Question :

I have a Canon CanoScan 5600F scanner that worked great with my previous Mac, but now I have upgraded to a new Mac running macOS 11.0 Big_Sur.

I’ve looked on the Canon website and searched the internet, but there is no macOS 11.0 Big_Sur compatible driver available for this scanner.

Is there any way to use this CanoScan 5600F scanner in macOS 11.0 Big_Sur ?

 

Answer :

Yes, there is :

• goto Canon’s US website : https://www.usa.canon.com
• choose Support > Scanners > Film & Negative Scanner > CanoScan 5600F
• or use this link : https://www.usa.canon.com/internet/portal/us/home/support/details/scanners/film-negative-scanner/canoscan-5600f/canoscan-5600f?subtab=downloads-drivers
• there, choose the “Drivers & Downloads” tab
• then, choose “macOS Mojave v10.14” as your operating system and “English” as your language
• then, choose the “Drivers” tab
• now, you will see 2 drivers listed :
  • > 5600F Scanner Driver Ver.14.11.5h (Mac) : msd_-mac_cs5600f-14_11_5h-ea8_2.dmg
    • > ICA Driver Ver.4.1.4a (Mac) : misd-mac-ijscanner2-4_1_4-ea21_3.dmg
• download both of them
  • note that despite the fact that both are versions from 2018, these will still work with macOS 11.0 Big_Sur
• goto your downloads folder
• first, double-click on the file named msd_-mac_cs5600f-14_11_5h-ea8_2.dmg
• this will mount the ScanGear_CanoScan 5600F_141105.pkg
• again, click on that and version 14.11 of the ScanGear driver installer will open
• now, follow the on-screen directions and the latest ScanGear driver will be installed
• then, double-click on the file named misd-mac-ijscanner2-4_1_4-ea21_3.dmg
• this will mount the Canon IJScanner2_040104.pkg
• again, click on that and version 4.1.4 the IJScanner2 driver installer will open
• now, follow the on-screen directions and the latest IJScanner2 driver will be installed
• when done, goto System Preferences > Printers & Scanners
• if the CanoScan 5600F is already listed on the left, click it
• if not, click the +sign (plus-sign) to add the scanner first
• when done, click the CanoScan 5600F in the list on the left
• when the scanner details open on the right, click on the “Open Scanner”-button
• now, the built-in macOS scanner-app will open and it will immediately do a preview scan of whatever is in the scanner

NOTE : you might run into a small problem every once in a while ; when the automatic scanning preview starts, you might get an error saying “Scanner reported an error – Cannot communicate with scanner for these reasons: – Scanner is turned off. – USB cable is disconnected. Please check and try again.” If so, just flip the scanner’s ON/OFF-switch in OFF-position manually and then back into ON-posistie. That should help in making the scanner preview work again.

enjoy 😉