Will legacy scanner driver still work in 26H2?

OK, All -
I have finally bitten the bullet and installed 26H2. The good news is that I still have my scanner, and printer (new last month) working. The bad news is that I still don't have the SpectraView X-Rite monitor sensor capability. Got it to work in Windows Test mode by ignoring the driver signatures under troubleshooting, but the app won't record the readings in Test mode, and I even tried uninstalling and reinstalling the software in test mode, and still no joy when I restarted normally! It is definitely a signature problem. Maybe if a developer and/or programmer made a simple app to re-sign or create valid drivers for legacy equipment?

What about using the sensor in Windows 10, create the ICC profile and import it in Windows 11? Wouldn't that use the calibrated colors from Windows 10 in Windows 11? Unless you don't know where that ICC profile is saved. Probably Google AI can help you find the file.

However, unless you are doing some professional photo editing or desktop publishing and you need correctly calibrated colors, you could get accurate enough results by setting the R, G, B values of the monitor all at the same value (100 out of 100 or 80 out of 100 if they are too bright at 100). This will make the screen white balanced, not too yellow (low color temperature), not too blue (high color temperature). Then you can search for Control Panel, switch view to large icons and load Color Management. Click on the Advanced tab and then click the button Calibrate Display to fine tune the colors. Although with a good monitor and a discrete graphics card you shouldn't notice too much difference before and after calibration, you can carefully set the brightness, the contrast and each color value carefully to have a much neutral colors and as better contrast as possible. Needless to say that it is best to do that in dark conditions because any ambient light will affect the calibration process. After the monitor is calibrated you will be asked to also configure ClearType. Do that as well for more readable and clearer text. I haven't seen much difference on my Sony 19" TV monitor with my nVidia GeForce RTX 3050, but I have seen much better colors on my LG smart TV with the onboard Intel HD 4000 graphics of my hybrid tablet/laptop Fujitsu Stylistic Q702. No harm to try.

spapakons said:

(snip)

However, unless you are doing some professional photo editing or desktop publishing and you need correctly calibrated colors, you could get accurate enough results by setting the R, G, B values of the monitor all at the same value (100 out of 100 or 80 out of 100 if they are too bright at 100). (snip)

Click to expand...

The LCD2490WUXi2 is a professional type monitor, with a programmable LUT. I might want to be able to use that, rather than a seat-of-the-pants method.

I might even want to pay for a new colorimeter, plus SpectraView 2.

But I'd probably have retired a 2010 vintage monitor, years ago.

Just curious... Why you need to repeat calibration? Do the colors drift over time? Isn't enough to calibrate once?

bobkn said:

The LCD2490WUXi2 is a professional type monitor, with a programmable LUT. I might want to be able to use that, rather than a seat-of-the-pants method.

I might even want to pay for a new colorimeter, plus SpectraView 2.

But I'd probably have retired a 2010 vintage monitor, years ago.

Click to expand...

Hi Bobkn -
Yes, that monitor is a pro monitor. I am a semi-retired pro commercial photographer and videographer. I have had that monitor for a long time, yes. It is now doing duty on my wife's computer, and doesn't really need calibration for her work. I had replaced it with a 27" NEC 4K pro monitor for my work, a couple of years ago, that also uses the same SpectraView 2 software, and I was able to use the sensor for the new monitor, after asking NEC if it would work. It just stopped working after a Windows update, due to Windows rejecting the signature on the driver. It seems I can calibrate my current monitor, only if I buy the latest X-Rite sensor device with the commensurate driver, for around $239. I live on a fixed income, and that is really not in my budget, these days.

@archfoto

I believe there's a program (not free but reasonably priced) called vuescan which will make almost any scanner alive work with W10 and W11 - I've an old agfa pro 35 mm negative scanner which vuescan got working again.

Costs around €25 for standard or €50 for pro version - seems worth it - I've 1000's of old 35 MM negs I'm digitising - well worth getting the scanner working -- I did try running the scanner native on an XP VM but getting the files over to my server was a huge pain so just went for the vuescan option.


Cheers
jimbo

spapakons said:

Just curious... Why you need to repeat calibration? Do the colors drift over time? Isn't enough to calibrate once?

Click to expand...

Hi Spapakons -
When I used to deliver digital images and videos to clients who weren't in the graphics business, I would occasionally get a call that the color would was off. It always turned out that their monitor they were viewing it on was less than optimal. Once, I went over to the clients office, and their monitor had an orange cast to it. So everything looked orange to them. Having a calibrated monitor meant I was meeting a standard, and I would usually tell the client over the phone to view the images on another computer monitor or a laptop, and it was on the money. They would call back and tell me I was right. Pro graphics business clients had calibrated monitors, so I never had a complaint from them. As far as the colors drifting over time, yes, they do. After about 5 years, the white went darker on the 24" monitor, and the software had to be adjusted to bring it back into spec. Pro editing monitors have control of back lighting which standard cheaper monitors do not.

jimbo45 said:

@archfoto

I believe there's a program (not free but reasonably priced) called vuescan which will make almost any scanner alive work with W10 and W11 - I've an old HP 35 mm negative scanner which vuescan got working again.

