Over the weekend, I was presented with a firmware update message for my Wacom Intuos Pro Medium tablet (B&H | Amazon). This tablet has been a staple of my workflow since I first received it for review two years ago.
I went to do the firmware update, and for whatever reason, it kept failing on my Mac. And unlike driver updates, firmware updates have to be installed through the Wacom Desktop Center. I couldn’t just download a file.
So how did I fix this and get the firmware update installed?
Check your Mac’s privacy settings
After doing some research, I was a bit confused. I remember having to add the WacomTabletDriver function to my Mac’s privacy settings. But it seems like everything wasn’t there. Specifically, in the Input Monitoring tab, I was missing FirmwareUpdater and WacomTabletDriver.
So how did I add these in there?
First, click the lock and enter your Mac’s password. This will make it so you can add new items to the list.
Accessibility section
Then, open up a new Finder window. Click Go > Go to Folder. Here, copy and paste the following, and click Go.
/Library/PrivilegedHelperTools/
Drag and drop the com.wacom.IOManager.app file to the Accessibility section. Make sure it’s checked.
If you have other Wacom files in the Accessibility section like I did, don’t worry about them.
Input Monitoring section
In your Finder window, click Go > Go to Folder and paste in the following:
/Applications/Wacom Tablet/.Tablet
Click Go. If you have trouble, you might have to force the Finder to show hidden files. To do this, press Command + Shift + “.”
Drag and drop WacomTabletDriver and FirmwareUpdater to the Input Monitoring tab. Make sure they’re both checked.
Restart, and try again
Once you do this, click the lock to make sure you won’t make any other changes. Then restart your machine, and try the firmware update again. It should complete within a matter of minutes, and you’ll be up and running again.
Dude I was so frustrated until I saw this, thanks man!
Thank you! It worked.
I tried several times without success. I contacted Wacom support who asked me to send the tablet for repair. None of this was necessary with the information you provided. It worked very well and the firmware was easily installed successfully. Thank you very much!
Glad you could get it working!
Thank you. Great. Sorted.
Help! I cant find the FirmwareUpdater, I tried the hidden files but it didnt work. It shows a macOS User Guide instead.
Hmm … if you can’t find it, I’d probably reach out to Wacom support. It’s weird that wouldn’t appear.
This is excellent thank you… I had the exact same issue.
This didn’t work for me unfortunately. I’m not sure what else to do.
If the above steps didn’t work, I suggest reaching out to Wacom support directly. Good luck! https://www.wacom.com/en-us/contact#product-support
It works quite well! Tks.
Better than the Wacom troubleshooter, thanks so much
Thank you for this! Saved my day! :-)
Mia
Thanks a lot!
Great job. This worked for me. Thanks for the post!
Thanks so much for this. Very helpful!
I had this error on Windows and accidentally discovered that it worked fine with a different USB cable. Both cables were fine for updating settings or drawing, but the firmware updater consistently failed at 0% or 50% with the first one. Perhaps the firmware updater is more fussy about having a good connection.