Can't print in black only/greyscale on Linux

Hi All,

I run openSUSE LEap 15 (64 bit) with KDE.
I have HPLIP 3.17.9 installed.
I have HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M277dw set up as a network printer.

I can scan and I can print, but, I cannot print in black only/greyscale mode. i.e. print color PDF using only black toner so that printed image is greyscale. It used to work with openSUSE 42.3.

My CUPS defaults are:

Print Color as Gray: ON
RGB Color: Default (sRGB)
Edge Control: Normal
Halftone: Smooth
Text Neutral Grays: Black Only
Graphics Neutral Grays: Black Only
Photo Neutral Grays: Back Only

So, if I print black text - it prints black just fine. If I want to print color document using only black cartridge (greyscale) - whatever I do it prints in color.

Below is hp-check -t output

hp-check[25687]: info: :
hp-check[25687]: info: :HP Linux Imaging and Printing System (ver. 3.17.9)
hp-check[25687]: info: :Dependency/Version Check Utility ver. 15.1
hp-check[25687]: info: :
hp-check[25687]: info: :Copyright (c) 2001-15 HP Development Company, LP
hp-check[25687]: info: :This software comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY.
hp-check[25687]: info: :This is free software, and you are welcome to distribute it
hp-check[25687]: info: :under certain conditions. See COPYING file for more details.
hp-check[25687]: info: :
hp-check[25687]: info: :Note: hp-check can be run in three modes:
hp-check[25687]: info: :1. Compile-time check mode (-c or --compile): Use this mode before compiling the HPLIP supplied tarball (.tar.gz or .run) to determine if the proper dependencies are installed to successfully compile HPLIP.
hp-check[25687]: info: :2. Run-time check mode (-r or --run): Use this mode to determine if a distro supplied package (.deb, .rpm, etc) or an already built HPLIP supplied tarball has the proper dependencies installed to successfully run.
hp-check[25687]: info: :3. Both compile- and run-time check mode (-b or --both) (Default): This mode will check both of the above cases (both compile- and run-time dependencies).
hp-check[25687]: info: :
hp-check[25687]: info: :Check types:
hp-check[25687]: info: :a. EXTERNALDEP - External Dependencies
hp-check[25687]: info: :b. GENERALDEP - General Dependencies (required both at compile and run time)
hp-check[25687]: info: :c. COMPILEDEP - Compile time Dependencies
hp-check[25687]: info: :d. [All are run-time checks]
hp-check[25687]: info: :PYEXT SCANCONF QUEUES PERMISSION
hp-check[25687]: info: :
hp-check[25687]: info: :Status Types:
hp-check[25687]: info: : OK
hp-check[25687]: info: : MISSING - Missing Dependency or Permission or Plug-in
hp-check[25687]: info: : INCOMPAT - Incompatible dependency-version or Plugin-version
hp-check[25687]: info: :
warning: 0- version is not supported. Using 0-0 versions dependencies to verify and install...
hp-check[25687]: info: :
hp-check[25687]: info: :---------------
hp-check[25687]: info: :| SYSTEM INFO |
hp-check[25687]: info: :---------------
hp-check[25687]: info: :
hp-check[25687]: info: : Kernel: 4.12.14-lp150.12.16-default #1 SMP Tue Aug 14 17:51:27 UTC 2018 (28574e6) GNU/Linux
 Host: cc-lcu
 Proc: 4.12.14-lp150.12.16-default #1 SMP Tue Aug 14 17:51:27 UTC 2018 (28574e6) GNU/Linux
 Distribution: 0
hp-check[25687]: info: : Bitness: 64 bit

hp-check[25687]: info: :
hp-check[25687]: info: :-----------------------
hp-check[25687]: info: :| HPLIP CONFIGURATION |
hp-check[25687]: info: :-----------------------
hp-check[25687]: info: :
hp-check[25687]: info: :HPLIP-Version: HPLIP 3.17.9
hp-check[25687]: info: :HPLIP-Home: /usr/share/hplip
warning: HPLIP-Installation: Auto installation is not supported for 0 distro version
hp-check[25687]: info: :
hp-check[25687]: info: :Current contents of '/etc/hp/hplip.conf' file:
hp-check[25687]: info: :# hplip.conf. Generated from hplip.conf.in by configure.

[hplip]
version=3.17.9

[dirs]
home=/usr/share/hplip
run=/var/run
ppd=/usr/share/cups/model/manufacturer-PPDs/hplip
ppdbase=/usr/share/cups/model/manufacturer-PPDs
doc=/usr/share/doc/packages/hplip
html==/usr/share/doc/packages/hplip
icon=/usr/share/applications
cupsbackend=/usr/lib/cups/backend
cupsfilter=/usr/lib/cups/filter
drv=/usr/lib/cups/driver
bin=/usr/bin
apparmor=/etc/apparmor.d
# Following values are determined at configure time and cannot be changed.
[configure]
network-build=yes
libusb01-build=no
pp-build=no
gui-build=yes
scanner-build=yes
fax-build=yes
dbus-build=yes
cups11-build=no
doc-build=yes
shadow-build=no
hpijs-install=yes
foomatic-drv-install=no
foomatic-ppd-install=yes
foomatic-rip-hplip-install=no
hpcups-install=yes
cups-drv-install=no
cups-ppd-install=yes
internal-tag=3.17.9
restricted-build=no
ui-toolkit=qt5
qt3=no
qt4=no
qt5=yes
policy-kit=no
lite-build=no
udev_sysfs_rules=no
hpcups-only-build=no
hpijs-only-build=no
apparmor_build=no

