fixed : use unsupported scanner in OSX 10.9 Mavericks

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UPDATE : if you are running OSX 10.10 Yosemite, check out the updated version of this post here

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Question :

I have a Canon CanoScan LiDE 20 that used to work perfectly in MacOSX 10.6 Snow Leopard. But now I’ve bought a new Mac which runs OSX 10.9 Mavericks, I can’t seem to install it, since Canon doesn’t update the drivers anymore.

What can I do ?

Answer :

In OSX 10.7 Lion, 10.8 Mountain Lion and 10.9 Mavericks, any TWAIN-supporting scanner can be used without any additional software.

A list of supported scanners for OSX 10.9 Mavericks can be found here.

Here’s a quick step-by-step instruction :

– connect your scanner directly to your Mac using a USB-cable

– open the System Preferences

– then click on “Print & Scan”

– then, just below in the list of printers on the left, click on the “+”-sign

– that will bring up the “Add”-window, which enables you to add a new printer or scanner

– if your scanner is TWAIN-supporting, it will show up there, and you just need to select it and click on the “Add”-button

– then it will be listed in the previous (“Print & Scan”) System Preferences window, and if you select it (and you put a piece of paper or a photo in the scanner), a Scanning Preview window will show up, allowing you to scan your document to file or eMail or something else…

but…

…some for some printers, like the Canon CanoScan LiDE 20 and LiDE 30, the TWAIN-drivers are not included in OSX. In that case, you will need to install some generic (FREE) TWAIN-drivers :

– for OSX 10.9 Mavericks, download and install these files (in this same order) and restart your Mac after doing so, then your scanner will also show up in the “Print & Scan” System Preferences :

 

libusb.pkg.tar.gz

sane-backends.pkg.tar.gz

SANE-Preference-Pane.pkg.tar.gz

TWAIN-SANE-Interface.pkg.tar.gz

– for OSX 10.8 Mountain Lion, download and install these files (in this same order) and restart your Mac after doing so, then your scanner will also show up in the “Print & Scan” System Preferences :

libusb.pkg.tar.gz

sane-backends.pkg.tar.gz

SANE-Preference-Pane.pkg.tar.gz

TWAIN-SANE-Interface.pkg.tar.gz

– for MacOSX 10.7 Lion, download and install these files (in this same order) and restart your Mac after doing so, then your scanner will also show up in the “Print & Scan” System Preferences :

libusb.pkg.tar.gz

sane-backends.pkg.tar.gz

SANE-Preference-Pane.pkg.tar.gz

TWAIN-SANE-Interface.pkg.tar.gz

– if these files do not turn into regular .pkg-files when you click on them, you need unTAR-software like this :

The Unarchiver

– if you get an error-message telling you you can’t install this software (these drivers) since the are not from Apple-appoved developers, you need to :

– open the System Preferences

– then click on “Security & Privacy”

– then make sure the “General”-tab is selected

– click the padlock in the lower left corner and provide an Administrator name & password to unlock the padlock

– then at “Allow applications downloaded from:” select “Anywhere”

– and exit the System Preferences to make this setting stick

Note #1 :

TWAIN-supporting drivers (like SANE and the ones that come with OSX) will enable you to directly scan from within various applications like Photoshop, MS Word, GraphicConverter, OmniPage and OSX’s built-in Image Capture. [ please also read Note #7 and #8 for more tips on this ! ]

Note #2 :

when using the SANE drivers, you will probably not be able to use the ‘one click’-buttons that are on the scanner itself…

Note #3 :

if your scanner lets you scan the first time, but after shut-down and restart scanning seems impossible because OSX can’t find the scanner, just plug-out the scanner’s USB-cable and plug it back in and everything should work again…

Note #4 :

if the “Scan”-button remains grayed-out, make sure that you have selected an area to scan… (put differently : if “Selection:” is set to “Off”, you will need to select an area to scan before the “Scan”-button will be ready to use…)

Note #5 :

if you get a distorted scan when scanning in landscape view (or any other rotated view), just scan normally in portrait view and rotate the scanned image afterwards (in Preview app or another image editing program, like Photoshop or Graphic Converter)

Note #6 :

if you are not able to scan as a JPEG (.jpg-flie), just scan as a TIFF (.tif-file) and convert the scanned image afterwards (in Preview app or another image editing program, like Photoshop or Graphic Converter)

Note #7 :

if your scanner doesn’t show up in Image Capture (especially in OSX 10.9 Mavericks), use this workaround :

go to System Prefecences –> Printers & Scanners –> [your scanner] –> Scan –> Open Scanner

Note #8 :

if your scanner doesn’t show up in Photoshop (especially in OSX 10.9 Mavericks), try this workaround :

go to Applications –> Adobe Photoshop CS# –> Adobe Photoshop CS# –> type “CMD” + “i” key-combo (on your keyboard) –> (in the Get Info window) select “Open in 32 bit mode” and exit Get Info

then open Adobe Photoshop (CS#-version) –> File –> Import –> SANE

Note #9 :

another option that might just work to get SANE drivers to connect with ImageCapture and Photoshop (especially if you have an older CANON scanner) is (re)installing the TWAINbrigde.app that Jan Egil has ready for download on his website.

