CUPS refuses to print jobs, states: "Unable to cancel print job."

[RobotRoss]

Describe the bug
CUPS will cancel a job internally with no user instruction to do so, and report the job as "completed", despite the job never reaching the printer.

To Reproduce
Steps to reproduce the behavior:

1. Attempt to print a document
2. Open CUPS UI, go to jobs, observe State: completed at
   Wed 21 Jan 2026 14:12:58 GMT
   "Unable to cancel print job."

Expected behavior
Job to complete and successfully print.

Screenshots
If applicable, add screenshots to help explain your problem.

System Information:

• OS and its version: Fedora Silverblue 43
• Application: All
• CUPS version: 2.4.16

Additional context
Seems to only be affecting 1 of the 2 printers I have on my network. My other printer, a Dell C3265DNF is working properly.

Attempting to print a test page via GNOME Settings will succeed and prints successfully.

[ValdikSS]

Please read https://github.com/OpenPrinting/cups/blob/master/REPORTING_ISSUES.md#how-to-report-the-issue-to-cups-project, follow its steps and provide the details listed in this document.

[RobotRoss]

OS: Fedora Silverblue 43, Linux hortonator 6.18.10-200.fc43.x86_64 #1 SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Wed Feb 11 17:20:05 UTC 2026 x86_64 GNU/Linux
CUPS Version: OpenPrinting CUPS 2.4.16
Description: CUPS will cancel a job internally with no user instruction to do so, and report the job as "completed", despite the job never reaching the printer.
Printer model: Brother MFC-L5700DN
Log: log.zip
Info:

crystalyne@hortonator:~$ lpstat -e
Brother_MFC_L5700DN_series
Dell_C3765dnf_Color_MFP_EB_05_CA
crystalyne@hortonator:~$ lpstat -t
scheduler is running
no system default destination
device for Brother_MFC_L5700DN_series: ipp://BrotherPrinter.local:631/ipp/print
device for Dell_C3765dnf_Color_MFP_EB_05_CA: ipp://DellPrinter.local:631/ipp/print
Brother_MFC_L5700DN_series accepting requests since Tue 17 Feb 2026 14:10:35 GMT
Dell_C3765dnf_Color_MFP_EB_05_CA accepting requests since Tue 17 Feb 2026 14:17:56 GMT
printer Brother_MFC_L5700DN_series now printing Brother_MFC_L5700DN_series-51.  enabled since Tue 17 Feb 2026 14:10:35 GMT
	Connected to printer.
printer Dell_C3765dnf_Color_MFP_EB_05_CA is idle.  enabled since Tue 17 Feb 2026 14:17:56 GMT
Brother_MFC_L5700DN_series-51 crystalyne       52224   Tue 17 Feb 2026 14:10:35 GMT
crystalyne@hortonator:~$ lpinfo -v
network beh
file cups-brf:/
network https
network ipp
network ipps
network lpd
serial serial:/dev/ttyS0?baud=115200
network http
network socket
network smb
direct hp
direct hpfax
network dnssd://Brother%20MFC-L5700DN%20series._ipp._tcp.local/?uuid=e3248000-80ce-11db-8000-b422005407c2
network dnssd://Dell%20C3765dnf%20Color%20MFP%20(EB%3A05%3ACA)._ipps._tcp.local/?uuid=60d3b700-1dd2-11b2-a07d-080037eb05ca
network dnssd://Dell%20C3765dnf%20Color%20MFP%20(EB%3A05%3ACA)._pdl-datastream._tcp.local/?uuid=60d3b700-1dd2-11b2-a07d-080037eb05ca
network ipp://Dell%20C3765dnf%20Color%20MFP%20(EB%3A05%3ACA)._ipp._tcp.local/
network ipps://Brother%20MFC-L5700DN%20series._ipps._tcp.local/
network ipps://Dell%20C3765dnf%20Color%20MFP%20(EB%3A05%3ACA)._ipps._tcp.local/
network socket://192.168.1.109
network lpd://BrotherPrinter/BINARY_P1

File: N/A (happens with all files)
PPD: Brother_MFC_L5700DN_series ppd.zip
Application: N/A (happens with all apps)
attr.zip

[ValdikSS]

Your log is trimmed because systemd-journald suppressed the messages.
Feb 17 14:03:23 hortonator systemd-journald[812]: Suppressed 45236 messages from cups.service

Please edit /etc/cups/cups-files.conf, set ErrorLog /var/log/cups/error.log or something similar, then edit /etc/cups/cupsd.conf to use LogLevel debug (not debug2, it's too chatty), and restart with sudo systemctl restart cups.

Try to print something and upload /var/log/cups/error.log.

