Windows 7 WIA Driver needed Epson Scanner cause network workaround

7/28/2012 Edit
See solution below second post:

I have a WorkForce 610. When I try to run the Epson Scan program
I receive an error message telling me that I need a WIA driver.

Yep, lots of those bugs out there.

While I can work around this issue on my Workforce and
have done so in the past, it did not occur to me until
today what the problem is with Windows 7 and these
scanner issues.

I had previously removed the network access to my
Workforce 610 which restored the driver issue. On
Saturday October 15, I decided to reinstall the scanner
drivers and try to get it working over the USB cable
which is the way I want it set up.

AS I was installing the driver, I noticed that the scanner
driver gave me an unsigned driver error message. As
installed and uninstalled the driver, I decided to run the
scanner setup.exe after the printer driver had been
installed and the system was searching for the printer.
When the warning message came up, I clicked the
install driver anyway button, after the driver had
finished installing, I plugged the machine in and allowed
the system to load the drivers after which everything
worked. I was able to run Epson scan with no problems.
That is, no problems until after I rebooted the system.

The reason Windows 7 won't load the scanner driver is due
to the fact that the scanner is not digitally signed. Both
Microsoft and Epson are at fault with this. Epson for failing
to purchase the needed digital signature, and Microsoft
for not providing a white list for unsigned drivers that the
user or admin knows is from a valid and trustworthy
organization. But then, such a white list would cause
companies to refrain from purchasing the digital signature
from Microsoft. In a nutshell, this is more of a money
grab by Microsoft than it is a concern on the part of Microsoft
for the security of your system.


So how do we get past this digital signature issue.
First, if your machine has network capability and
you have a home network, all you need to do is:

1. setup the networking configuration on the machine
and access it from their.
2. insure that the Epson scan settings are set to network
and your device.

Once these two steps are followed, you should be able to run
Epson scan without a problem.

Workaround two is to disable the digital signature requirement
in Windows 7. Here are some links to do so.

Permanently disable driver signature enforcement on Win 7 x64

Driver Signature Enforcement Overrider 1.3b

How to I turn off digital signature? - Microsoft Answers

The third thing you can do is contact your scanner manufacturer
and demand that they release a digitally signed driver for the
scanner like they should have done in the first place.

Scott A. Tovey

7/28/2012 Edit
See solution below this post:

I did some toying with my system today and found the following workaround that enabled Epson scan to run over the USB port as long as it runs as administrator.

I found that there is a conflict between Epson scan and the Windows Image Acquisition (WIA) service. To test this on your system, first log into your administrator account. This will just make it easier since Epson scan will only run as administrator.

Open your services panel:
Start - All programs - Accessories - Services

Click in the list and then press the W key,
This will take you down to the Ws.

Scroll down to Windows Image Acquisition (WIA)

Right click on Windows Image Acquisition (WIA) and click properties.

Click the "Start up type" drop down box and select disable.

Under Service Status click the Stop button and wait until the service shows that it is
halted.

Once the service has stopped

We need to set Epson scan compatibility mode to run under XP(Service Pack 3)
Right click the Epson Scan icon and then click on the compatibility tab.
Click the "Run program in compatibility mode" check box.
Click the drop-down box and select Windows XP (Service Pack 3).
Click the OK button to apply changes and close the properties window.
Start Epson scan.

If you are not logged in as Administrator, you must run Epson scan as administrator by right clicking the icon and choosing "Run as Administrator". In addition you must run under XP(Service Pack 3) compatibility mode.

I suspect that this is all that needs to be done to get Epson scan working.

If Epson scan runs, right click the Epson scan icon and then click properties.
If the Short cut tab is not selected, select it.
Click the Advanced button and click on the box next to "Run As Administrator".
click the OK buttons to apply and close the options window.

Things to note:
When you disable and stop the Windows Image Acquisition (WIA) service and then right click on the printer in Devices and Printers, the "Start scan" command will not be present. This is not an issue for people having this problem because clicking that menu option only causes the (You need a WIA Driver) error to load.

When you open Epson scan settings as a regular user and click the test button, Epson scan settings will not find the scanner. If you run Epson scan settings as Administrator, Epson scan settings will detect the scanner and show it as ready. In addition to this, starting the Event Manager will only cause the "Epson Scan cannot be started" error dialog to open up.


This is just a work around, so what's the solution to this problem?
It is quite simple. The solution is for Epson to get off their cheep lazy backsides and refactor Epson scan, Epson scan settings, and Event Manager to run as regular users on Windows Vista and above.


If the above does not work take these extra steps: Open Programs and Features from control panel.
Click the "Turn Windows Features on and off" link.
Scroll down to Print and Document Services and click the plus sign next to it.
While I found this unnecessary on my system, UN-check the Scan Management and Windows Fax and Scan as well as any other checked items in the list and click OK.

Hope this works for people.

Scott A. Tovey

Solution to the USB Epson Scan "Windows 7 WIA Driver needed" error
Scott A. Tovey 7/28/2012

This is the best solution as it does not require the Windows Imaging Acquisition service to be disabled.

1. Go to Epson Support - Drivers, FAQs, Troubleshooting, Technical Support, Documents & Manuals for Epson Products - Epson America, Inc.

www.epson.com/cgi-bin/Store/support/SupportIndex.jsp?BV_UseBVCookie=yes&expansion=100000&iref=homepage_drivers_printers#prin

2. Click the all in one link.
3. Click the Epson WorkForce 645 link in the list.
4. Click the Drivers and Downloads link.
5. Click the plus sign on the drivers bar to open it.
6. Click the download link beneath the Scanner Driver and EPSON Scan Utility v3.78 + link and download the drivers.

Once you have downloaded the Epson Scan v3.78 + you are ready to resolve the Epson scan issues with Windows 7. Note: This solution may also work in Vista as well.

1. Uninstall your current version of Epson Scan using program and settings.
2. Reboot your computer.
3. Install Epson Scan version 3.78.
4. Reboot your computer
Note: WorkForce all in ones prior to 345 will not install.
5. Run the Epson Scan version 3.76. You need to do this in order
to install the Workforce610 drivers.
6. Reboot your computer
7. Turn on your Workforce 610 and allow the scanner drivers to install.
8. Open Epson scan settings and set Workforce610 as default.
9. Click test button. If your scanner is found all is working fine.
10. Start Event manager, it should be working properly now.

At this point you should be able to run Epson Scan as a regular user rather than as administrator.

It is to bad that executives at Epson did not create a legitimate upgrade path for resolving this issue when it comes to older hardware. This shows that Epson is not concerned with customers that have purchased their products in the past. Only customers that purchase new products are their concern.

This is a pretty lousy business model as one does not retain customers that one does not provide good customer service to. In the future, I will no longer be purchasing new Epson products as Epson cannot be trusted to fix issues regarding their software when new versions of the windows operating system come out.



Scott A. Tovey

Dear satovey:
Thank you for your prompt reply.
I was hoping that you knew of a registry fix for this problem. Anyhow, I was able to find an application similar to Epson's Attach to Email called "Affixa". It is free, and meets my needs for sending e-mail attachments.
Sorry to hear that your initial workaround isn't working any longer. I applied your suggestions for Epson Scan, and it continues to work just fine.
Thanks again.
vpsanchez