Credits :

Matias Ellert and the Open Source developers of the SANE project

…and a special thanks to Mónica, Jorge Blasio, torrealta, dencho, BobD and Jan Egil for Note #7, #8 and #9 ! [see comments below]

If you encounter any problems with these SANE drivers for OSX, try contacting Mattias Ellert directly as indicated here.

If you want to un-install the TWAIN SANE drivers, either use an un-installer application like AppCleaner or follow the instructions for manual un-install as outlined in Mattias Ellert’s FAQ (last question & answer).

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95 thoughts on “fixed : use unsupported scanner in OSX 10.9 Mavericks”

  1. The link of libusb.pkg.tar.gz for OSX 10.9 Mavericks is wrong. You linked to “get text”.

    Reply ↓

  2. Does this work for Canon CanoScan Lide 90? I’ve followed all the steps above for Mavericks, but the scanner is still not detected in “Printers & Scanners” or Image Capture, although the SANE preference pane shows up.

    Reply ↓

    • @Paulo :

      Sorry to hear this doesn’t work for you (yet) :

      Kris Tilford just informed me that it seems like some backends of SANE may not have been updated to the latest version in SANE for OSX, so some scanners may not properly work… (I’m not avare of any info on which ones do and which ones don’t work…)

      …this might be the issue in your case also

      let’s hope Mattias Ellert (the programmer of the SANE for OSX drivers) updates this soon…

      if you can’t wait for that, I would suggest you to consider buying a new scanner…
      …have a look here for some Mavericks-supported scanners

      you could also retry (disconnect the scanner, uninstall all SANE components, restart your Mac and then reinstall and reconnect the scanner), sometimes that also helps…

      Good Luck !

      Reply ↓

    • @Paulo :

      sorry, I now think I’ve missed one clue in your question :
      could it be you are referring to the fact that the CanoScan LiDE 90 is showing up as SANE in Image Capture ?

      if that’s the case, please consider my previous answer as incorrect

      Good Luck !

      Reply ↓

  3. I’m using a CanoScan LiDE 20 on Mac OSX 10.9. I installed everything in order and restarted, yet my scanner still isn’t showing up my “Print & Scan” menu, and nothing is showing up in Image Capture. Are there any other steps I might be missing?

    Reply ↓

    • @Ana :

      Sorry to hear this doesn’t work for you (yet)

      Could it be that the CanoScan LiDE 20 is not showing up under it’s own name in Image Capture, but as “SANE” or something like that ?

      If that’s the case, that’s your answer…

      If not, see if the scanner shows up as a USB-connected device in the System Information app (which can be found in the Utilities folder, which is inside the Applications folder).

      If it doesn’t show up there either, it’s either not properly connected (broken USB-cable maybe ?) or it’s broken…

      If it does show up there, try reinstalling the SANE drivers and supporting software (see previous comments on uninstalling and reinstalling of SANE for OSX outlined here)

      Good Luck !

      Reply ↓

      • It has always shown up as SANE, so I know to look for that. The problem that I’m having is that it’s showing up as SANE, and showing up in System Information, but when I open up Image Capture or SANE or open SANE through the “Printers & Scanners” menu in System Preferences, they all say that the scanner is disconnected, despite it showing up in System Information. Also, when I run my trial version of VueScan (which I have solely to test whether or not the scanner is indeed broken; so far it has been in working order), it scans perfectly. I followed all of your uninstall and restart suggestions, and unfortunately, it’s still not working 😦

      • Well okay. I tried something else I found in the other thread, deleting Canon’s scanning software, and then deleted and reinstalled SANE, and now SANE is not showing up anywhere on my computer. I’ve reinstalled and restarted a few times now, and it has completely disappeared. The only SANE I’m pulling up in a master search are the installer packages in my downloads folder. The CanoScan is still showing up in my System Information, but other than that, it has no presence on my computer. Also, I just realized I’m running 10.9.1, so that may be it, but it wasn’t working on 10.9 either. 10.8 worked fine, but subsequent updates have failed.

      • @Ana :

        Thanks for the feedback.
        Sorry to hear it does no longer work for you in OSX 10.9.x

        Judging from your info, it seems like the problem can’t be that you’re trying to use the SANE for OSX 10.8 in OSX 10.9 right ?

