HP Deskjet 2540 Scan not working in Windows 10

[Hippy79]

Have upgraded to Windows 10 (don't know if it's 32 or 64 bit).  Now can't scan.  Have tried uninstalling/reinstalling, loading HP Print and Scan Doctor, and HP Support Assistant and done everything instructed.  However, the software which loads each time is just the basic application which allows printing - it doesn't show the scan application at all.  Tried using Windows own very basic scan software, which does communicate with the scanner and actually scans, however not to PDF (VERY basic).  Please help.

[Rainbow7000 · Accepted solution]

Welcome to the HP Community @Hippy79,

I understand the printer software will not fully install for your Deskjet 2540 on your Windows 10 system, causing scanning issues from the software and I would like to try to help! Here are my suggestions for you to try. When you are done, please let me know the results and any issues or errors you may run in to!

Step one: Clean boot, restart the PC and try the install again.

1. Begin by typing “msconfig” in the Cortana Search Box and then click on MSConfig (Run Command)
Or on your keyboard press the Windows + R key at the same time and type Msconfig in the run window, then click on OK or hit enter.

2. Now choose Selective Start-up

3. Remove the check from Load Startup Items

4. Click on the Services tab

5. Check “Hide all Microsoft Services” and then click on Disable All

6. Click on Apply and then on OK

7. Restart the PC and temporarily disable any firewalls or antivirus programs

8. Run the HP Printer Install Wizard for Windows to install the printer

9. Enable the start up services and firewall again

Step two: Unregister and re-register the Windows Installer Service:

1. Hold the Windows Key + R to populate the "Run" box, type cmd.exe, and then click OK.
2. At the command prompt, type msiexec /unregister , and then press ENTER.
3. At the command prompt, type msiexec /regserver, and then press ENTER.
4. At the command prompt, type exit, and then press ENTER to close the command prompt.
5. Run the HP Printer Install Wizard for Windows

Step three: Run a System File Checker Scan (up to 3 times) to repair corrupt system files:
1. Go to start
2. Type CMD
3. Right click and run as Administrator
4. To verify and repair the OS type sfc /scannow (note the space between sfc and "/")

You may have to run this up to 3 times to fix all the problems

When you have finished it will say one of three things
Windows did not find any integrity violations (a good thing)
Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files and repaired them (a good thing)
Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files but was unable to fix some (or all) of them (not a good thing)

Try installing the printer again.

Step four: Enable Built-in Administrator Account in Windows

source

1. First you’ll need to open a command prompt in administrator mode by right-clicking and choosing “Run as administrator” (or use the Ctrl+Shift+Enter shortcut from the search box).

Note that this works the same in all versions of Windows. Just search for cmd and then right-click on the command prompt icon in the Start menu or Start screen.

2. If you are in Windows 8.x or 10 you can right-click on the Start button and choose to open a command prompt that way.

3. Now type the following command:

net user administrator /active:yes

4. You should see a message that the command completed successfully. Log out, and you’ll now see the Administrator account as a choice.

You’ll note that there’s no password for this account, so if you want to leave it enabled you should change the password.

Try installing the printer again.

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Good luck, I hope this information helps

[Sunnizulu]

I'm not an IT person and those instruction seemed totally over my head. Is there a simpler approach?

Thanks