Modify Canon Pixma Printer to Print on CDs / DVDs

This tutorial describes how to use your Canon Pixma IPxxxx printer to print directly on printable CDs/DVDs. European models have this feature already enabled but unfortunately for us Americans it has been disabled due to Canon not wanting to pay for the licensing to use the technology in North America. Notice I said "disabled." Because the printers still have the feature all we need to do is enable it... Oh yeah, and obtain the Disk tray that obviously didn't come standard to us, as they did in Europe.

This tutorial describes how to make a cd tray for little or no money. It is pictured below. Or you could buy one on ebay for about $20.

Credit:
The initial idea was found on StevesForums. Most of the credit is theirs. The reason I have this tutorial is to give what I have learned in a straight-forward how-to. The original StevesForums post is now 77+ pages, so weeding through it to find what works and what doesn't work could possibly take 4-5 years... or more.

Although all of my testing is done on my Canon Pixma IP5000 this tutorial applies to several Canon printers with CD/DVD printing abilities. Where applicable I will tell you where the models differ.

What you'll need:
A Canon Pixma Printer that has the ability to print on disks. You can tell because there is a fold down plate on the front of the printer (image 0B).
A flat head screw driver
About 5 minutes of time (10 minutes if you read all my dumb comments).

Step 1: Enable the Printer- Remove the Cover.

First we must enable to printer to accept the CD-tray. Again, my printer is the ip5000 so the pictures may be a little different.

The steps involved are as follows:

1. Removing the front flate covering the CD-tray opening (pictured).
2. Set the printer's BIOS to non-US (next step).

Step 2: Enable the Printer- Changing the BIOS.

Now we need to change the printer's BIOS to non-US (ie. European). Trust me, this looks way harder than it really is.

These instructions are for Pixma IP3000/4000/5000. Instructions for most other compatible printers can be found herehere.

The steps are as follows:

a. Turn off the printer but don't unplug it.

b. Hold down RESUME (Triangle pointed down) then push and hold down POWER. Wait about 5 seconds before releasing RESUME but continuing to hold POWER. While still holding POWER press RESUME once. You will notice the power light turn orange. Press RESUME again so the light turns green. Finally release POWER. (Picture 1)

c. To be sure you are in the service mode before continuing press RESUME once - the light will turn Orange. Press POWER once. If you are in Diagnostic mode the Diagnostic sheet will print.
(The Diagnostic sheet will list its ROM number and read "CDR SENSOR=OK" in red on the last line).
Note the color of "iPxxx (LTR) V1.xx". Non-CDR support will be cyan. Keep this sheet to compare to the one after you change the settings. (Picture 2)

d. To get to the Destination settings press RESUME 5 times (the light will be orange) then press POWER once. You are in the Destination settings option.

e. Now you can choose a destination. Press RESUME this many times followed by POWER to pick one.
- 1 times IPxxxx Japan
- 2 times Not Japan no CD-r support a4 paper
- 3 times Not Japan No CD-R support letter paper
- 4 times Not Japan CD-R support a4 paper
- 5 times Not Japan CD-R support letter paper
- 6 times you wish to abort and get back to the first menu
(Tip: Incase of warranty return you may want to reset the BIOS to the default which I believe is 2).

f. For this example we will choose "Non Japan CD-R Support Letter Paper" by pressing RESUME 5 times followed by POWER once. This changes the printer to "non Japan, CD-R Support, letter paper" mode.

g. To see if your settings worked you may now print another diagnostic sheet. Press RESUME once - the light will turn Orange. Press POWER once. The new diagnostic sheet should show Cyan instead of Magenta signifying you correctly enabled CD-printing. (Picture 3)

h. To confirm the new settings and return to printing mode press POWER once. You must press POWER or it will return to "JAPAN IPxxxx" with no CD-printing.

Congratulations, your printer is now able to print directly to disks. Next we need to install the drivers and software.

Step 3: Install Drivers.

If you have already installed the drivers for your printer before you changed the printer's region you will need to uninstall the drivers first, unless you want to play with registry keysregistry keys.

