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Hi,

I have a scanner without a driver for Windows 10 (Microtek ScanMaker i320) but with a driver for Windows XP.

I installed the scanner driver on my Windows XP guest (having the guest addition pack installed). On the Windows XP guest I have the filter for the USB scanner activated.

When I plug the scanner in the Windows 10 USB, the Windows XP guest cannot see it. It tells me that no scanner are available.

How can I have that USB device work with my guest if it does not work on the hostL?

IS there a way of working that problem?

Thanks,

Jacques

Well, if your Host can't recognise that the scanner is attached to the USB it seems logical that there will be no recognisable hardware for the Guest System to find, as it has to use your Host System to provide the interface.

If there are any Drivers/Software available that are compatible with Windows 7/8 then you could try installing them on your Windows 10 Host using the Software Compatibility Mode.

Thanks for the answer. I already tried the comptability mode in Windows 10 without any result. The package driver from Microtek is a *.exe file (that I open in compt. mode) which opens another graphical menu from which to choose another item....choosing one, Windows 10 than ask that I should be an administrator to open it.......(I am the administrator on my laptop!!!!). I am turning in circle....if I run the first package as an admin....I am not in compt. mode.....and I cannot choose it by clicking on a graphical menu!

Jacques

erdeslawe wrote:Well, if your Host can't recognise that the scanner is attached to the USB it seems logical that there will be no recognisable hardware for the Guest System to find

Good educated guess, but actually not quite true. The host only has to recognize that a USB device is attached - i.e. there has to be a physical connection. Then you use VirtualBox USB features to connect that host USB device to the guest. The guest has to install drivers which recognize the functionality of the device.

You have to think of USB as a network connection (which it is). A USB device operates at two levels: the basic network (NIC) hardware level which both host and guest has to understand, and the functional level which only the app which needs those functions must understand. Even old LPT printers had something similar: first you need drivers at the LPT level for basic comms, and then you need higher level drivers to talk the particular language that this printer understands.

However... the OPs approach still makes little sense. At best the scanner would then be attached to the guest, so scanner functionality would be available to the guest, not the host. The scanner may be capable of being shared on a network, but that would be a configuration problem for the PCs involved, and a host driver may then be required again - unless Win10 has native scanner drivers with an API which this scanner supports.

Ok, since I am not an expert, I will try to understand the problem correctly:
My host is Windows 10 on a portable having USB ports (USB2 and USB3 - the scanner use the USB2).
My guest is Wndows XP. I installed the driver for the scanner (Microtek i320) on the guest (it used to work perfectly on an old PC running Windows XP).
On the guest, the USB device is "on" USB2 (EHCI controler) and the filter for the scanner is also "on".
I alson have the latest VirtualBox version.
When I connect the scanner in the USB port, it says that the scanner is not ready....but it is plug and working!
What could be the problem...is there a way to install everything (scanner first, software first, scanner second....etc...etc...)?
The guest also tell me that there is no usb device attached!!!!...but says the scanner is not readyl!!!!!
All that is chineese nonsense to me.

Jacques

Jacques,

Having read mpack's message I see that my logic was a bit off (still absorbing information and learning)

I thought I'd come at your problem from a different angle as, if I now understand correctly, what you need to do to move forward is to get the Host System to recognise that the scanner is attached to the USB, not to get it fully working.

There's and old thread from the Microsoft Community Forum here: http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/wind ... b6e?auth=1 It relates to Windows 7 not 10, but it seems that your scanner hasn't been officially supported by the manufacturer since before the introduction of Windows 7! If you take a look at the final few contributions to the thread, it seems that there was a way to get the scanner recognised using alternative Win7 drivers produced for later Microtek scanners. Windows 10 is, of course, an entirely new beast so the work-around may well no longer work and the risk is entirely yours. Or you could try selling the scanner to a Technology Museum

Yes selling it to Africa would certainly be an option....many well known companies do that with their products, including pharma, etc....

I was able to run the scaner on Windows 7, using another driver of Microtek....I tried that with Windows 10 but it is not working, even if Microsoft says that what was working on Win7 should work on Win10...anyway Microsoft is saying a lot things....

If I was a Wall Street guy, I could hire hakers to do the job, but......it is not worth it.

Anyway thanks to all for the answer.

Jacques