        So, assuming you have (re)installed SANE correctly (I see no reason to assume you didn’t, since you had it running in OSX 10.8),
        I can only come up with these :
        – this might be caused by a minor software problem because of uninstalling and reinstalling ; try a “Repair Disk Permissions” of your HD using the Disk Utility app (pre-installed by OSX)
        – this might be cause by the fact that the OSX 10.9 version of SANE seems to not have the latest scanner-support libraries implemented (which are in the Linux version) ; this can only be fixed by Mattias Ellert (the creator of SANE for OSX)
        – this might be caused by the fact that you’ve installed VueScan (conflicting drivers) ; see what happens if you uninstall both SANE and VueScan, and reinstall SANE only

        If all of this is taking to much time and effort, I would suggest reconsidering buying a new scanner or buying VueScan (since that seems to work).

        note : in the summer of 2012 Hamrick Software introduced a new line-up of VueScan, consisting of 3 versions : Pro Edition, Standard Edition and a FREE Basic edition
        …nowadays (only one-and-a-half years later) the Basic Edition has disappeared from the download options, but it is suggested by some that it has since been integrated into the Standard Edition as the option of ‘unlicensed use’… I haven’t had time to test this however (as installing VueScan will probably mess up my current scanner drivers…)

        Please report back if this was helpful to you (or not).

        Good Luck !

      • I repaired the disk permissions, uninstalled VueScan, and reinstalled SANE. So far, only the SANE preference pane is showing up in my the main menu of System Preferences. The program is nowhere to be found on the computer except for the installer packages and the preference pane, and SANE still isn’t showing up in the Printers & Scanners menu. I tried to add it manually, but the scanner isn’t showing up in the list. However, when I check System Information > USB, the CanoScan is listed.

      • @Ana :

        Thanks for the feedback.
        Sorry to hear it still doesn’t work for you…

        I’m afraid some supporting (system) file that shouldn’t have been deleted accidentally got deleted either when you un-installed SANE or during the update to OSX 10.9 Mavericks.

        I would recommend you to Back-up and reinstall OSX 10.9 Mavericks (*), then check to see if your scanner works without any additional software (probably not, but it’s worth the try, and could save you a lot of work).
        If that doesn’t work, reconsider your preferred solution ; and choose ONLY ONE, and stick with that one, either :
        – get VueScan here, see if it works the way you need it too in FREE_mode, and be prepared to pay for the full version if you need more
        – get SilverFast here, but check if your CanoScan is supported by SilverFast in OSX 10.9 first, as this is an expensive option…
        – get SANE for OSX here, hope it works, and contact Mattias Ellert himself if it still doesn’t
        – get a new scanner that is compatible with OSX 10.9 Mavericks (some suggestions can be found here)

        (*) Instructions on re-installing OSX 10.9 Mavericks can be found here on the Apple-website, but make sure you BACK-UP first !
        (a back-up using TimeMachine will be the easiest)

        Good Luck !
        😉

  4. Hi. Maybe this can help. I am not a pro user but I got my scanner working today after reading and trying to understand. First thing to do. Thank you as my Canoscan Lide 30 on Mavericks after visiting this blog along with other websites as mattias Ellert’s. What I know from the past is that you never will get the display of this scan in system preferences-printers( I never show it there and I have it for a long long time), although you can see it in the System Information App. In my case I have tried to install the Canon drivers, something impossible to get as Mavericks does not support Rosetta. So, I installed CanoScan Toolbox for Canoscan Lide 25 I downloaded from the Canon website. I have also installed the demo of VueScan, as well as MF Toolbox from canon as well, with no positive results. I followed the steps you wrote here to install SANE (again lots of thanks). But nothing worked. Until I visited an Apple Forum where they say Mavericks is 64 bits and: I am quoting: “ImageCapture won’t show TWAIN devices, but if an App invokes the TWAIN driver from outside ImageCapture, the scanner works.” This guy opened Adobe Acrobat and clicked in “Create PDF”, then chose “From Scanner” and it worked. I tried the same thing and… it works! You can read the thread here (Jorge Blasio is the guy I quoted):
    https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5471888?start=0&tstart=0
    So, based on that, I went to Finder, I went to Applications, then I clicked with the right button in Photoshop CS5 (the application) and clicked on “Get Info”, and there I clicked on “Open in 32 bit-mode”. Then I opened Photoshop, File, Import, and there is… SANE! I tried it… and It works, my CanoScan Lide 30 works again!!! Thank you very much for your help here and I hope this will help to more people like Ana.

    Reply ↓

    • @Mónica :

      Huge thanks for your feedback, clever thinking and tips !