hp-check[25687]: info: :
hp-check[25687]: info: :Current contents of '/var/lib/hp/hplip.state' file:
hp-check[25687]: info: :[plugin]
installed = 1
eula = 1
version = 3.17.9

hp-check[25687]: info: :
hp-check[25687]: info: :Current contents of '~/.hplip/hplip.conf' file:
hp-check[25687]: info: :[commands]
scan = /usr/bin/xsane -V %SANE_URI%

[fax]
email_address =
voice_phone =

[installation]
date_time = 08/28/18 17:41:25
version = 3.17.9

[last_used]
device_uri = "hp:/net/HP_Color_LaserJet_MFP_M277dw?ip=192.168.0.20"
printer_name = HP_Color_LaserJet_MFP_M277dw
working_dir = .

[polling]
device_list =
enable = false
interval = 5

[refresh]
enable = false
rate = 30
type = 1

[settings]
systray_messages = 0
systray_visible = 0

[upgrade]
last_upgraded_time = 1528721345
notify_upgrade = true
pending_upgrade_time = 0

hp-check[25687]: info: : <Package-name> <Package-Desc> <Required/Optional> <Min-Version> <Installed-Version> <Status> <Comment>
hp-check[25687]: info: :
hp-check[25687]: info: :-------------------------
hp-check[25687]: info: :| External Dependencies |
hp-check[25687]: info: :-------------------------
hp-check[25687]: info: :
hp-check[25687]: info: : cups CUPS - Common Unix Printing System REQUIRED 1.1 2.2.7 OK 'CUPS Scheduler is running'
hp-check[25687]: info: : gs GhostScript - PostScript and PDF language interpreter and previewer REQUIRED 7.05 9.23 OK -
hp-check[25687]: info: : xsane xsane - Graphical scanner frontend for SANE OPTIONAL 0.9 0.999 OK -
hp-check[25687]: info: : scanimage scanimage - Shell scanning program OPTIONAL 1.0 1.0.27 OK -
hp-check[25687]: info: : error: dbus DBus - Message bus system REQUIRED - 1.12.2 MISSING 'DBUS may not be installed or not running'
hp-check[25687]: info: : policykit PolicyKit - Administrative policy framework OPTIONAL - 0.114 OK -
hp-check[25687]: info: : network network -wget OPTIONAL - 1.19.5 OK -
hp-check[25687]: info: : avahi-utils avahi-utils OPTIONAL - 0.6.32 OK -
hp-check[25687]: info: :
hp-check[25687]: info: :------------------------
hp-check[25687]: info: :| General Dependencies |
hp-check[25687]: info: :------------------------
hp-check[25687]: info: :
hp-check[25687]: info: : error: libjpeg libjpeg - JPEG library REQUIRED - - MISSING 'libjpeg needs to be installed'
hp-check[25687]: info: : cups-devel CUPS devel- Common Unix Printing System development files REQUIRED - 2.2.7 OK -
hp-check[25687]: info: : cups-image CUPS image - CUPS image development files REQUIRED - 2.2.7 OK -
hp-check[25687]: info: : libpthread libpthread - POSIX threads library REQUIRED - b'2.26' OK -
hp-check[25687]: info: : error: libusb libusb - USB library REQUIRED - 1.0 MISSING 'libusb needs to be installed'
hp-check[25687]: info: : sane SANE - Scanning library REQUIRED - - OK -
hp-check[25687]: info: : error: sane-devel SANE - Scanning library development files REQUIRED - - MISSING 'sane-devel needs to be installed'
hp-check[25687]: info: : error: libnetsnmp-devel libnetsnmp-devel - SNMP networking library development files REQUIRED 5.0.9 5.7.3 MISSING 'libnetsnmp-devel needs to be installed'
hp-check[25687]: info: : error: libcrypto libcrypto - OpenSSL cryptographic library REQUIRED - 1.1.0 MISSING 'libcrypto needs to be installed'
hp-check[25687]: info: : python3X Python 2.2 or greater - Python programming language REQUIRED 2.2 3.6.5 OK -
hp-check[25687]: info: : error: python3-notify2 Python libnotify - Python bindings for the libnotify Desktop notifications OPTIONAL - - MISSING 'python3-notify2 needs to be installed'
hp-check[25687]: info: : python3-pyqt4-dbus PyQt 4 DBus - DBus Support for PyQt4 OPTIONAL 4.0 4.12.1 OK -
hp-check[25687]: info: : python3-pyqt4 PyQt 4- Qt interface for Python (for Qt version 4.x) REQUIRED 4.0 4.12.1 OK -
hp-check[25687]: info: : python3-dbus Python DBus - Python bindings for DBus REQUIRED 0.80.0 1.2.4 OK -
hp-check[25687]: info: : python3-xml Python XML libraries REQUIRED - 2.2.5 OK -
hp-check[25687]: info: : python3-devel Python devel - Python development files REQUIRED 2.2 3.6.5 OK -
hp-check[25687]: info: : python3-pil PIL - Python Imaging Library (required for commandline scanning with hp-scan) OPTIONAL - 1.1.7 OK -
hp-check[25687]: info: : error: python3-reportlab Reportlab - PDF library for Python OPTIONAL 2.0 - MISSING 'python3-reportlab needs to be installed'
hp-check[25687]: info: :
hp-check[25687]: info: :--------------
hp-check[25687]: info: :| COMPILEDEP |
hp-check[25687]: info: :--------------
hp-check[25687]: info: :
hp-check[25687]: info: : libtool libtool - Library building support services REQUIRED - 2.4.6 OK -
hp-check[25687]: info: : gcc gcc - GNU Project C and C++ Compiler REQUIRED - 7.3.1 OK -
hp-check[25687]: info: : make make - GNU make utility to maintain groups of programs REQUIRED 3.0 4.2.1 OK -
hp-check[25687]: info: :
hp-check[25687]: info: :---------------------
hp-check[25687]: info: :| Python Extentions |
hp-check[25687]: info: :---------------------
hp-check[25687]: info: :
hp-check[25687]: info: : cupsext CUPS-Extension REQUIRED - 3.17.9 OK -
hp-check[25687]: info: : hpmudext IO-Extension REQUIRED - 3.17.9 OK -
hp-check[25687]: info: :
hp-check[25687]: info: :----------------------
hp-check[25687]: info: :| Scan Configuration |
hp-check[25687]: info: :----------------------
hp-check[25687]: info: :
hp-check[25687]: info: : hpaio HPLIP-SANE-Backend REQUIRED - 3.17.9 OK 'hpaio found in /etc/sane.d/dll.conf'
hp-check[25687]: info: : scanext Scan-SANE-Extension REQUIRED - 3.17.9 OK -
hp-check[25687]: info: :
hp-check[25687]: info: :------------------------------
hp-check[25687]: info: :| DISCOVERED SCANNER DEVICES |
hp-check[25687]: info: :------------------------------
hp-check[25687]: info: :
hp-check[25687]: info: :device `hpaio:/net/HP_Color_LaserJet_MFP_M277dw?ip=192.168.0.20' is a Hewlett-Packard HP_Color_LaserJet_MFP_M277dw all-in-one

