HP S20 film scanner won't work with Windows Vista

Jim Foley , Jun 28, 2007; 08:38 a.m.

HP will no longer provide support for the HP Photosmart S20 film scanner. The scanner won't work with Windows Vista and HP will not provide an upgraded driver. Their suggestion: buy a new scanner. Any suggestions. Thanks

Answers

John Wire , Jun 28, 2007; 09:15 a.m.

Changing the peripheral/software interfaces is a common Microsuck practice with their new operating system releases. I keep my old legacy systems/peripherals/software from years back piled in a box in the corner of the basement (it costs money to throw them away). There is an APPLE in my future and XP till then. The monopoly power of Microsuck is always being challenged. Regards.

Derek Zeanah , Jun 28, 2007; 10:48 a.m.

Yeah - I've got an HP printer I can't use since my computer died and the replacement came with Vista...

I ran into the same problem with my Minolta scanner and driver incompatibility. The fix was to download and install Vuescan. Cost was something like $35, but there's a trial.

John Newell , Jun 28, 2007; 12:24 p.m.

Not updating device drivers for a new OS is a long-standing HP practice. HP seems to think this is good for product sales, since it orphans otherwise perfectly good hardware.

Steven Clark , Jun 28, 2007; 01:41 p.m.

Looks like even Vuescan won't save you on this one. The S20 needs libraries from the HP software to work at all.

Eugene Scherba , Jun 28, 2007; 03:31 p.m.

As much as I don't like MS, it seems that HP and the practice of not disclosing hardware interfaces are here to blame, not MS.

John Kelly , Jun 28, 2007; 11:10 p.m.

My tech (Epson and Nikon...who'd buy HP, especially the low end for gods sake?) all been happy on Win98 and XP, and most of it is step-by-step experiencing new Vista driver announcements (me, I'm sticking with XP for a few years).

Mac people experience Microsoft anxiety, except that some of the desirable photo tech has always been cranky with Mac. If you want to condemn somebody, put Jobs up there with Gates. The good news is that Mac is going Wintel, which will make things easier in the future.

P C Headland , Jun 29, 2007; 06:36 a.m.

Here's another option - download a copy of VMWare Server (free) or VirtualBox (free) and create yourself a Windows XP virtual machine.

Leo Gottfried , Aug 06, 2008; 03:29 p.m.

I used to have a Multiboot system on my pc with w98, and XP to be able to use hardware that no longer supported in newer OS. HP service of the excellent S20 sucks

Notify me of Responses