New Macbook Pro Can’t Use Scanner Feature in HP Printer

I was helping set up an older printer, an HP OfficeJet Pro 8600 n911a, on a new Macbook Pro. We followed the instructions on HP.com, but we kept hitting an error while trying to install HP Easy Scan. It would download, install, and then during the config, we would get this error message, “Cannot configure the device software.”I found lots of articles online about this. Here is what they recommend:

1. Uninstalling the printer and reinstall it.
2. Reset the printing system by going under Apple -> System Preferences -> Printers & Scanners and then right-clicking in the white area in the printer list and choosing “Reset printing system…” (Note: This will delete ALL of your printers and scanners, so use with caution.)
3. Completely uninstall all HP software and start the install over from scratch.
4. Install the HP software through the App store.
5. Install the HP software from the HP website.

None of these helped. I finally tried something on a lark, and it fixed it for us.

1. I completely removed all HP software and the printer.
2. I opened up Printer settings (Apple -> System Preferences -> Printers & Scanners).
3. I clicked the plus sign to manually add the printer. The “Use” box had defaulted to the Airprint driver. I changed this to the HP OfficeJet Pro 8600 option, and then completed install.
4. Next, I installed ran the HP Easy Start software package from the HP website (search for your specific model to get the version best for your device).

This time, all the installations completed and both printing and scanning worked.