hp-check[25687]: info: :
hp-check[25687]: info: :--------------------------
hp-check[25687]: info: :| DISCOVERED USB DEVICES |
hp-check[25687]: info: :--------------------------
hp-check[25687]: info: :
hp-check[25687]: info: :No devices found.
hp-check[25687]: info: :
hp-check[25687]: info: :---------------------------------
hp-check[25687]: info: :| INSTALLED CUPS PRINTER QUEUES |
hp-check[25687]: info: :---------------------------------
hp-check[25687]: info: :
hp-check[25687]: info: :
hp-check[25687]: info: :HP_Color_LaserJet_MFP_M277dw
hp-check[25687]: info: :----------------------------
hp-check[25687]: info: :Type: Printer
hp-check[25687]: info: :Device URI: hp:/net/HP_Color_LaserJet_MFP_M277dw?ip=192.168.0.20
hp-check[25687]: info: :PPD: /etc/cups/ppd/HP_Color_LaserJet_MFP_M277dw.ppd
hp-check[25687]: info: :PPD Description: HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M277 Postscript (recommended)
hp-check[25687]: info: :Printer status: printer HP_Color_LaserJet_MFP_M277dw is idle. enabled since 2018 m. rugpjūčio 27 d. 12:18:55
hp-check[25687]: info: :Required plug-in status: Installed
hp-check[25687]: info: :Communication status: Good
hp-check[25687]: info: :
hp-check[25687]: info: :
hp-check[25687]: info: :--------------
hp-check[25687]: info: :| PERMISSION |
hp-check[25687]: info: :--------------
hp-check[25687]: info: :
hp-check[25687]: info: :
hp-check[25687]: info: :-----------
hp-check[25687]: info: :| SUMMARY |
hp-check[25687]: info: :-----------
hp-check[25687]: info: :
hp-check[25687]: info: :Missing Required Dependencies
hp-check[25687]: info: :-----------------------------
hp-check[25687]: info: :None
hp-check[25687]: info: :
hp-check[25687]: info: :Missing Optional Dependencies
hp-check[25687]: info: :-----------------------------
hp-check[25687]: info: :None

hp-check[25687]: info: :
hp-check[25687]: info: :Total Errors: 8
hp-check[25687]: info: :Total Warnings: 0
hp-check[25687]: info: :
hp-check[25687]: info: :
hp-check[25687]: info: :Done.