Costs around €25 for standard or €50 for pro version - seems worth it - I've 1000's of old 35 MM negs I'm digitising - well worth getting the scanner working -- I did try running the scanner native on an XP VM but getting the files over to my server was a huge pain so just went for the vuescan option.

VueScan Scanner Software for macOS, Windows, and Linux

VueScan is the easiest way to get your scanner working on macOS, Windows and more. VueScan includes a driver for your scanner even though it isn't support anymore.

www.hamrick.com

Cheers
jimbo

Click to expand...

Hi Jimbo -
I already do have VueScan, and yes, I found out today it works with 26H2!
Thanks.

archfoto said:

Hi Jimbo -
I already do have VueScan, and yes, I found out today it works with 26H2!
Thanks.

Click to expand...

Ta -- as for back lighting of monitors etc - there's loads of different ones now that are very confusing - many commercial TV shows especially on Netflix seem to be produced at night or in dark conditions and on a lot of screens don't come up well -- even quite expensive ones. There's quite a few different specs on monitors etc which really confuse the user and it's hugely irritating if you go into an actual store to compare screens but they all show different things -- you need the same picture on the different screens to make a comparison. And there really is a HUGE difference. I wish there was a standard channel sending out a decently calibrated test card - the BBC used to have a good one years ago before they got sucked in to the horrors of daytime TV. !!

Something like this which also with the white and black spot you could calibrate "whiter than white" and blacker than black" very easily.






Cheers
jimbo

Here in Greece the stores connect the video source on an HDMI splitter so four or more TVs show the same image. However comparison is not accurate because they deliberately tweak the colors of the model they want to sell to look better than the other TVs. So we have to also read some technology magazines to see what each model is really capable of.

archfoto said:

Hi Bobkn -
Yes, that monitor is a pro monitor. I am a semi-retired pro commercial photographer and videographer. I have had that monitor for a long time, yes. It is now doing duty on my wife's computer, and doesn't really need calibration for her work. I had replaced it with a 27" NEC 4K pro monitor for my work, a couple of years ago, that also uses the same SpectraView 2 software, and I was able to use the sensor for the new monitor, after asking NEC if it would work. It just stopped working after a Windows update, due to Windows rejecting the signature on the driver. It seems I can calibrate my current monitor, only if I buy the latest X-Rite sensor device with the commensurate driver, for around $239. I live on a fixed income, and that is really not in my budget, these days.

Click to expand...

I've never encountered the issue where a Win11 update broke driver signing, but a Google AI search declares that it happens.

Apparently, the security rules for driver signing have tightened, so some old drivers have been blocked.

If $239 is unacceptable to you, one obvious solution is to stay with an older build of Win11. Unfortunately, 24H2 goes end-of-support on 13 October, 2026.

There are older devices like the X-Rite Colormunki that are supported by Spectraview II, but there may be some risk in buying one on eBay, because I'm unsure where the NEC software would support some OEM models (like Pantone). Maybe you could ask NEC. The X-Rite colorimeters aren't supposed to age.

bobkn said:

There are older devices like the X-Rite Colormunki that are supported by Spectraview II, but there may be some risk in buying one on eBay, because I'm unsure where the NEC software would support some OEM models (like Pantone). Maybe you could ask NEC. The X-Rite colorimeters aren't supposed to age.

Click to expand...

Hi Bobkn -
While it is possible to get a deal on eBay or Craig's List, we don't know when the current OS will change again, and make that unit obsolete. The other side to this coin is that devices themselves can become obsolete in ways not thought of. Recently, I went thru replacing my family's two working USB Epson R280 printers with one wifi Epson Eco-Tank printer, not because the old printers didn't work, but because inkjet cartridges for them are getting scarce, even with 3rd-party suppliers, and because running out of one ink will cause the printer to stop working. The new printer's ink is way cheaper and lasts longer, and doesn't come in cartridges, but bottles. Even Walmart sells after-market ink for this new printer!
As far as whether the NEC software will work with other monitors - it will not. I recently hooked up my old Win 10 computer to a generic monitor, and the software warned me on boot up that it would not work with a non-NEC monitor.

I'm confused. I don't recall any mention of a non-NEC monitor.

archfoto said:

Hi Bobkn -
(snip)
As far as whether the NEC software will work with other monitors - it will not. I recently hooked up my old Win 10 computer to a generic monitor, and the software warned me on boot up that it would not work with a non-NEC monitor.

Click to expand...

I don't recall mention of a non-NEC monitor.

The main tool I use is DisplayCal/Argyll CMS, even though DisplayCal hasn't been updated for years. (Leaving off the Python 3 version, which I haven't found to be ready for my use yet.) I also have Calibrite Profiler, mainly because I updated to it while it was still 10USD. (It's now $40).

PaulGo said:

Try disabling Core Isolation and after the reboot if necessary Microsoft Veritable Driver Blacklist. That worked for me and my 2003 Canon scanner driver was recognized, and the scanner works as it should. After that you can turn Core Isolation back on.

Click to expand...