      I’ve added tour input as Note #7 and #8 in the original post !

      Good Luck & Enjoy !
      😉

      Reply ↓

  5. I have a Canoscan LIDE 90 and was hopeful that installing the SANE drivers would restore the ability to scan directly from Photoshop. However that doesn’t work, I assume because, as noted on this page, this scanner is not currently (and probably will never be as it is obsolete) supported by SANE: http://www.sane-project.org/unsupported/canon-lide-90.html.

    I can report that the current version of Canon MP Navigator EX (I have version 1.0.8) works under Mavericks 10.9.2, though the buttons on the scanner don’t work – that’s not an issue for me as I have never used them. You can set Photo-1 or Photo-2 to open the scan with Photoshop (or another image handling application) and it brings up the Scangear dialogue, then opens the image in Photoshop, thus achieving what you can’t do directly in Photoshop. I have Photoshop CS Extended 5.1.

    Acrobat Pro can scan directly from the application (I have version 10.1.9).

    I don’t use the scanner very often but if I did, I would probably just buy a Canoscan LIDE 110 or 210, both quite keenly priced on Amazon and both with native support in Mavericks. This page seems to have been left behind by time: https://macmanus.nl/2013/11/04/tip-which-scanners-are-compatible-with-osx-10-9-mavericks/ as it says that SANE drivers are not yet available. Can anyone verify that the native Mavericks drivers allow Photoshop to recognise the Canon scanners for which there are drivers (including the two I have mentioned)? I’ve no interest in using Image Capture as the Canon Scangear software is good enough for me.

    Reply ↓

    • @ Ian :

      Thank you for your feedback.
      Good to hear that you have got your CanoScan LiDE 90 working under OSX 10.9 using the Canon MP Navigator EX software.

      Thank you for the tip on the outdated info on SANE drivers for OSX 10.9 ; I’ve updated the original post.
      😉

      I am a little confused by the rest of your info, since on that same page, both the CanoScan LiDE 110 and LiDE 210 are listed as having pre-installed support in OSX 10.9 Mavericks…
      …which might turn your last question irrelevant (or doesn’t it ?), as that would/should mean only a bug (or otherwise bad programming) in Photoshop could cause incompatibility…

      Enjoy & Good Luck !
      😉

      Reply ↓

      • I may be wrong here, but I assume that pre-installed support means that the scanners listed will work with Image Capture. However I think you need a TWAIN driver to make a scanner work with Photoshop and my question could have been to find out if TWAIN drivers come as part of the pre-installed support. As I said, there is no advantage to me of having to use Image Capture first to scan the image before opening it in Photoshop. My question would best be answered by someone who has one of these scanners and also uses Photoshop.

      • @Ian :

        if the scannerdrivers are pre-installed by OSX, the scanner will be available in any compatible software
        for Photoshop that would mean, there’s no need for (any extra) TWAIN drivers…

        e.g. if you are running Photoshop CS6 and you have a scanner connected (and switched “ON”) which appears in the “Printers & Scanners” system preferences, do the following :
        – open Photoshop CS6
        – go to File –> Import –> Images From Device…
        – then the “Import Images from Device”-window will open and your scanner will be visible under “DEVICES”
        – select the scanner and start scanning right away…

        that’s it !
        enjoy !
        😉

  6. Hi,
    I tried to install software upgrades above for Lide 30 on MacBookPro 10.9.2 and got following response “libusb can’t be installed on this computer – Wrong version of Mac OS X. This package was compiled for version 10.7.”
    Any suggestions?
    Thanks

    Reply ↓

  7. Hi,

    I have been desperately trying to get the scan feature on my Xerox WorkCentre 3220 to work with Mavericks. I have tried many approaches including most recently, this one. Sadly, nothing seems to work.

    In the Printers & Scanners section of the system preferences, the printer clearly shows a scan option. When I click Scan, I am given another button labeled “Open Scanner…”. This then opens a plain window that says ‘scanner’ on top with two buttons on lower right: “Show Details” and “Scan”; the “Scan” button is greyed out and the “Show Details” leads to another blank screen with grey buttons (Hide details, Overview, Scan).

    I tried downloading the trial version of VueScan and it manages to control the Xerox scanner fine (although it is not freeware and trial leaves a watermakr, so not inclined to use it). At least this gives me hope that it is possible to control the scanner.

    Do you have any experience with Xerox?

    Thanks!

    Reply ↓

    • @zelazo :

      I do not have any experience with Xerox scanners.

