Deleted cupsd.conf by mistake. Please Help

[Campitor]

Hello all,

I was trying to uninstall cups-pdf and did something very stupid and deleted all files from /etc/cups.

Now my system is going into an infinite loop because its complaining about not finding cupsd.conf

Unable to open "/private/etc/cups/cupsd.conf": No such file or directory

I can disable the loop by typing

sudo launchctl unload /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/org.cups.cupsd.plist

but all my printers are gone and I can't restart the system otherwise the problem comes back.

I don't know what to do. I've looked for cupsd.conf files on the web to copy them back to /etc/cups and /private/etc/cups/ but they are all very different and I don't want to break the system any more.

I also am worried that if I re/install OS X again, I will loose information such as software or files.

Please, any help would be greatly appreciated. I know I'm an idiot for deleting files like that, but I misunderstood the indications.

Thanks in advance

Camp

 

[KALLT]

I presume you don’t have a (Time Machine) backup?

 

[Campitor]

I presume you don’t have a (Time Machine) backup?

Sorry, no. I know I should. I back up my documents online, but not my system. I will from now on.

I'm beginning to come to terms with the fact that I will have to reinstall the system. I just hope that will fix the problems.

I was hoping I could copy some files and make things better again.

 

[KALLT]

Sorry, no. I know I should. I back up my documents online, but not my system. I will from now on.

I'm beginning to come to terms with the fact that I will have to reinstall the system. I just hope that will fix the problems.

I was hoping I could copy some files and make things better again.

I cannot say what the cups folder specifically does, but usually, if you mess with such system files and don’t have a backup in place, your system might not accept files from another system, depending on the contents. I’ve had a look at my cups folder and there is at least one locked folder in it that I cannot even open. I am not sure whether it would help if I send you my files.

You could try installing Yosemite on a virtual machine like VMware or Parallels (a trial version should absolutely suffice for this) and recover the files from there. It might work, but there is no guarantee.

 

[Campitor]

I cannot say what the cups folder specifically does, but usually, if you mess with such system files and don’t have a backup in place, your system might not accept files from another system, depending on the contents. I’ve had a look at my cups folder and there is at least one locked folder in it that I cannot even open. I am not sure whether it would help if I send you my files.

You could try installing Yosemite on a virtual machine like VMware or Parallels (a trial version should absolutely suffice for this) and recover the files from there. It might work, but there is no guarantee.

Thanks for your help.
I didn't touch the folders, just deleted the text files. I Could try using your files, maybe one at a time. Perhaps that could help.
I have backed up all my docs and made a list of apps that I may need to reinstall. So if things get worse, then my weekend will be very tediousl spent in front of my mac

So, in conclusion, if you don't mind sending the text files, I would appreciate it.
But, if you think reinstalling the system is my best bet, then I will go that way.

Thnks