Scanner drivers for Windows 7

[GT]

I've an Acer 1240ut flatbed scanner that I've used for years with WindowsXP.
The scanner and software combination is perfect and necessary for my
business work - the ScanButton software can scan groups of receipts and save
them as a single A4 PDF page.This means I can then print copies when
required at the original size without configuring anything.

I have read lots of people on the web complaining that their scanners don't
work in Windows7 and I don't see any forums with a solution! I have now
joined these ranks as I've upgraded my home/business PC (to a 3570k, 16gb,
win7 etc) and the scanner doesn't work.

Just wondered if anyone in here has managed to get an old, but good scanner
working in Windows 7.

I believe the Acer 1240ut has more recently taken on the BenQ brand logo if
that means anything to anyone, but this hasn't helped my driver search!

Any pointers?

Ta,
GT

 

[John McGaw]

I've an Acer 1240ut flatbed scanner that I've used for years with WindowsXP.
The scanner and software combination is perfect and necessary for my
business work - the ScanButton software can scan groups of receipts and save
them as a single A4 PDF page.This means I can then print copies when
required at the original size without configuring anything.

I have read lots of people on the web complaining that their scanners don't
work in Windows7 and I don't see any forums with a solution! I have now
joined these ranks as I've upgraded my home/business PC (to a 3570k, 16gb,
win7 etc) and the scanner doesn't work.

Just wondered if anyone in here has managed to get an old, but good scanner
working in Windows 7.

I believe the Acer 1240ut has more recently taken on the BenQ brand logo if
that means anything to anyone, but this hasn't helped my driver search!

Any pointers?

Ta,
GT

I had the same problem with a perfectly good HP flatbed + film scanner and
eventually just gave it up as a futile task. I still have one computer left
running XP and I keep telling myself that I should install the scanner on
that but somehow I never get around to it and having it in the basement
probably would mean that if I did get it working it would never get used
anyway.

 

[Larry]

I've an Acer 1240ut flatbed scanner that I've used for years with WindowsXP.
The scanner and software combination is perfect and necessary for my
business work - the ScanButton software can scan groups of receipts and save
them as a single A4 PDF page.This means I can then print copies when
required at the original size without configuring anything.

I have read lots of people on the web complaining that their scanners don't
work in Windows7 and I don't see any forums with a solution! I have now
joined these ranks as I've upgraded my home/business PC (to a 3570k, 16gb,
win7 etc) and the scanner doesn't work.

Just wondered if anyone in here has managed to get an old, but good scanner
working in Windows 7.

I believe the Acer 1240ut has more recently taken on the BenQ brand logo if
that means anything to anyone, but this hasn't helped my driver search!

Any pointers?

Ta,
GT

Have you tried running XP in virtual mode in windows 7. That version
of XP is free from Microsoft. I have been using XP in virtual mode
and runs all my old XP software very well, including a range of adobe
products and even Omnipage. Admittedly I have not tried using any
peripherals yet. But it might be worth a try since XP in virtual mode
is free. You do, however, have to have virtual hardware capabilities
in your pc. A check in the BIOS will tell you that.

The virtual XP has the same look and feel of the stand alone XP.

Larry


Larry

 

[Paul]

I've an Acer 1240ut flatbed scanner that I've used for years with WindowsXP.
The scanner and software combination is perfect and necessary for my
business work - the ScanButton software can scan groups of receipts and save
them as a single A4 PDF page.This means I can then print copies when
required at the original size without configuring anything.

I have read lots of people on the web complaining that their scanners don't
work in Windows7 and I don't see any forums with a solution! I have now
joined these ranks as I've upgraded my home/business PC (to a 3570k, 16gb,
win7 etc) and the scanner doesn't work.

Just wondered if anyone in here has managed to get an old, but good scanner
working in Windows 7.

I believe the Acer 1240ut has more recently taken on the BenQ brand logo if
that means anything to anyone, but this hasn't helped my driver search!

Any pointers?

Ta,
GT

You could use Vuescan.

http://www.hamrick.com/vuescan/acer_benq_1240ut.html

*******

You could try scanning from a Linux LiveCD (SANE interface).
But the 1240UT isn't listed here, so I'd only try this, if
I happened to have a LiveCD in hand.

http://www.sane-project.org/sane-backends.html

*******

If you upgrade to a high enough version of Windows 7, you
can use WinXP mode, which includes a copy of WinXP to run
in the virtual environment. The reason this likely won't help
with the scanner problem, is the Windows Virtual PC program
from Microsoft, that runs the WinXP virtual machine, doesn't
have perfectly transparent USB passthru.

*******

If you have an existing copy of WinXP, like a retail WinXP
install, you can install VirtualBox in Windows 7, then install
your retail WinXP as a virtual machine. The beauty of VirtualBox,
one tiny feature it's got, is it can take all the USB packets
for a particular VID/PID device, and forward them to the
guest virtual machine. That means the WinXP retail running
inside VirtualBox, can "see" the scanner, and actually do scans.
With the Windows Virtual PC + "Free" WinXP virtual machine image,
you'd be stuck with a USB passthru that only supports certain
"classes" of devices. As far as I know, Windows Virtual PC supports
USB "storage class", meaning an external USB hard drive can be
seen within WinXP mode. But I'm not so sure Microsoft includes
enough other "classes", to make WinXP mode a solution for
every type of orphan hardware.