      What exact version of OSX are you using ?
      It seems not to be the latest version (OSX 10.9.2), since that should give these options :
      – from the Apple-menu, open System Preferences
      – in the “System Preferences”-window, open Printers & Scanners
      – in the “Printers & Scanners”-window, select your scanner and click “Open Scanner”-button
      – in the “Scanner”-window, an empty (grey) page is displayed and there are 4 buttons (“Pictures” “A4” “Show Details” “Scan”), click “Show Details”
      – in the alternate “Scanner”-window, there are 3 buttons (“Hide Details” “Overview” “Scan”), the scanner now makes noise and a preview is displayed after that
      (if there’s no page to be scanned in the scanner, a blank white page is displayed when the preview scanning is complete)

      please note that (judging from your info, you already got this right, but still…) :
      – the scanner needs to be switched ON manually
      – there is no scan preview available in the interface that has the “Show Details”-button (only in the interface that has the “Hide Details”-button)
      – the “Scan”-button will be greyed out as long as there is no ‘selection frame’ on the preview page
      – the ‘selection frame’ will automatically appear when “Auto selection:” is set to “Detect Enclosing Box” or “Detect Separate Items” (not to “Off” !)
      – for various versions of OSX, the interface of the “Printers & Scanners” System Preferences will be slightly different

      hope this helps…

      Reply ↓

    • @dencho :

      Thanks for the feedback !

      I have contacted janegil.net on this, and your assumption that TWAIN is not supported in OSX 10.9 “Mavericks” is probably not correct…
      (it would be very strange if it were true…)

      You have touched on an interesting thing however :
      in order for older CANON CanoScan scanners to work, it might be necessary that the TWAINBridge.app is installed in this location :

      /System/Library/Image Capture/Devices/TWAINBridge.app

      it is not clear whether this should be installed by Apple or CANON…
      I assume it is a special CANON driver-app (as it’s not installed by the regular OSX 10.8 installer either) that used to be installed by the old CanoScan driver-installers for OSX 10.8 “Mountain Lion” and earlier…

      Thanks for your interesting find !
      😉

      Reply ↓

      • I think I was given the impression that TWAIN support was removed from Mavericks from some thread I found somewhere. I do not however stand by the accuracy of this information, for all I know it TWAINBridge might actually do something else. Some comment on my post. The version info on TWAINBridge does say “8.0, © Copyright 2000-2011 Apple Inc., all rights reserved.”, suggesting that this file originates from Apple. Maybe if I get some spare time one day I can try to figure out what actually installs this file

      • @Jan Egil :

        Thanks for making the TWAINbridge app available on your website !

        …and sorry for misspelling your name previously – I’ve tried to correct all misspellings on this website
        😉

  9. I am trying to get an HP7650 Scanner working with Mavericks. With the HP software it will scan, but when it saves the result is just a series of broad black lines. I have installed the SANE drivers but can not get the scanner to appear in “Printers and Scanners”. Has anyone had any luck at all with this? I’d hate to have to throw out a perfectly good scanner!

    Reply ↓

  10. @Kevin :

    If it’s only the saving that is troublesome, is it the saving to one (or a few) file-format(s) in particular ?
    Can’t you get any good scan using any file-format and scan-resolution setting ?
    (I know there’s a lot of combinations possible, so to test all is quite a job…)

    Just another thought :
    is the scanner connected directly onto your Mac, or is there an extremely long USB-cable or a USB-hub in-between maybe ?
    If the preview-scan seems okay, but the final scan is corrupted, it might also have to do with the connection.
    Did you try using a ‘fresh’, short (1.8m) USB-cable ?

    Good Luck !
    😉

    Reply ↓

  11. For anything other than Acrobat Pro, to use SANE in Mavericks you need to install TwainBridge.

    Reply ↓

    • @BobD :

      Thanks for the feedback.

      Did you see the reply I previously posted on dencho’s comment ?
      He addressed the same TwainBridge.app-issue.

      I have contacted janegil.net on this and (as mentioned before) the TwainBridge.app-issue is probably only related to older CANON scanners…

      Thanks for the feedback !
      Enjoy !
      😉

      Reply ↓

      • I must admit I missed some of the TwainBridge.app discussion in the (quite long) thread above and found janegil’s site independently via Google. However, I think his belief that TWAIN is not supported as part of the standard OS X Mavericks installation is correct. As my post on his site is still awaiting moderation I’ll repeat the gist here: “I can now see and add Ellert’s SANE driver using + in Systems Preferences/Printers & Scanners (see https://macmanus.nl/2013/11/28/use-unsupported-scanner-in-mavericks/ ). SANE was then accessible in both Adobe Photoshop CS6 (where I had installed Adobe’s TWAIN plugin to no avail) and in Image Capture. (It had always been accessible in Acrobat Pro.)”. Thus I don’t think the problem has anything intrinsically to do with Canon. While TwainBridge.app may perhaps sometimes be installed by Canon, Get Info reveals that it is an Apple app (v. 8.0, © 2000-2011 Apple Inc.) and I think the problem should be reported directly to Apple.