Hi PaulGo -
Thanks. I tried this and the sensor still does not work, unfortunately. Also, messing with the Core Isolation caused one of my USB high-capacity hard-disk drives to become unrecognized, and it took a bit of plugging and unplugging and rebooting to get it recognized again. Always be careful, the results you get may be less than optimal. I am about to give up on this as it seems that I have to either do without it, or buy a new sensor which includes a new driver.

Go to Settings, Privacy and Security, Windows Security, click Memory Isolation and toggle all three options OFF. They try to install the scanner driver again and see if it makes any difference.



PS: After successfully installing the driver, you could try to enable them, but I would avoid it just in case. Also in some old unsupported systems, mostly AMD, there was a severe performance penalty with Memory Integrity ON and the workaround was to disable it.

spapakons said:

Go to Settings, Privacy and Security, Windows Security, click Memory Isolation and toggle all three options OFF. They try to install the scanner driver again and see if it makes any difference.

PS: After successfully installing the driver, you could try to enable them, but I would avoid it just in case. Also in some old unsupported systems, mostly AMD, there was a severe performance penalty with Memory Integrity ON and the workaround was to disable it.

Click to expand...

Thanks, Spapakons -

At this point, I am loathe to try these fixes. See my response to PaulGo. I finally was able to get back one of my external USB hard-drives that became unrecognized once I messed with the core isolation. While I would like to get back my ability to calibrate my monitor, it is not as critical as it used to be, when I was working with commercial firms, and had to be as accurate as possible. Right now, my calibration is from the last time that the sensor and app actually were working, and for the work I am doing now, mostly stock stills and video (which is not selling at all, due to AI) I don't need to worry that the concrete in an image has a slightly blue, pink, or green cast to it in the final image. I haven't ever gottten a rejection of an image or video from any stock agency I am dealing with about the color.

bobkn said:

I'm confused. I don't recall any mention of a non-NEC monitor.

I don't recall mention of a non-NEC monitor.

The main tool I use is DisplayCal/Argyll CMS, even though DisplayCal hasn't been updated for years. (Leaving off the Python 3 version, which I haven't found to be ready for my use yet.) I also have Calibrite Profiler, mainly because I updated to it while it was still 10USD. (It's now $40).

Click to expand...

Hi Bobkn -
I only mentioned the non-NEC monitor, as I have run into problems in the past with proprietary hardware and software issues. The issue is that something worked, a Windows update killed it, I want to get it back, but don't want to invest money in it. I was worried that moving to 26H2 would further erode my ability to use my old legacy peripherals, like my 25-year-old Epson high-res flat-bed scanner. I have finally updated to 26H2, and so far, the scanner still works. Keeping fingers crossed. I have pretty much given up on an easy fix for the monitor sensor working, and will have to make a decision somewhere in the future, of whether it is worth pursuing it, monetarily or effortwise. Thanks for all your time in trying to help fix this problem.

After much trial with Gemini I could get my Canon 4400F driver to work with Core Isolation temporally. However, it does not last after prolong sleep Windows will deactivate it and I have to go through the same procedure of deactivating Core isolation and then reinstalling the drive awhile leaving the scanner unplugged for a few minutes. This is from Gemini:

Yes, that is accurate. The root problem is the physical USB hardware controller inside the CanoScan 4400F and how it interacts with modern motherboard sleep states (ACPI).
Here is what happens during a prolonged sleep period:

1. Power Cut: Windows 11 puts the motherboard into a low-power sleep state and cuts off active power/data polling to the USB port.
2. Controller Freeze: The 2006-era USB controller inside the scanner loses communication. When the computer wakes up, the scanner's legacy hardware fails to send the required "wake" signal back to the USB bus.
3. Kernel Deactivation: Because the Windows 11 kernel receives no response from the scanner during the wake cycle, it assumes the hardware was unplugged or has failed, and deactivates the USB port binding.

Windows does not "delete" or "deactivate" the driver files themselves—it simply closes the dead USB connection. This is why software changes cannot fix the sleep disconnect, and why a physical USB disconnect/re-plug or a forced command-line refresh is required to make the motherboard recognize the scanner again.

I installed the Canon driver about 45 months in a new computer running Windows 11 Pro ago and the scanner was working without any problems until several months ago when I disconnected it. When I reconnected it last week Windows forgot that it previously worked and treated it as an unsupported device.

PaulGo said:

Windows does not "delete" or "deactivate" the driver files themselves—it simply closes the dead USB connection.

Click to expand...

A USB port may be going to sleep. Try this:

You might want to go through Device Manager and check to see if any other wake-on-demand tick boxes are still ticked off. You can find out which ones by running this CMD command as an admin.

powercfg -devicequery wake_armed

It will list what's still currently active and needs to be unticked


~


And to disable a specific device, for example:

powercfg /devicedisablewake "NFC USB Bus Driver"

If you're not sure what is what then manually go to each Power Management tab and untick all those boxed.

I had to do that in order to keep my machine to stay connected for hours, processing paperwork. Otherwise the USB port would go to sleep, the connection to the internet would be lost and in some cases, I had to start my processing queue over again.