New Life For an Old Scanner

Here’s the scenario:

You buy new a computer for the first time in 10 years.

Then you hook up your scanner to scan a document and find that the new OS doesn’t recognize the scanner.

You go in search of a driver for the scanner that can be installed on the new computer. But alas, nothing can be found.

This is the pitfall of replacing a 32-bit operating system (OS) with a 64-bit OS – you might not find 64-bit drivers for all your peripherals.

It happened to me. But luckily I found a post by a MVP¹ who recommended VueScan².

VueScan is compatible with my Cano Lide 20 and runs under Windows 10. It can be downloaded, installed, and run for free; however the resulting scans include a watermark. But for less than the cost of a new scanner, you can buy a license for VueScan that removes the watermark and gives you access to one year of updates.

I’m not averse to paying for a new scanner. But I hate the idea of discarding a perfectly good piece of hardware just because I lack the software to operate it.

There is second option, aside from buying a new scanner. You can create a Virtual Machine (VM) that emulates the 32-bit OS and install the scanner driver on that. It’s more complicated, but it might be the preferred option if you have peripherals other than just a scanner to preserve. We do this at work so that we can keep using old lab hardware. The only drawback is that you might need a second license for the OS that runs on the VM.

---

¹ https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/scanner-driver-for-canon-lide-20

² http://www.hamrick.com/