If you have a Mac I can't help you with this part as I am running XP. If you have anything other than Windows my advice would be to uninstall all drivers and install the new non-US drivers.

Download your printer driver via Canon's Japan, Europe, or Hong Kong sites. I used Europe.

The drivers are listed below:

Japan
http://cweb.canon.jp/drv-upd/bj/bjwxp-180.html

Europe
http://software.canon-europe.com/

Hong Kong
http://www.canon.com.hk/En/product/Series.aspx?productcategory_id=1

USA
http://consumer.usa.canon.com/ir/controller?act=DownloadIndexAct&fcategoryid=305

Step 4: See If the Drivers Are Working.

You can tell that you have the correct (Disk-printing enabled) drivers because because you should now have a new "media type" available to you in the printer preferences.

If you have this option then the drivers are working correctly so you can skip the rest of this step and continue to the next step. If you don't have this option, keep reading. You may need to change some registry keys. But don't worry, it's easy.

a. From Windows' START menu click RUN

b. Type "regedit" (without the quotes of course).

c. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\Print\Printers\Canon PIXMA iPxxxx\PrinterDriverData

d. Find "CnmFSI_CDRSWITCH"

e. Right-Click and choose "Modify"

f. Change the value from 0 to 1

g. Click OK and close regedit. When CnmFSI_CDRSWITCH = 1 there will be the extra options for printing on Printable disks.

Step 5: Install the Software.

Now you need to install the programs that will let you design and print onto the disks.

Canon has a simple program, CD-LabelPrint, availible for download from it's European downloadssite.

CD-LabelPrint is pretty restrictive as far as features go but is great as a free program. Another alternative is SureThing CD Labeler, but alas it is not free.

The best program I found for printing disks is UnderCover XPUnderCover XP. Best of all, the price can't be beat! If you like it, support it via paypal donation.

Finally you need to have a tray to insert into the printer. You can make it cheap, or buy it (still pretty cheap) on ebay. My tutorial for the tray is herehere.

-Stephen

Comments

[joeya2]

[SergioR188]

this is a billion years old but curious if someone is out there. Would this work on the mp960? I got one off of goodwill recently and took that plastic thing off to expose an area where a cd tray would fit. Thing is i tried the changing the bios thing but nothing happens. I don't know if it's because it's missing some ink. also no european drivers availabe for this printer,just usa

[bobwollins]

Hello, Using a mac, I want to be able to use a Canon PIXMA iP5000 printer to produce printable CDs and DVDs. I've followed your instructions for removing the CD tray cover; obtained a Canon oem CD (B) tray, and installed the European mac driver (mcpd-mac-ip5000-10_51_2-ea11.dmg). In the mac's System Preferences, I clicked Print & Fax, then Open Print Queue > Info > Driver, and chose Canon PIXMA iP5000 - Gutenprint v5.1.3. [When attempting to print a simple text-only test sheet to the CD, I am offered many, many paper sizes and the following choices that would enable creation of a printable CD/DVD: CD-5 inch, CD-3 inch, and CD-Custom. Thus I can see that the driver is working, and there is some effort made by the printer to pull in the CD (B) tray.] I get through your step b, up to finally releasing the Power button. Releasing the Power button, the printer's Green LED blinks 15 times, then remains Green, and the status LED also lights Green. Can't seem to reach your step c. (I also tried the steps as outlined in the Canon iP4000/iP5000 Service Manual; achieved identical result.) Question: does there exist printer firmware software, something already written for a Windows or mac computer, that would allow me to change the BIOS settings via computer screen? Out of frustration, I bought a printer with CD/DVD printing capability, but nonetheless I want my iP5000 to work per your otherwise cool Instructable! Any ideas on the key press issue, and software for modifying the BIOS? Thanks.

[Drywater]

Hey bobwollins,
I'm sorry, I'm not sure what's going on with that. I wonder if it is a mac/windows thing. It could be worth it to see if a friend could try it on a PC because that would be a sure answer that it is an os issue. But since I've only used this with a PC, I can't really tell you anything more. Sorry about that!