      • @BobD :

        Thanks for the feedback !
        Given your info, it seems correct to assume that TWAINbridge.app is (or rather ‘was’) an original Apple application…
        So it might just work for other scanners than just the older CANON ones…
        (I’ve updated this as Note #9 in the original post – see above)

        Chances of Apple going to change or update this in future versions of OSX 10.9 Mavericks are low, I presume.
        Reporting bugs and alike to Apple seems to work only if a lot of people do that. The bugs that are reported most frequently are given the highest priority for Apple developers, so it is said…

        Let’s just hope this will all be fixed with the release of OSX 10.10 Yosemite 😉

  12. Dear Mac Manus,
    I succesfully used Sane for my canon scan lide 20 for what I am very grateful, unfortunately i just upgraded to maverick 10.9.3 and it doesn t seem to work anymore. Is there any solution to this situation?
    Best regards and thanks you very much for your help
    Victoria

    Reply ↓

    • @Victoria :

      Good to hear you have benefitted from SANE to keep your LiDE 20 alive !
      Turns out you need to install a new version of SANE to get SANE running on OSX 10.9 Mavericks.
      Just follow the links in the original post, and on Mattias Ellert’s website you’ll find all the files you need to install.
      Enjoy !

      Reply ↓

      • I too have just updated to Mac OS X 10.9.3 (but from 10.9.2, not 10.8 or earlier) and the TWAINBridge.app I had installed from http://janegil.net/2014/01/twain-scanners-in-os-x-maverick/, as per my earlier post, disappeared from /System/Library/Image Capture/Devices/ . I had to reinstall it to be able to continue to use my CanoScan LiDE 20 using SANE (which I didn’t have to reinstall). Apple should be providing TWAINBridge.app (or equivalent) to support Twain compatible drivers like SANE. I couldn’t find any comment about TWAINBridge.app in Apple Support Communities discussions so I have posted a message on https://discussions.apple.com/message/25123260?tstart=0#25123260 and suggest others post on this Apple website as well to reinforce the message.
        PS SANE doesn’t support all old scanners, unfortunately. To get my CanoScan 5000F to work I had to install a “virtual machine” running OS X 10.6 (using the Oracle’s free VirtualBox, plus I had to install “VirtualBox 4.3.12 Oracle VM VirtualBox Extension Pack” in VirtualBox and turn on USB 2 support to stop the Virtual Machine crashing as soon as ToolBox started communicating with the 5000F). This may seem like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut, but it has the added virtue that I can use my old PowerPC apps without having to reboot into Snow Leopard (-:

  13. I have OSX mavericks on my imac from early 2009. Just now I bought a Victory plustek optic film 7200 negative scanner. I thought it supported mac, but this was an older version. I installed the packages for mavericks and restarted the mac, but still I don’t see the scanner in printers and scanners. Does anyone have an idea how get the scanner working in mavericks?

    Grtz Bart

    Reply ↓

    • @Bart :

      According to the info on the Silverfast website, the Plustek OpticFilm 7200 comes with the ‘slimmed down’ Silverfast SE software and drivers, and upgrading to Silverfast 6.6 is optional, which will run in MacOSX 10.3 to 10.6, however if it will run in OSX 10.7 and above is not clear.
      http://www.silverfast.com/product/Plustek/OpticFilm-7200-461/en.html

      The earlier Plustek OpticFilm 7200 (appears to have a grey housing) will not be supported in Silverfast 8.8, but the newer Plustek OpticFilm 7200i (appears to have a black housing) should get supported on the newest versions of Windows and OSX when 64-bit drivers will be provided by Plustek.
      http://www.silverfast.com/show/sf8-scanners/en.html

      It’s not clear to me if you already tried installing the SANE drivers, or only tried the Silverfast SE (or 6.6) which turned out not to work in your case.
      I would suggest trying the SANE drives, but before doing that you should preferably uninstall any Silverfast drivers and software first.
      http://forum.silverfast.com/silverfast-8-mac-os-x-drivers-t8818-15.html

      That same post on the Silverfast help forum seems to indicate that VueScan scanner software will work with (at least some) combinations of Plustek scanners and newer versions of OSX (where Silverfast does not).

