[SOLVED] Old Scanner Driver Problem

[NigelJ]

My printer/scanner recently broke down, and I have decided not to replace it. I rarely print in colour, so my mono laser printer will suffice. The problem I have is with my scanner. I have an HP Scanjet 3800, which I have owned for over ten years, and to the best of my knowledge it still works. The newest driver on HP’s website is for Windows 8.1, and I am using Windows 10. Is there any way of getting it to work (compatibility mode?). I am aware of Vuescan, but to get the scanner to work to its full capability (it has a negative scanner function) would cost £99.95, and I could buy a new one for that. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Grobe]

Well, that is business. Unfortunately for you that you just cannot use the scanner with modern OS without paying for extra software, and fortunately for HP their customers just go buying a new scanner so the company make more money. Hey, that's just the way it works. You're facing three options:

• Buy software.
• Buy new scanner.
• Use old/unsecure OS that allow you to install old drivers. You can probably also run it from a virtual machine, if you already have W7/W8 license.

Btw : Have you actually tried to install the drivers for W8, just to see if you're allowed to proceed to install that driver? In theory this may work for W10 (haven't tried myself).

 

[NigelJ]

It's a really good scanner, better than the one with my printer/scanner. It's from 2007 so I can understand HP not supporting it indefinitely. Unfortunately for HP, if I was to get a new scanner it would very likely be a Canon, which is what I had before the HP.

I will try the Win 8.1 driver, it can only say no..

Thanks.

 

[Grobe]

Unfortunately for HP, if I was to get a new scanner it would very likely be a Canon, which is what I had before the HP.

Those that bought a Canon back in 2007 have the same issue, and is now considering HP. In the big picture, it's a win for HP - and other manufacturers.

 

[NigelJ]

Funnily enough, I had a Canon scanner before the HP. I got it around 2000, when I was using Windows 98. After I changed to XP Canon still supported it, but when I changed to Vista, in 2007, they stopped supporting it, and that's when I switched to HP. I might be about to go full circle.

I tried the Windows 8.1 driver, which sort of worked, though I suspect it might have been the built in scanner app that appeared as it didn't include the negative scanner option.