Will legacy scanner driver still work in 26H2?

PaulGo said:

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.

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Easy fix for that: Buy a USB hub with on/off switches for each individual port and plug your scanner in one of these ports. When the computer sleeps you can switch off the scanner port, wait a few seconds, then switch it back on. Alternatively you can switch off the scanner (or remove the power cable), wait for a few seconds, and then switch it back on. Even better, configure your PC so it never sleeps.

PaulGo said:

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.

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Since the Canon driver is already installed, open Device Manager, find the "unsupported device" and right-click on it and select Update drivers. Select the second option (manually). Then the second option again (don't search). It will give you a list of suitable drivers. If more than one, it is usually the first in the list. Click on it and proceed to reinstall it. The scanner should work again. If you don't see the scanner in the list, uncheck the box to show compatible drivers only and click on Canon, then scroll to find your model and select it. There will be a warning that the driver might not be compatible, ignore it and proceed.

PS: There is a chance that the specific USB port is faulty and fails to detect the scanner properly. Try another USB port. Also you can buy a powered USB hub and plug the scanner there. Sometimes the power supplied from the USB port alone is not enough to properly detect specific devices. That's why rear USB ports work better, no cable extension like the front ports, so less signal attenuation. The extra power of the powered USB hub helps proper detection.

I can get it working temporally by disabling core Isolation and uninstalling the driver using Revo Uninstaller then installing the driver again. I can re-enable Core isolation. This will last even if I put the computer to sleep briefly. If I put the computer to sleep for a long period of time Windows will forget the scanner. I gave up and bought the Canon LIDE 400 from Amazon. No power supply needed just works from the USB 3.0.

I would just never allow the computer to sleep.

spapakons said:

I would just never allow the computer to sleep.

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Why would anyone do that by choice when they can replace a 20 year old flat bed scanner with a new equivalent for around $100 and not be wasting dollars on electricity and wear and tear on the system? I enjoy my Canon MP990 from 2009. In my case it is connected via ethernet to the router and the last version of driver still works like a champ. Every once in a blue moon it will forget the network and I simply power cycle it.

HeavyHemi said:

Why would anyone do that by choice when they can replace a 20 year old flat bed scanner with a new equivalent for around $100 and not be wasting dollars on electricity and wear and tear on the system?

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If the scanner still works and can be useful to me, then yes, I'll keep it around for as long as possible. And it wouldn't surprise me if today's scanners don't have the quality control the old ones used to. Not much else out there does is since we live in a disposable society where it's easier to throw things out rather than to fix it.

While some years back flatbed scanners were common, now there are only a few expensive models. Most users buy an MFP (Multi-Function-Printer) which usually sucks at scanning quality compared to old flatbed models, unless it is an expensive professional MFP. Also most older models had a TWAIN driver (aka custom scanning utility) which had many quality features, including de-screening so you don't see the individual ink dots when scanning a color document. Today almost all models have the generic Windows Image Acquisition (WIA) driver that has much less quality control and no advanced features like de-screening. The average user might be content to just scan a document, but there are many others that like a little better scanner than that. If one already has a very good perfectly working scanner, why replace it? Would you replace your car if it was in perfect condition? What for? Maybe after 2030 we will be forced to replace it for an electrical or convert it to hybrid gas/electrical, but until then, no, we don't have money to waste. Similarly for scanners. So the only sensible approach is to try to make the scanner work, not replace it.

PS: As a last resort, if the scanner cannot work at all in our current Windows version, we can always install an older Windows version in a virtual machine, pass control of the scanner to the guest and scan from there. Even better if we configure the application to scan directly to a shared folder on the host or the cloud. I had done it for a very good HP flatbed model. It didn't have 64-bit drivers and couldn't make it work with VueScan. So I installed Windows XP on a VMWare virtual machine and passed control of the scanner to the guest. I could use the scanner as usual and save directly to a shared folder. I had even enabled the Unity feature, so I didn't see the whole virtual machine, just the scanning application.

cheaterslick said:

If the scanner still works and can be useful to me, then yes, I'll keep it around for as long as possible. And it wouldn't surprise me if today's scanners don't have the quality control the old ones used to. Not much else out there does is since we live in a disposable society where it's easier to throw things out rather than to fix it.

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Well of course. Apparently this user decided that their existing two decade old scanner had become problematic enough to replace it.

spapakons said:

While some years back flatbed scanners were common, now there are only a few expensive models.

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He is replacing an old Canon with a new Canon flatbed scanner with the same scanning resolution for around $100 dollars. It has its own driver and software with advanced features.

And you consider $100 a small amount? It's not that small. We are not talking about $10, we are talking about $100. Let's say it is about 100€. The lower salary in Greece and other countries is about 700€, so $100 is indeed much.

spapakons said:

And you consider $100 a small amount? It's not that small. We are not talking about $10, we are talking about $100. Let's say it is about 100€. The lower salary in Greece and other countries is about 700€, so $100 is indeed much.

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No, I consider that leaving your PC on all the time wasting electricity and money and wear and tear on a system to support a two decade scanner isn't the best option. Your reasoning in this particular case of driver issues etc, also doesn't apply. Why you insist on using Greece as a paradigm for the rest of the world is beyond me. In this case the person is in the US. I'd like to think I pay attention to context.

A USB 2.0 powered hub costs about $20 and the LIDE 400 cost $90 at Amazon. So for $70 for me, it was worth it. I am keeping the Canon 4400F as a spare since it can do slides and negatives. Before I switched I went through 600 slides and converted the ones I liked to jpg files.

PaulGo said:

A USB 2.0 powered hub costs about $20 and the LIDE 400 cost $90 at Amazon. So for $70 for me, it was worth it. I am keeping the Canon 4400F as a spare since it can do slides and negatives. Before I switched I went through 600 slides and converted the ones I liked to jpg files.

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That's what I like about my MP990. It does slides and I have thousands I still need to go through now that I am starting to have more free time.

The point is, I would reluctantly replace a cheap flatbed scanner that can scan documents only, but I would try to keep an expensive model that also scans slides and negatives. It's not the same. I would only replace it if there was absolutely no way to make it work and I was making money from it. It would be an investment, not a mere replacement.

spapakons said:

The point is, I would reluctantly replace a cheap flatbed scanner that can scan documents only, but I would try to keep an expensive model that also scans slides and negatives. It's not the same. I would only replace it if there was absolutely no way to make it work and I was making money from it. It would be an investment, not a mere replacement.

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Erm.. I don't believe that is a point, I believe that is pretty much what everyone would do. I am certainly not arguing against that. I think we can agree the individual makes their own choice of what works for them. I think this discussion has run its course. Later.

HeavyHemi said:

No, I consider that leaving your PC on all the time wasting electricity and money and wear and tear on a system to support a two decade scanner isn't the best option.

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Agree. Besides, I only turn peripherals on when I need them. That includes printers, scanners, bluetooth, etc... I don't leave things on all the time.

Doesn't the scanner work again if you remove the USB cable and connect it again? That's why I had suggested to buy a USB hub with on/off switches for each individual port. To do that without having to physically remove the cable.