"Hold for Authentication" preventing Mac from Printing to Printer shared by PC on same WiFi network

Barney, I thought more about your suggestion to connect only the Mac by wireless. As I replied before, I didn't want to have to use that extra "Earth Connection" cable that Canon supplies and insists must be used to make the printer conform to Canadian legal standards for wireless operation. I looked at two other methods, via ethernet cable to modem and via USB cable direct to modem, but my printer didn't have an ethernet port and my modem's USB ports were limited to charging only.

In the process, though, I realized that the printer was already compliant because it was connected by USB to the Asus. Which meant I didn't have to use the extra grounding cable when I connected the Mac wirelessly!

But, even following Canon's directions step by step, I could not get the printer added to the Mac... no apparent reason...the process would just get stuck - I tried 3 times. Then, when I was re-reading Canon's directions one more time, I noticed one other possibility. They say it is not necessary to update the Mac software to add an Air Print printer, but an update is necessary if the printer is not an Air Print printer. My Canon is Air Print, and I was not ready to update my OS, so I was happy to read that. But I was planning to update from Big Sur 11.2.2 to Big Sur 11.2.3 eventually. So I thought I might as well do it sooner than later, if that might have any bearing on getting the Canon working.

Well, I don't know for sure if it did or not. But the fact is that after I did the Mac OS update, I was able to set up the Canon printer wirelessly on my first try. And it printed immediately too.

In any case, the problem is finally solved. I now have all 3 computers using the Canon printer: I have my Asus connected to the printer by USB, and the Lenovo connected to the Asus wirelessly. And now have the Mac connected directly to the printer wirelessly.

Thank you for your help along the way in this little adventure :)

Yes, there is a Mac driver and I did have this printer installed on the Mac via USB. It worked fine, but I wanted to move it physically over to the Asus desk because I need the space on the Mac desk for my Laser printer - when I buy more toner for it :(

Two reasons I'm not using the wireless option:

1. It's a crazy hybrid Japanese-Canadian printer which needs to be grounded with a special weird Japanese cable to be legal in Canada - if it's on wireless. Can you believe it? I would not have bought it, had I known. Just one more thing that can go wrong, another cable. Fortunately... I don't legally need to use the extra crazy cable if the printer is connected to a laptop or computer by USB, which is why it is.
2. Yeah, I actually did try the wireless route first to see what would happen. The printer did connect to the wifi right away, but none of the 3 computers would connect to it. lol. And when it also kicked my Asus offline, I figured I didn't need that additional hassle, and gave up on the wireless adventure. Do you blame me?!

And then, when I saw that I could get the printer working effortlessly on the 2 PCs via the USB, I figured that was going to be a fantastic arrangement. Of course, I didn't anticipate all this trouble getting the Mac working with the PC.

Thanks for the reassurance about the PCL. Another reason I was asking is because it looks to me like the Mac thinks it has sent its print jobs to the Asus and the Lenovo also seems to think the Mac has done that...and I can see the jobs waiting in a printer queue on the Lenovo screen. But the jobs were clearly sent to the Asus, not the Lenovo...which raises the question about where on the Asus is this other "ghost" printer queue? I cannot see it anywhere on the Asus. That's what led me to wonder if the PCL/PS thing might have somehow created these two separate versions of the printer on the Asus each with its own printer queue?

After reading all the above, I suspect you are thinking: why doesn't she just go and buy the toner for the Mac's laser printer? :D

Thank you for that information Barney. I've used both methods, connecting as a Guest or as a Registered User. After getting nowhere with the latter, I decided to use Guest because then I can see the whole process i.e. the printer gets installed on the Mac and I can send a job to it. After the job starts to load I'm prompted for the printer user name and password, which I enter, and the printer seems to accept it and the job appears in the queue, but is on Hold for Authentication.

On the other hand, if I use Registered User, I can't even install the printer. I am immediately blocked at the point of adding my user name and password. My password is rejected because "Passwords Are Locked". And yes, I can unlock the passwords, but that only takes me to the Autofill screen which has Safari website passwords. I do know how to add more Safari autofill passwords, but I don't see how I could add my computer/printer password there.

So using either method, the problem seems to be related to passwords. Of course, it could be something totally different that just appears to be a password problem. lol.

btw, originally I was only using the Registered User method and I posted the problem under the title "Passwords Are Locked". But I haven't had any replies about that issue yet.

No, I am not installing the printer at every print job. Yes, I do have the printer added successfully in Printers and Scanners. But I was only able to add the printer by using Guest. There are no errors indicated when I add the printer via Guest.

I cannot add the printer using Registered User because I can't get past the "Passwords Are Locked" issue. The error does not indicate a problem with my username, only with the password being locked. Curiously, it will accept the very same password to Unlock the passwords.

Just to clarify and make sure I'm using the right ones - I'm using the username and password for the Asus computer, which I got from the Keychain Access app for the printer. When I'm prompted, the Registered User method asks me for "the printserv" which I understand is the Asus, right? And when I try to print a job on the Mac, it prompts me for "your name and password for the printer" which is also the username and password for the Asus, correct?

Okay, that's part of the problem then - that I'm using the password for the Asus computer, not a password specific to its printer. I'll work on that now - to find out how I have the sharing set up, etc. I think we're getting closer to the solution now :)

Ahhh, finally I've gotten rid of the "Hold for Authentication" issue! At least I think what I've done is correct so far, because it appears my items are being sent from the Mac to the printer now. Unfortunately they are still not printing yet, so I'm not sure what else I'm doing wrong.

Here's what I've done: Does it sound like I'm on the right track?

I went back and confirmed, in Step 3 of the Apple Instructions, that I did have all the correct names for the PC printer entered in the "network browser", specifically the PC workgroup name, the computer name (print server), and the shared printer name. The instructions say to enter the "user name and password for the print server", which would be the PC computer. When the pop up appears, it specifically says "Registered User" which appears to mean any User on the PC. I tried a different User than the one I had been entering before, and my username and password were accepted.

Also, I tried to verify this by using the Guest method where it asks for the username and password of the printer. Yes, my same username and password work for that issue too, and the print jobs are no longer stuck in the Mac queue on "Hold for Authentication".

Instead, a print job on the Mac now says its loading and connecting to the printer and then ready to print. I can't see it in the print queue on the Asus, but strangely I can see it on my Lenovo laptop connected to the network. When I try to print from the Lenovo, I get the warning that the printer is being used by someone else and I can see that is the print job coming from the Mac.

Unless you know a quick solution to this new problem, I'm wondering if I should call this question Solved and start a new question about why the Mac job is lined up in the printer queue but not printing? Or should I continue on in this same thread?

Thanks again for your help :)

Yes, I am using a Windows (Administrator) User account on the Asus to share the printer and also act as the username and password of the Registered User needed to connect the Asus to the Mac. I'm sorry, but I don't know how to use an independent username and password for sharing the Printer from the Asus. And I can't seem to find any instructions for how to do that....?

I'm also wondering if I'm choosing the right Driver when adding the printer on the Mac. I've seen comments saying the type of Driver needs to match the one on the PC. Because I'm not given a choice of my exact printer driver, I've chosen Generic PCL. But maybe I should be using Generic Postscript? I have tried to find which driver is installed on the PC, but I can only find the version of the driver on the PC, not whether it is PCL or PS.

To answer my own question, the reason why I need to get the Mac connected to the Canon inkjet is because I have a year's worth of ink touse up for the Canon. No point buying toner for the laser printer till then. Luckily I finally got the Mac printing over WiFi :)