[RobotRoss]

cat /var/log/cups/error.log
cat: /var/log/cups/error.log: No such file or directory

journalctl attached.

log.zip

[ValdikSS]

So, [Job 52] is not printed? And it took 5 minutes for Unable to add document to print job error to appear?

According to log, it should have been printed. Your printer reports that it's sleeping, but it also accept jobs. Could it be that it does not, and needs to be woken up? Could you just press some buttons on it, or just restart?

[RobotRoss]

Just tried that, still has the error.

log.zip

[ValdikSS]

Your logs are cut. Please do as I described above for cups to print directly into the file, not to journald.
Since you're using Silverblue, you need to adapt it for your distro if /var/log/cups does not exit or read only or anything in addition.

[RobotRoss]

Attached

error.zip

[ValdikSS]

This one does not have printing jobs. It could have been rotated, or you need to print after enabling these options.

Anyway, try the following:
lpadmin -p Brother_MFC_L5700DN_series -o print-as-raster-default=true

And print.

[ValdikSS]

@RobotRoss did it work?

[RobotRoss]

lpadmin -p Brother_MFC_L5700DN_series -o print-as-raster-default=true

crystalyne@hortonator:~$ lpadmin -p Brother_MFC_L5700DN_series -o print-as-raster-default=true
lpadmin: Unable to save value for "print-as-raster-default" with a temporary printer.

[ValdikSS]

Oh, ok.

Right now your printer is installed as a temporary queue. You need to make it permanent:

1. Open http://127.0.0.1:631/admin
2. Add your printer with "add printer" button (under different name, not Brother_MFC_L5700DN_series)
3. Choose default driver it would recommend (the first in the list)
4. Run lpadmin -p your_new_printer_name -o print-as-raster-default=true

Most probably, it will print.

@zdohnal, @jberkenbilt, @michaelrsweet this is the same error as OpenPrinting/cups-filters#463
However it fails to automatically retry-as-raster because (apparently) it tries to cancel already cancelled/cancelling job before falling back to raster?
@michaelrsweet, please take a look.

Feb 17 15:36:13 hortonator cupsd[129538]: [Job 54] (monitor) Get-Job-Attributes: successful-ok-ignored-or-substituted-attributes (successful-ok-ignored-or-substituted-attributes)
Feb 17 15:36:13 hortonator cupsd[129538]: [Job 54] (monitor) job-state = processing
Feb 17 15:36:13 hortonator cupsd[129538]: [Job 54] JOBSTATE: cups-retry-as-raster
Feb 17 15:36:13 hortonator cupsd[129538]: [Job 54] (monitor) job-state = processing
Feb 17 15:36:15 hortonator cupsd[129538]: [Job 54] Canceling print job.
Feb 17 15:36:15 hortonator cupsd[129538]: [Job 54] Set job-printer-state-message to "Canceling print job.", current level=INFO
Feb 17 15:36:15 hortonator cupsd[129538]: [Job 54] Get-Job-Attributes: successful-ok-ignored-or-substituted-attributes (successful-ok-ignored-or-substituted-attributes)
Feb 17 15:36:15 hortonator cupsd[129538]: [Job 54] ---- operation-attributes-tag ----
Feb 17 15:36:15 hortonator cupsd[129538]: [Job 54] attributes-charset charset utf-8
Feb 17 15:36:15 hortonator cupsd[129538]: [Job 54] attributes-natural-language naturalLanguage en-gb
Feb 17 15:36:15 hortonator cupsd[129538]: [Job 54] ---- unsupported-attributes-tag ----
Feb 17 15:36:15 hortonator cupsd[129538]: [Job 54] requested-attributes keyword job-media-sheets-completed
Feb 17 15:36:15 hortonator cupsd[129538]: [Job 54] ---- job-attributes-tag ----
Feb 17 15:36:15 hortonator cupsd[129538]: [Job 54] job-id integer 522
Feb 17 15:36:15 hortonator cupsd[129538]: [Job 54] job-impressions-completed integer 0
Feb 17 15:36:15 hortonator cupsd[129538]: [Job 54] job-name nameWithoutLanguage Document from Document Viewer
Feb 17 15:36:15 hortonator cupsd[129538]: [Job 54] job-originating-user-name nameWithoutLanguage crystalyne
Feb 17 15:36:15 hortonator cupsd[129538]: [Job 54] job-state enum aborted
Feb 17 15:36:15 hortonator cupsd[129538]: [Job 54] job-state-reasons keyword document-format-error
Feb 17 15:36:15 hortonator cupsd[129538]: [Job 54] ---- end-of-attributes-tag ----
Feb 17 15:36:15 hortonator cupsd[129538]: [Job 54] PAGE: total 0
Feb 17 15:36:15 hortonator cupsd[129538]: [Job 54] Canceling print job.
Feb 17 15:36:16 hortonator cupsd[129538]: [Job 54] (monitor) cancel_job() = client-error-not-possible
Feb 17 15:36:16 hortonator cupsd[129538]: [Job 54] Unable to cancel print job.
Feb 17 15:36:16 hortonator cupsd[129538]: [Job 54] Set job-printer-state-message to "Unable to cancel print job.", current level=ERROR
Feb 17 15:36:16 hortonator cupsd[129538]: [Job 54] Unable to cancel print job.

