at libusb:002:006″.
scanimage -L returns nothing.
Ran sane_debug (see below)
frank@frank-s1737:~$ SANE_DEBUG_LEXMARK=128 scanimage -L
[sanei_debug] Setting debug level of lexmark to 128.
[lexmark] SANE Lexmark backend version 1.0.30-devel
[lexmark] sane_init: version_code=0xbf942ffc
[lexmark] attachLexmark: devname=libusb:002:006
[lexmark] attachLexmark: device `libusb:002:006′ successfully opened
[lexmark] attachLexmark: testing device `libusb:002:006′: 0x043d:0x007c, variant=0
[lexmark] attachLexmark: unsupported device `libusb:002:006′: 0x043d:0x007c
[lexmark] sane_get_devices: device_list=0xbf94305c, local_only=0
No scanners were identified. If you were expecting something different,
check that the scanner is plugged in, turned on and detected by the
sane-find-scanner tool (if appropriate). Please read the documentation
which came with this software (README, FAQ, manpages).
[lexmark] sane_exit
Can’t seem to get the scanner to work no matter what I do. Any help you can give would be greatly appreciated.
Regards,
Frank L.
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Your solution works great! Coupled with Pasqu’s fix for FRONTENDS, the printer installs like a charm. Thank you for posting the solution.
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Thank you! Worked like a charm — you rock!
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Hi Dylan, it looks like you have the solution to my problem; however, when I extract the downloaded file all I get is the same file I extracted. I cant see where the tmp config or run.lua file is to open and edit it. I have the downloaded file and extracted file going to downloads. Tried cd tmp & it says not found; however, I do see a tmp in the file system root but neither is there a tmp config run.lua. I imagine the current working directory should be downloads but don’t find them there. Could you please help?
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I’m having the same issue and have tried everything but i get a : Lua error detected: While parsing install.lua: config/run.lua:1476: attempt to index global ‘ownhership’ (a nil value) when trying to extract it. Is it being too lazy to ask if someone can tell me where to download the corrected file? I’ve been trying to fix this for two months now. I just want to smash my printer!
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Thank you Very Much, you saved me 25minutes of thinking (Which I now can spend on MineCraft instead, *hehe*).
Doesn’t they have unit testing or anything, that they use before they unleash their software on the world? I mean, that by spending a tiny amount of time testing and ensuring this work they could have saved a lot of man weeks spent by all those trying to install this.
And why the heck does their site say that it is a DEB-file when it isn’t?
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Hey John D, Call Lexmark Tech support and they will walk you through it. i just did and although it took me 40 min i can now print.
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You’re soo awesome!!! Thank you!!!! Finally. I tried to install since eternities.
And how stupid and incompetent are the programmers of Lexmark. Why do they don’t test their own script??
thanks a lot!
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Thanks a lot.
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sorry, but i can’t get through the process. can you just send me the corrected installer for this
lexmark-inkjet-legacy-wJRE-1.0-1.i386.deb.sh
THKS a lot
michele
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Thank you!
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Thanks! This fix works for the Dell V515w as well. Dell must use the Lexmark drivers.
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Great Thanks …
Anybody knows how I can fax from my ubuntu with a Lexmark Prevail Pro700 Series ?
Pingback: Installation d’une imprimante DELL v313w sous Linux Ubuntu 11.10 64 bits | Neopingoo
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To Dylan, Pasqu and Jay Armstrong thanks guys I now have a working printer.
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Hi,
I have the following problem. I uninstalled the S305 and I erased all the file in usr/lib/lexmark. Now I’m trying to install again but the script stops with the following error:
unable to proceed please remove
– lexmark-inkjet-legacy
– lexmark-wsu-legacy
These folders are not in my pc.
I’ll appreciate any help!
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The installer installs some .deb packages so if you already hae them installed it gives an error.
try:
sudo apt-get purge lexmark-legacy-wsu lexmark-inkjet-legacy-wjre
if that doesn’t work you can do
apt-cache search lexmark
and see what it lists, in case the packages installed on your system are something different than what I had installed on mine when I encountered this problem.
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Thanks for the hints, I used them on the equivalently broken driver of my Dell V313w printer and managed to run the installation program. However, the subsequent printer configuration still fails …. in the dialog prompting me to connect the printer via a usb cable I cannot click on “proceed” (it’s greyed out) although the printer _is_ connected via USB. Did anybody else run into this and can offer a solution?
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Thank you so much for this. I got my Lexmark 905 platinum pro yesterday and it looks that the guys in Lexmark haven’t solved this problem yet.
At this time I’m using ubuntu 11.10 and this worked perfectly. Thank once again.
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Thank you so much!!
I had a hard time making it work on ubuntu 11.10 but after I found your post about it I am able to print and scan with my intuition s505!!!
Thanks
(preparing a donation)
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I love dell laptops,they are reliable and gives great performance
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Thanks! Wow what a major error by Lexmark that they STILL haven’t fixed. Amazing…
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I still can’t do it ! I managed to have the installer run, I install and all, it says everything’s okay but when I launch the printing, nothing happens. Still trying… I uninstalled any lexmark package on my computer and tried again, but still doesn’t work. Do I need to have the file installed somewhere special? I am lost
please help me ! Do I have to do something with cups ?
Thank you very much!!
Julien
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I tried to install Lexmark Z705 drivers under Ubuntu 11.04 32bit. Without success. Is there any chance with this driver?
Pingback: Ubuntu Lexmark Pro 200 series printing « LifeBoy Says…
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With a little tweaking, and some time, I was able to get it to work. On my system, the files were in the tmp folder was off of root, and was automatically deleted when the installer failed. I had to copy and paste the folder before clicking ok on the script error. Then I had the files listed in the steps. Everything after that was smooth. I’m running Ubuntu 12.04 LTS 64 bit.
Good little challenge for a new user!
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Thanks Dylan and thanks Pasqu!!! You guys Rock – got me started in the right direction, I could never have figured this out.
However, my printer still wouldn’t print. After extensive Googling, found another tip that put everything together for me at https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/cups/+bug/877958 .
Till Kamppeter (till-kamppeter) wrote on 2011-10-20:
First, as a workaround you can comnnect to a network printer also with alternative protocols. Instead of IPP you can use AppSocket/JetDirect or LPD. To change your print queue appropriately, open system-config-printer (System menu by clicking the gear in the upper right, then “Printers”), right-click your printer, choose “Properties” in the pop-up menu, then “Change” button at “Device URI”. In the window openbing then, wait around 15 seconds until the spinning icon in the lower left disappears, open the “Network Printer” section, select your printer and at the lower right under “Connection” choose something which is not IPP.
I switched to App Socket/JetDirect and the printer fired right up to print test page. Guess my Lexmark s305 doesn’t like IPP.
This is in Ubuntu 11.10 32 bit
Thanks again
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Forgot to mention that along the way I allowed DNS service in the firewall UFW.
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NO it is not but I didn’t found nothing in the net so I posted here.!Anyway thank you for your words.
Regards