My Scanjet does not get picked up by the software

[sandohp]

My very new scanner HP Scanjet 3600 does not work with the latest Windows 11 build with latest updates. When I go through the wizard and connect my scanner when the wizard asks for it, it doesn't get picked up by the software. The things is that Windows itself seems to recognize it because I see it appear and disappear in device manager when I connect and disconnect it.

On at least 3 Windows 10 machines it works without problems. I've tried multiple USB ports but it doesn't make a difference. I can't go forward in the dialog - there is a button 'Skip' which is greyed out. The HP notebook I try this on is brand new - I bought it last week. I downgraded Windows from 24H2 to 23H2 but it doesn't make a difference.

I'm on: 

Windows 11 Pro

23H2

28-‎1-‎2025

22631.4751

[sandohp]

I got a response from Microsoft with regard to this issue:

"Thanks for taking the time to report this - there's a fix rolling out with Build 26100.2161: https://support.microsoft.com/topic/october-24-2024-kb5044384-os-build-26100-2161-preview-5a4ac390-7... . Appreciate your patience if you don't have the fix yet

UPDATE: A second fix has now started rolling out to the Dev Channel: https://blogs.windows.com/windows-insider/2025/01/24/announcing-windows-11-insider-preview-build-261... "

I installed KB5050094 which contains  KB5044384 but unfortunately the scanner app still doesn't acknowledge the fact that the scanner is powered on and connected. I'm hoping the second fix will help.

[sandohp · Accepted solution]

I got my scanner to work with HP's official response plus some extra steps. Follow these steps (quoted from @Kndy, see https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Scanning-Faxing-Copying/Windows-11-Version-24H2-stopped-Scanner-connec... at 12-20-2024 05:59 PM )

"First, make sure this December 10, 2024 was installed:

KB5048667

Restart after confirming.

TODAY:

I spoke to HP support and the following will need to be tested.

via admin, go to command prompt

Run the command:

pnputil /delete-driver escl.inf /uninstall /force

You will get:

Driver package installed

Failed to delete driver package: the specified file is not an installed OEM INF.

Try scanning again and see if it works. You can also check on Device Manager under Imaging Device and making sure only ONE is showing for your printer and not two devices. If it shows (USB) this is HPEsclscan.inf, if it shows no (USB) then it uses escl.inf. The goal is to make sure eSCL.inf is uninstalled."

This has been HP's official response. I needed to take some additional steps:

The first challenge was to get KB5048667 installed. I could not as Windows was telling me:

Windows Standalone Update Installer:  "Update is not applicable"

It appears that KB5048667 was already part of another package that replaces it and which was already installed on my system (KB5050094).

The second step, running pnputil /delete-driver escl.inf /uninstall /force, went easy, but Windows kept installing escl.inf immediately after uninstalling it. To remedy this I deleted all three instances of escl.inf on my system but that wasn't enough - Windows reinstalled it again anyway. So in the end I decided to prevent installation via the group policy editor, gpedit.msc. 

To find out which Id's to prevent from installing I opened device manager > Imaging Devices. It lists two devices: HP HP Scanjet Pro 3600 f1 and HP Scanjet Pro 3600 f1 (USB).

The first one is the one I wanted to get rid of. So go to Properties > Details and find the heading 'compatible IDs'. In my case they were:

1284_CID_MS_ESCL

SWD\GenericRaw

SWD\Generic

• Then, open Group Policy Editor (gpedit.msc)
• Navigate to Computer Configuration - Administrative Templates - System - Device Installation - Device Installation Restrictions
• Double click Prevent Installation of devices that match any of these device IDs
• Tick Enabled and click Show
• Enter the Hardware ID in a value line

(gpedit.msc only comes with Windows Pro and higher, but there are ways to install it on Home - otherwise there probably are ways to achieve the same result in the registry)

After a reboot, I could scan with HP software. However, trying to start a scan from the HP Scan Assistant device setup still does not work. Hope this helps someone.

PS:

If you don't see the (USB) version of your scanner you might have to install HPeSCLScan.INF by executing pnputil: 

pnputil /add-driver C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\hpesclscan.inf_amd64_dd3026ad8aaa51a0\HPeSCLScan.INF

PS: If you have Windows Home you can install the group policy editor following the tutorial below:

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/how-to-enable-the-gpeditmsc-on-windows-10-and-... 

To start it go to Start > Run > and then type gpedit.msc, followed by <Enter>.