      That is conflicting the info on Hamrick’s VueScan website however : there it is indicated that neither the Plustek OpticFilm 7200 nor the 7200i is supported for Mac. If you can get a hold of a free version of VueScan I would suggest giving it a try anyway however.
      http://www.hamrick.com/vuescan/plustek_opticfilm_7200.html

      Furthermore, I read that the Plustek OpticFilm 7200 was introduced in 2004 and the OpticFilm 7200 is from 2006. I wouldn’t be surprised if getting them to work in an operating system that’s nearly 10 years newer (like OSX 10.9 “Mavericks”) is not going to work…

      Good Luck !
      😉

      Reply ↓

      • I have found a great solution. I installed parallels ony iMac and upgraded the applications with help from the Victory helpdesk. Then installed Win7 in parallels and installed the new applications. Connected the scanner to my mac and it works.

        Bart

      • @Bart :

        Good to hear you’ve four a solution !
        Not every Mac user would consider installing Windows on their Mac a valid solution 😉
        And especially for those with smaller Hard Drives, I wouldn’t recommend installing a second Operating System.
        But if it works for you… perfect !

        For those interested in copying your solution, it might be worth to look into Oracle’s Virtualbox as a FREE alternative to Parallels.

        For people with smaller Hard Drives in their Macs, it might be worth to try to get your solution to work without having to install an entire Windows version by using CodeWeavers’ CrossOver or WinOnMac

        Thanks & Good Luck !
        😉

      • Thank you for your messages! I will try it tonight and tell you if it worked!

  14. Hello,
    Thank you for your help. I have tried to install the softwares you listed in order to use my Canoscan Lide 50. But this doesn’t show up in the “print and scan” of my Imac os x 10.9.4 (nothing shows up there). What could I do?

    Reply ↓

    • @teblad :

      Thanks for your feedback !
      sorry to hear it doesn’t work for you (yet)…

      According to this webpage :
      http://www.sane-project.org/man/sane-genesys.5.html
      The CanoScan LiDE 50 is supported by SANE, but only using the Genesys 5 backend.

      So… Make sure your scanner is switched ON (this might sound stupid, but you wouldn’t be the first to miss that one…)
      Then check again what shows up…
      If either the printer-name (LiDE 50) or SANE shows up, that’s wat you’re looking for !
      If nothing shows up… try re-installing the SANE components again, and make sure you are following the instructions to the letter !
      Also make sure you have un-installed any other scanner drivers for this scanner.

      If the problem persists, try contacting Jan Egil (the programmer of SANE for MacOSX) through the SANE for OSX website.
      He will be able to tell you if there’s any known issue (and know a way to circumvent it).

      Good Luck !
      😉

      Reply ↓

      • @Jan Egil :

        Thank you for your reply !
        I accidentally mentioned you when I should have credited Mattias Ellert for the programming of SANE for MacOSX…
        Sorry…

        Thank you for also mentioning your TwainBridge-solution (and the download you have for it on your site).
        From what I found (in the info on the Genesys 5 backend), the LiDE 50, LiDE 40 and LiDE 35 seem to be using the exact same drivers,
        so one would expect the same solution to work for all of them.
        😉

    • @Michael Aguilera :

      Thanks for the feedback !
      Good to hear that reinstalling the TWAINbridge.app works for the Canon 8600F under OSX 10.9 Mavericks !

      Let’s hope this will still work when OSX 10.10 Yosemite arrives 😉

      Reply ↓

    • @Hwuaj :

      Thanks for the feedback !
      Sorry to hear it doesn’t work for OSX 10.10 Yosemite if you use the OSX 10.9 Mavericks solution.

      But you aren’t clear on what exactly it is that isn’t working…
      Is it correct that you get this message when installing the SANE-drivers ?

      If you didn’t do so already, try [note #9] : (re)installing the TWAINbridge.app
      The version of TWAINbridge.app for OSX Yosemite can be downloaded here :
      http://files.janegil.net/TwainBridge%20Maverick%20Fix.pkg

      Hope that helps !
      Else you (and all of us) will have to wait until the SANE-drivers are updated to OSX 10.10 Yosemite and available for download.

      Good Luck !

      Reply ↓

  17. Hi, I need your files for Mac OS X 10.10 (Yosemite). Thanks in advance and best regards

    Reply ↓

  18. Hello!

    I have a strange problem: Although I can see my printer/scanner on Maverics (Canon Pixma MX922) any Scan I make has noise in them. I’m talking about the photos I scan. If I have a composite (photos and graphics), the graphics are fine, but the photos always have noise!

    I tried every combination, pdf, jpeg, tiff, scan resolution, usb, wireless, to no avail. The photo part always come out on the monitor as if it were printed by a cheap inkjet printer running out of ink.
    Does it have anything to do with the fix you’Re talking about here, or am I in a whole different kind of trouble?

    Also you should know, I bought an HP 7520 2 months ago, with the same problem, I had it changed 3 times, same problem. And now I switched to the canon mx922. Same problem.

    No issue with the printing.

    Thanks!