You mention you already have a printer, which is great. We ended up upgrading to another Canon Pixma (don't remember the model) after the 5000 died, but the current model we're using is a canon MG7120. We researched a bunch of models and decided on this one, and are very happy with it! If you figure out anything, please post back to let us know. This is a 10 year old instructable, but it's neat to see people still using it.

[ajax3712]

sorry to bother, but are the instructions still valid with a mg7120?

[christinalawrence]

Nice post.. Thanx for sharing...

[mentisworks]

So I have a Pixma MP970 and had a really hard time finding any information for my model for changing the region. Since it's a few years old at this point, all the links in forum threads and such are dead. Fortunately, I was able to figure it out by trial and error! Here is the procedure I found works for the MP970...

Enter Service Mode: Hold down RESUME (Red Triangle pointed down) then push and hold down POWER. Wait about 5 seconds before releasing RESUME but continuing to hold POWER. While still holding POWER press RESUME once. You will notice the power light turn orange. Press RESUME again so the light turns green. Finally release POWER. The lcd screen will change to display "Service Mode."

Changing Region: Press RESUME once, then press POWER once, followed by pressing RESUME this many times for the following options...

1 = Print Diagnostic Sheet
2 = Region set to Korea
3 = Region set to USA
4 = Region set to Europe
5 = Region set to Australia

Press POWER once to confirm your choice. Press POWER again to shut down printer and exit Service Mode. I'm sure there are more options but I didn't need to access any others and did not test them.

Thanks for posting this guide and getting me far enough in the process to figure out the rest!

[AndiL1]

I tried this, but after getting the light to turn orange, it wouldn't go to green, just back to the normal blue.

[arma.armanigr]

Sorry I want to make the same at Canon Pixma ip6700D. How can do it?

Thanks

[meggrobinson]

I have an issue. I have tried printing a background onto the disk. But it constantly comes up with a message saying that it could not load the picture. Why is this? What kind of format must the picture be. Thanks.

[CaptainBalsa]

Stephen, Very interesting Instructable, however in step 2 you stated, "Click here if you have an MP750/MP760/MP780". Unfortunately there is no link in this location . . . can you update the link please. By any chance do you or anyone else know if a Canon MP160 can print on CD's?

[Drywater]

Hi,
Here is a great source for more instructions. I will update the instructable.

http://www.cd-trays.com/pages/how_to_enable.html

[tovey]

The cd-trays.com site is no longer valid.

[pepa1944]

Living in USA, I have Pixma Pro9000MarkII Canon printer with Window 7 64bit. Driver Ver.:2.70 downloaded from Europe will not work to print on CD medias!!?

Anybody up there to know how to fix this???

[frost_online]

Is there any HP printer which do such kind of CD printing ? I often write cds for data backup and have to label them, Any suggestions ?
LTO Cleaning Tapes

[ellacushing]

Labeling is a very important part of the products similarly CD labeling is also perform a major role for customer's attraction.

_______________________________________________________________
writing services

[djr6789]

dude i have the same printer!  i had no idea what that little tray was for until now ! thanks man

[Closer]

I have an iP5000. I could not get a test page to print until I discovered on another site that you must have paper loaded in the top not (only) the bottom.

Also step b. above is slightly different:
II. Hold down RESUME (Triangle pointed down) and hold down POWER and wait 5 seconds or so.

Release RESUME but Continue to hold POWER. Double click RESUME. then Release POWER.

Note: it says DOUBLE CLICK. This what worked for me.

This information was on a site called Damm Printer
http://damnprinter.com/105/the-five-easy-steps.html

Can you print onto a CD with a paper label? Or does it have to be a printable CD?

[buhdieboy]

if inkjet printer ? is ink colorfast like water resistant ?

[Drywater]

It is if printed on Taiyo Yuden Watersheild Disks. These are not only splash resistant (and fingerprint resistant) but also have a very smooth glossy finish.

I've tried some Verbatims with very poor results.