[RobotRoss]

Oh, ok.

Right now your printer is installed as a temporary queue. You need to make it permanent:

1. Open http://127.0.0.1:631/admin

2. Add your printer with "add printer" button (under different name, not `Brother_MFC_L5700DN_series`)

3. Choose default driver it would recommend (the first in the list)

4. Run `lpadmin -p your_new_printer_name -o print-as-raster-default=true`

Most probably, it will print.

@zdohnal, @jberkenbilt, @michaelrsweet this is the same error as OpenPrinting/cups-filters#463 However it fails to automatically retry-as-raster because (apparently) it tries to cancel already cancelled/cancelling job before falling back to raster? @michaelrsweet, please take a look.

Feb 17 15:36:13 hortonator cupsd[129538]: [Job 54] (monitor) Get-Job-Attributes: successful-ok-ignored-or-substituted-attributes (successful-ok-ignored-or-substituted-attributes)
Feb 17 15:36:13 hortonator cupsd[129538]: [Job 54] (monitor) job-state = processing
Feb 17 15:36:13 hortonator cupsd[129538]: [Job 54] JOBSTATE: cups-retry-as-raster
Feb 17 15:36:13 hortonator cupsd[129538]: [Job 54] (monitor) job-state = processing
Feb 17 15:36:15 hortonator cupsd[129538]: [Job 54] Canceling print job.
Feb 17 15:36:15 hortonator cupsd[129538]: [Job 54] Set job-printer-state-message to "Canceling print job.", current level=INFO
Feb 17 15:36:15 hortonator cupsd[129538]: [Job 54] Get-Job-Attributes: successful-ok-ignored-or-substituted-attributes (successful-ok-ignored-or-substituted-attributes)
Feb 17 15:36:15 hortonator cupsd[129538]: [Job 54] ---- operation-attributes-tag ----
Feb 17 15:36:15 hortonator cupsd[129538]: [Job 54] attributes-charset charset utf-8
Feb 17 15:36:15 hortonator cupsd[129538]: [Job 54] attributes-natural-language naturalLanguage en-gb
Feb 17 15:36:15 hortonator cupsd[129538]: [Job 54] ---- unsupported-attributes-tag ----
Feb 17 15:36:15 hortonator cupsd[129538]: [Job 54] requested-attributes keyword job-media-sheets-completed
Feb 17 15:36:15 hortonator cupsd[129538]: [Job 54] ---- job-attributes-tag ----
Feb 17 15:36:15 hortonator cupsd[129538]: [Job 54] job-id integer 522
Feb 17 15:36:15 hortonator cupsd[129538]: [Job 54] job-impressions-completed integer 0
Feb 17 15:36:15 hortonator cupsd[129538]: [Job 54] job-name nameWithoutLanguage Document from Document Viewer
Feb 17 15:36:15 hortonator cupsd[129538]: [Job 54] job-originating-user-name nameWithoutLanguage crystalyne
Feb 17 15:36:15 hortonator cupsd[129538]: [Job 54] job-state enum aborted
Feb 17 15:36:15 hortonator cupsd[129538]: [Job 54] job-state-reasons keyword document-format-error
Feb 17 15:36:15 hortonator cupsd[129538]: [Job 54] ---- end-of-attributes-tag ----
Feb 17 15:36:15 hortonator cupsd[129538]: [Job 54] PAGE: total 0
Feb 17 15:36:15 hortonator cupsd[129538]: [Job 54] Canceling print job.
Feb 17 15:36:16 hortonator cupsd[129538]: [Job 54] (monitor) cancel_job() = client-error-not-possible
Feb 17 15:36:16 hortonator cupsd[129538]: [Job 54] Unable to cancel print job.
Feb 17 15:36:16 hortonator cupsd[129538]: [Job 54] Set job-printer-state-message to "Unable to cancel print job.", current level=ERROR
Feb 17 15:36:16 hortonator cupsd[129538]: [Job 54] Unable to cancel print job.

That seems to have done it, it's successfully printed now. Thank you!

[ValdikSS]

@RobotRoss don't forget to disable debug logging, or it will wear your SSD.
sudo cupsctl --no-debug-logging, or edit /etc/cups/cupsd.conf.