Mar. 08, 2023 / Updated by Renata to Windows 11
Many users complained after updating Windows 11, caused the scanner not working. The scanner not working problem is actually quite easy to fix.
Article content:
Solution5. Insert Scanner Manually
Solution6. Restart Image Acquisition Service
In many cases restarting the computer or the scanner can fix many errors, because after restarting the computer, the drivers and programs will also restart, thus fixing the problem of not being able to connect. First of all, you are recommended to try the following fixes that are easy to operate.
1. Restart scanner
2. Reboot the computer
3. Reconnect the scanner with the computer
4. Check whether there is any problem with the connection cable. If the computer can be turned on normally, and the scanner can also be turned on normally, then the problem of the device is ruled out.
A driver is a software that allows your computer to communicate with hardware devices. Without drivers, the devices you connect to your computer—for example, a mouse or external hard drive—won't work properly. Hence, the scanner not working issue is properly relative to computer drivers problem.
Windows 10 and Windows 11 operating systems will automatically provide and download and install the corresponding driver when the computer is connected to a new device, but due to the residue of the old version driver, the new driver may not work normally. Therefore, it is necessary to uninstall the driver and download the driver again, so that the device can be used normally.
The two drivers that mainly affect the use of the scanner are the network card driver and the scanner driver. Try uninstalling these two drivers and reinstalling them:
You can reinstall them by the below steps:
1. Type WIN+X together and open Device Manager
2. Under the Device Manager, uninstall the graphics card device
3. Click the Action tab - scan for hardware changes
4. Then restart then computer, and the problem would properly be solved.
If reinstalling drivers cannot fix the scanner disconnecting problems, try the next method.
For the corresponding driver is not automatically updated when the system is updated, therefore, the original driver cannot match the updated system and hardware devices. This makes some external devices unusable. At this time, you can try to update the driver to reconnect the computer and hardware.
On Windows 10, Windows 11 system, you can update graphics card driver as the following steps manually:
1.Press WIN+X at the same time
2.Enter into Device Manager
3.Choose your purpose device
4.Select drivers which need to be updated
5.Select Search automatically for drivers
Updating drivers one by one on device manager is too slow and inconvenient to fix the scanner not working issue.
Therefore you can download a free driver updater, Driver Talent. It will scan the computer by only one click that display all the drivers that can be updated on the list. In addition to updating to the latest version, you can also choose other versions to download.
Click the inverted triangle, you can choose different version to download:
Other way to update drivers, you can update graphics card driver as the following steps manually:
1.Press WIN+X at the same time
2.Enter into Device Manager
3.Choose your purpose device
4.Select drivers which need to be updated
5.Select Search automatically for drivers
To check whether the Fast Startup option is enable or not. If the Fast Startup option is enable, please turn it to disable.
Turning off the fast startup option of the computer can also help to solve the scanner disconnection(the scanner not working)problem. Following the below steps to turn off:
1. Type WIN+S together and input Control to search for control panel
2. On the control panel, search for power option
3. On the Power Options page, select Power saving setting
4. Enter into the setting page, choose What the power button does in the left panel
5. Click on Change settings that are currently unavailable.
6. Do not choose Turn on fast startup(turn off fast startup)
7. Click Save changes.
As solution2 said, driver is a bridge of communication between computer and device. If the computer dose not identify the scanner automatically or the the scanner not working, you can insert the scanner manually into the settings
Following the below steps to insert the scanner manually in setting:
1. Pressing the WIN+I to launch the Settings window
2. Select Printers & Scanners > Bluetooth & Devices.
3. Select “Add device” to look for your connected scanner.
4. After a few minutes, it can find the nearby scanner and it will add the scanner to the list of available hardware.
If you turn off this service, the computer will not be able to access any photos taken with a camera or scanner. The Windows Image Acquisition service is to show you pictures from a camera or other hardware device.
This service can be restarted in the following ways in case you inadvertently disabled it:
1. Type WIN+S to open searching window, and enter Image Acquisition Service
2. Go down the page and click on the most relevant result.
3. Double-click the icon labeled “Windows Image Acquisition” (WIA).
4. Toggle the Startup type to Automatic.
5. Go to the Service status page and click Start to restart the WIA service.
6. Select OK and reboot the computer.
After a reboot, this simple troubleshooting technique should kick in and fix the problem.
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