    Reply ↓

    • @Lauren Elise :

      sometimes you just have to follow the elaborate routine to get OSX to connect to your scanner :

      1- install the latest driver
      2- unplug the scanner’s USB-cable
      3- open the ImageCapture-app in OSX (ImageAquire = ImageCapture ?)
      4- switch your scanner OFF
      5- switch your scanner ON
      6- plug the scanner’s USB-cable into your Mac
      7- in ImageCapture, make sure you set the right color, resolution, destination and scanning area
      8- click the “Overview”-button to make a pre-scan (if you don’t see the “Overview”-button, click the “Show Details”-button)
      9- if all is okay, click the “Scan”-button to scan

      Hope this helps 😉

      Reply ↓

  20. Hi There

    I am trying to get a HP 5550c running on a Mac with Mavericks (10.9.5), but when I try to install the file sane-backends.pkg.tar.gz , it says that is is compiled for 10.8.

    I hope you are able to help with this.

    Thank you for your time in creating these.

    Reply ↓

  21. Hi. Please forgive my bad english. I have a scanner Must P3600 A3 Pro and… a Mac under 10.10.1. Is it possible possible to make then work together ? Could you help me ? Thanks. DF

    Reply ↓

  23. I have a Canon CanoScan LiDE 20 that used to work perfectly in windows xp and vista . But now I’ve Windows 8, I can’t seem to install it, since Canon doesn’t update the drivers anymore.
    Please help me.

    Reply ↓

  24. Just managed to recognise my good old Lide 20 in Yosemite – thanks to you!
    Although CanoScan Toolbox 5.0 doesn’t work with the SANE driver, Image Capture and Preview apps do. My scanner keeps squeaking like mad, but does the job anyway. Thanks again and keep up the good work 🙂

    Reply ↓

  25. Upgraded to MavericksI downloaded everything and outlined BUT when I tried to install I got the following messages “Wrong version of Mac OS X…This package was compiled for version 10.8”
    Still determined to get my Canon LiDE60 to scan with MAVERICKS!!!
    Any more ideas??

    Reply ↓

  26. Thanks. I went to the sane site listed and found the latest files and downloaded them for os 10.10 and installed in the order listed, but after restarting I am not getting anything. Is there a different step for os10.10?

    Reply ↓

      • No, I had looked on the original site listed, and had found the ones for 10.10. I dl’ded these and will install when I get some free X. TQ.

  27. So far the information has been helpful for others, so let’s hope my problems can be aided as well. I am trying to get a canoscan LiDE 35 to talk to and work with my OSX Maverick 10.9.5 Macbook Air. I downloaded the sequence of files listed above, restarted, and still cannot find the scanner under the printer/scanner segment of system preferences. Even after checking if it was hiding out anywhere, there seems to be no recognition. Is there a driver I’m missing, or something of that nature? Thank you very much.

    Reply ↓

  28. Hi. I have a CanoScan Lido 35, which worked fine with my old laptop with OS 10.6, but with my replacement laptop with 10.9 Mavericks I can’t get it to work. I downloaded and installed the four files from your links in the order you suggested but it still doesn’t show up in the print/scan preferences. I tried scanning from within Acrobat but it “could not communicate to this device”.

    Reply ↓

  29. Hello!
    Thank you for these drivers.
    I’m running Mac OS 10.9.5.
    My canner is a Canoscan4400F.

    My scanner was working yesterday but I tried installing a few drivers and TWAIN to scan with image capture at 1200dpi. After installing VueScan, my scanner has stopped working. (it was only working with canoscan toolbox before) I downloaded all your packages and now my scanner shows up but won’t scan. It keeps displaying “Waiting for scanner…”
    I’m an illustrator and rely on my scanner. Help!

    Reply ↓

  30. Hi guys! I just wanted to say that I used the above 4 links for OSX 10.9 Mavericks but what made a difference was the TWAINbrigde.app at Note#9.
    I used it initially for Canoscan Lide 30, but interestingly it made my Canon MP280 work as well!!
    So thank you very much!

    Reply ↓

  31. Hi there,
    This seems to get the scanner to work, but the image is distorted. I note that the “overview” image is accurate but the “scanned” image is distorted. What am I doing wrong?
    Thanks

    Reply ↓

    • @redqueenrunning2016 :

      sorry to hear this doesn’t work for you yet…
      in cases similar to yours, the solution seems to be to try scanning at a different scanning resolution, so at more (or less) dpi
      the exact cause for this is unknown, but I seems like not each-and-every resolution is supported on all supported scanners…

      hope this helps 😉
      Good Luck !

      Reply ↓

  32. Thank you! I got my Canon LiDE 500F working again on MacOs 10.9, and on Photoshop and Acrobat too!!

    Reply ↓

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