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I'm trying to install a scanner by IP the same way you would install a printer by IP. I don't want to install the horrible HP Solution Center software but I don't know how to install a network scanner without the software.

I'm having a hard time googling this because when I search for things like "install network scanner" or "install scanner by IP" all the results are for things like Angry IP Scanner which is clearly different than what I'm trying to get.

Thanks in advance.

This is for Windows Vista, but Windows 7 instructions will do.

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migrated from serverfault.com Oct 23 '10 at 2:45

This question came from our site for system administrators and desktop support professionals.

4 Answers

up vote 2 down vote

Printers work because there are standard ways of talking to a printer by IP, but there isn't a (common, Windows supported) standard for talking to a scanner by IP. You either need software which will do it installed on every computer, or you need a device which supports scanning to email, or scanning to a fileshare.

Does your device have something like this? http://h71028.www7.hp.com/hho/us/en/ep/articles/scan-to-email-network-folders.html#4

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What about paint -> scan from device? Seems to be a standard interface to a scanner - but it doesn't work automatically from a network device. – mtyson Feb 23 at 0:06
As I said, no standard way of talking to a scanner by IP. There is TWAIN, and likely something new for USB scanners for scanners directly connected to one PC. – TessellatingHeckler Mar 17 at 3:38
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up vote 1 down vote

The majority of scanners aren't usable over the network unless they're specifically made for it, and in that case they have instructions on how to do so.

Even multifunction printer/scanner combos I've seen allow perhaps network printing, but not network scanning.

You'd first have to verify that your printer would support such a configuration. My bet is that it doesn't.

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This one allows network scanning with the HP Solution Center but I'm not sure how to set it up with out that. The problem is that the HP Solution Center pops up alerts on every single user's computer using that software, meaning all of the end users in that office get these annoying alerts. The alerts can't be disabled either...I will never again purchase anything made by HP. – Anonymous Oct 22 '10 at 18:37
what model scanner is it? – Bart Silverstrim Oct 22 '10 at 18:46
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up vote 1 down vote

I'm assuming you're talking about a multifunction printer (MFP) that has print and scan capability. If that's the case then the network scanner function of the software package is just a driver and interface for the functionallity that exists in the MFP that allows you to configure it and use it from a computer. That being said, you ought to be able to configure the scan to network settings from the control panel of the MFP itself.

You can then install just the printer driver on the computer to facilitate printing from the computer.

What I'm saying may sound confusing (it does to me a little bit) but basically what I'm saying is this:

I can walk up to the MFP and configure it from the control panel to scan to the network without ever having to install the software on my computer. I can then scan documents directly from the scanner to the network. That won't allow me to do anything from my computer but I can at the very least install only the driver on my computer and have printing functionallity.

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up vote 0 down vote

If the scanner supports networked TWAIN, then a networked TWAIN driver/software (versus USB) may work. Typically it is bundled by the manufacturer for their specific product, but it should be interchangeable.

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