Brother Printer Genuine Toner Fix - Use Any Toner
Why Hacker News recommends it
Linked in printer DRM threads as proof that workarounds exist for Brother's cartridge restrictions.
What it is
A short walkthrough of a hack that tricks a Brother laser printer into accepting third-party toner by working around its genuine-toner check. It notes this may void the warranty.
Recommended by 0 HN commenters across 0 different months, 2023 to 2025.
What Hacker News said
Cites MostlyStable · 2023-08 · on “Requiring ink to scan a document–yet another insult from the printer industry”
I have a new brother printer (<2 years old). It works just fine. The quality of the printer, as a device itself, I have no complaints about. It's the DRM Toner bullshit that is the problem. Unfortunately, in the past, that kind of behavior has often presaged other things like degrading hardware quality in the future. Will Brother do the same? I have no idea. Unfortunately, I'm not aware of a different company that both supplies a quality product and also doesn't do the DRM bullshit. So, in my opinion, Brother is not longer better than other companies, but it doesn't appear to be worse either. Which is more an indictment of the printer industry than anything good about Brother. -edit- You can
Cites justinclift · 2023-10 · on “HP fails to derail claims that it bricks scanners on printers when ink runs low”
Brother have started going down the cartridge DRM route now too, so they're no longer a good brand. :( [LINK] There are ways around their particular DRM - for now - but who knows how long it'll be until they're as bad as HP and friends: [this video]
Cites otherme123 · 2025-10 · on “Inkjet printer with DRM-free ink will be launched via a crowdfunding campaign”
> I’m about to add a Brother Laser Printer too. Be careful. Brother is doing shaddy things this days, like lowering printing quality, or not printing, if a non-Brother toner is detected. E.g. [this video] for a toner hack that shouln't be needed.