So VirtualBox has a slight edge here. On the one hand, you
won't need to "upgrade" from Windows 7 Premium, to run things
like WinXP mode (as VirtualBox doesn't have that dependency).
On the other hand, you'll need a version of WinXP that you
can transfer from an existing machine (which would be a retail
version).

*******

You can keep an existing machine around, to run the scanner.
That's what my old Macintosh is for. It runs the (SCSI) scanner.

******

Occasionally, if you look long enough, you'll find someone has
"hacked" some other driver, to work for your 1240UT. In this
case, based on the table of scanners in the SANE web page,
I suspect Acer makes more than one scanner with the same base
hardware inside. Which means, if you were to locate a Windows 7
driver for one of the other models, perhaps it would work for
the 1240UT. So even if the Linux idea is of no interest to you,
the SANE page can be a source of inspiration to a "hacked" solution
in Windows. You'd be surprised how many other scanners have been
run, by hacked solutions.

If you're a rich guy, maybe Vuescan is enough. If Vuescan had a
trial, you could verify it works first, before buying a copy.

Paul

 

[Darklight]

I had the same problem with a perfectly good HP flatbed + film scanner and
eventually just gave it up as a futile task. I still have one computer
left running XP and I keep telling myself that I should install the
scanner on that but somehow I never get around to it and having it in the
basement probably would mean that if I did get it working it would never
get used anyway.

with regards to virtual xp have you tried using virtualbox which is free or
vmware which you have to pay for and install winxp inside of that and then
install your scanner software inside winxp.

 

[John McGaw]

with regards to virtual xp have you tried using virtualbox which is free or
vmware which you have to pay for and install winxp inside of that and then
install your scanner software inside winxp.

Thought about it but it seemed to be more hassle than it was worth.

 

[Darklight]

Thought about it but it seemed to be more hassle than it was worth.

You might be surprised at that.

example: If you install virtualbox inside win7 then installed winxp inside
virtualbox you do know you can still access files that are in win7 from
winxp. If you access the internet from winxp you won't have to worry about
getting a virus in win7. If you have enough space on hard drive you can copy
the winxp vdi to another location and if winxp f*cks up you just have to
copy the vdi to the appropriate place.

Don't knock something that won't cause no harm until you tried it!

 

[GT]

"John McGaw" wrote in message

with regards to virtual xp have you tried using virtualbox which is free
or
vmware which you have to pay for and install winxp inside of that and then
install your scanner software inside winxp.

Thought about it but it seemed to be more hassle than it was worth.


== reply ==
I have to scan my receipts and invoices in for my company records. I need to
scan them in and save them in a format that allows me to print at the
correct size again later, so doing a 'photocopy' - scan to A4, but choosing
a PDF printer does the job.

I'll install XPLite in VirtualBox and report back. I have no choice about
setting it up...

 

[Ian Field]

"John McGaw" wrote in message



Thought about it but it seemed to be more hassle than it was worth.


== reply ==
I have to scan my receipts and invoices in for my company records. I need
to scan them in and save them in a format that allows me to print at the
correct size again later, so doing a 'photocopy' - scan to A4, but
choosing a PDF printer does the job.

I'll install XPLite in VirtualBox and report back. I have no choice about
setting it up...

My all in one is a Dell A920 that I scrounged on Freecycle - the previous
owner said they couldn't get drivers for Win7.

I decided to give it a go anyway, just as it seemed to be going nowhere win7
threw up a dialogue box to "import" legacy hardware, it still didn't work so
I carried on tinkering with it and eventually win7 threw up a dialogue box
suggesting that an application had failed to install correctly - would I
like windows to try again with optimal defaults. When I clicked yes it run
setup and after that it worked.

The number of your scanner looks somehow familiar - look into whether its a
re-badged Epson.

 

[GT]

"GT" wrote in message

"John McGaw" wrote in message

with regards to virtual xp have you tried using virtualbox which is free
or
vmware which you have to pay for and install winxp inside of that and then
install your scanner software inside winxp.

Thought about it but it seemed to be more hassle than it was worth.


== reply ==
I have to scan my receipts and invoices in for my company records. I need to
scan them in and save them in a format that allows me to print at the
correct size again later, so doing a 'photocopy' - scan to A4, but choosing
a PDF printer does the job.

I'll install XPLite in VirtualBox and report back. I have no choice about
setting it up...


== another reply ==
VirtualBox installed. Installation was extremely straight forward. I had to
tweak a few settings to allow the USB device direct access to WinXP in the
virtual machine (the 'VM client'). One this is set up, you just install the
drivers as normal and everything works just fine. The VM sits in its own
environment and can't normally see the folders on the main hard drive, so my
scans were useless. To set up access to the main hard drive folders (on the
'VM Host'), I also had to install 'Guest Additions' - something that is
installed inside the VM Client (that caught me out!).

Once that is all done you have full access to old hardware and also access
to your complete drive structure from within the VM Client.

Recommend!

GT