I have a MG2522 by Canon. I paid $0 for it at the dumpster. I refilled the cartridges and it worked fine. The colors were horrible, and I thought it was my refill job. Until…
I printed something from my Win11 VM and got completely different results. Windows produces clear, vibrant color; while fedora has this muddy mess like the dyes are mixed together.
I can’t begin to explain why this is. I have the stock driver. The printer worked from the moment I plugged it in. I didn’t have to do anything.
Is there an alternate driver?
The two prints at the top are from thw Win 11 VM. The bottom ones are the exact same files as printed by fedora. Nevermind the streaks in the blue. That is a clogged jet, it comes and goes.
What can I try?
That is interesting. I don’t have a solution or an explanation but I have a Canon Pixma MG3200 and the colors in your picture, the bottom half, are precisely what I get here but I blamed it on my refilling as well. Fact: it happened after I refilled, the original color cartridge printed perfect hues. So the mystery remains.
I was digging around in the print quality settings and discovered something in the Color tab. The default setting is RGB color. The dropdown (which I can’t easily capture) has options for Grayscale,Inverted Grayscale, RGB Color. CMY Color, CMYK, and KCMY. It prints true to color on CMYK, but goes back to RGB each time.
So I guess the question is how do I create a persistent profile, or change this default. It appears to do the thing in all programs.
Interesting as well. I setup mine to use CMYK too. You need root to edit colors in settings/printers (gnome workstation), apply, and save.
Not tested yet though, postponed to sometimes tomorrow.
You may try to edit the ppd file directly if the settings reset. Here’s my edits for reference
/etc/cups/ppd$ sudo diff -ubB MG3000-series.ppd.O MG3000-series.ppd
--- MG3000-series.ppd.O 2026-05-30 06:18:22.504059265 -0400
+++ MG3000-series.ppd 2026-08-14 21:39:30.945400785 -0400
@@ -125,7 +125,7 @@
*OpenUI *ColorModel/Color Model: PickOne
*OPOptionHints ColorModel: "radiobuttons"
*OrderDependency: 2 AnySetup *ColorModel
-*DefaultColorModel: RGB
+*DefaultColorModel: CMYK
*StpDefaultColorModel: RGB
*ColorModel Gray/Grayscale: "<</cupsColorSpace 0/cupsColorOrder 0/cupsBitsPerColor 8/cupsPreferredBitsPerColor 16>>setpagedevice"
*ColorModel Black/Inverted Grayscale: "<</cupsColorSpace 3/cupsColorOrder 0/cupsBitsPerColor 8/cupsPreferredBitsPerColor 16>>setpagedevice"
@@ -248,7 +248,7 @@
*OrderDependency: 10 AnySetup *StpCDInnerRadius
*OPOptionHints StpCDInnerRadius: "radiobuttons"
*StpStpCDInnerRadius: 0 1 0 0 255 0.000 0.000 0.000
-*DefaultStpCDInnerRadius: None
+*DefaultStpCDInnerRadius: Small
*StpDefaultStpCDInnerRadius: None
*StpCDInnerRadius None/Normal: ""
*StpCDInnerRadius Small/Print To Hub: ""
changes applied in the print document dialog are not persistent and valid only for the current print job. You have to make the changes in settings/printers (gnome workstation)
unlock first, then select the printer queue and then select ‘Printing Options’
Or edit the ppd file in /etc/cups/ppd/
Thanks Mark,
I did make my changes there, and it fixed the problem for some apps. But others continue to to exhibit the muddy color problem.
For example I opened an image file in LibreOffice Draw, filled the whole page, and printed. It was the muddy gray mess. I exported the file as pdf. The document viewer printed correctly with CMYK.
I will follow this path and review the contents of my printer’s file… If it exists.
Then you have to check LibreOffice’s print dialog, It may override the default settings configured in the ppd driver.
What happens if you configure CMYK instead of CMY?
K = black, it should use all 4 available colors to print, and with black available, the printer does not have to use the CMY colors to print black.
Maybe check if Windows driver has some color profile configured for the printer.
What I have learned…
If you are experiencing this issue you will need to use your password to unlock and change the system dialog. Set this to match your printer’s ink type. I used CMYK because it has a 3 color cartridge, and a black.
Also you may need to change any defaults in the ppd file. /etc/cups/ppd/[your printer].
However after doing both of these L.O. Draw still uses the wrong color model when printing. The document viewer prints a pdf perfectly.
I wish someone who knows the answer would weigh in… but for now most of my apps appear to print properly now.
in LibreOffice:
File-> Printer Settings → Properties → Device has also all kinds of settings like color model, Ink Type, Ink Set, Color Correction and many more.
I think those are the same Advanced settings that are available in gnome’s settings / printer dialog.
Have you also reviewed Settings/Color Management?
Hello Mark,
You have asked several questions…
CMY vs CMYK: The printer is CMYK, so I haven’t tried that option.
Check Windows: I don’t even know where to look. And frankly don’t care to go down a rabbit hole about Windows printer profiles. I keep the VM alive for the rare occasions I have to have it.
Libre Office printer settings: I have experimented. Nothing has corrected the colors in things printed directly from Draw. I have not tried inserting a photo in Writer or Calc.
Some of these options might ‘mean the same thing’ as the gnome printer settings dialogue. But they don’t match. One fixes the problem and the other (LO) has no effect. Or actively goes against the system defaults.
Conclusion: I am able to print colors correctly for some apps. I don’t know if I have done this correctly. I can’t test every app and combination. Almost everything I need to print goes through Document Viewer as PDF.
