Hi,
I'm trying to get my Kodak Alaris Scanmate i1150 document scanner. But there seems to be some communication missing between scanner and scan application.
My setup:
- QNAP TVS-882 with Virtualhere license
- Windows 10 Pro x64 virtual machine running on QNAP / Windows 7 Pro x64 standalone PC
- Kodak Alaris Scanmate i1150 connected to QNAP USB port
The setup for the scanner installs:
- scanner device drivers for windows
- TWAIN/ISIS drivers for comunication between device and scan application
- SmartTouch software as scan application
The final goal would be to get the scanner connected into a virtual machine running on the QNAP but since there seems to be a problem I've also tried on a standalone PC.
The virtualhere client is installed on the PC/vm and recognizes the QNAP USB hub and the connected scanner. I put the scanner in use in the virtualhere client. The scanner and the device drivers are installed so the windows device manager shows the scanner.
To be able to scan the TWAIN driver will have to communicate with the scanner. And for some reason it doesn't work. It can't connect to the scanner. Same with the SmartTouch scan application. (I guess it's using the TWAIN driver). The SmartTouch application doesn't recognize the scanner. Though it's listed in the Microsoft device manager. I think there might be some first startup serial number check or anything going on. And that maybe virtualhere is not transmitting everything.
As it's not working I've done some testing: I plugged the scanner directly into the standalone PC and the SmartTouch application recognizes the scanner. Initializing a scan from the scanner using a hardware button also works. After that I've started the vm and installed the Kodak drivers (device driver and TWAIN/ISIS). Didn't start anything. Copied the installed files from the PC to the VM and started the SmartTouch application. The SmartTouch application does now recognize the scanner. Scanning from the SmartTouch application works. (I can live with that workaround.) BUT: Initializing a scan from the scanner using a hardware button does not! This is very important as the final goal would be to use the scanner without a desktop PC.
Any help is greatly appreciated!!
Kind regards,
Robert
.
I have heard that the button doesnt work on some scanners. My guess at the moment is that there is a process running in windows that periodically polls the button to see if it has been pressed (i looked at the linux drivers that do this and installed the windows drivers on my machine and saw the process that does this), and this polling process is looking at the microsoft supplied USB Host Controller rather than 3rd party host controllers like virtualhere. So it doesnt pick up events. The USB Host Controller is the device that the USB ports come out of in your computer. So i dont think the button will work...
Wouldn't that mean, that the
Wouldn't that mean, that the scanner connected to an USB hub (ie notebook dockingstation or a Belkin USB hub) wouldn't work either? Are those also 3rd party host controllers as you mentioned?
I'm still almost certain that there is some communication blocking going on. As I mentioned I kinda found a workaround. But I suppose it should work without that. On a fresh installed Windows 10 with virtualhere and the scanner drivers installed, the scanner software (SmartTouch) doesn't connect to the scanner. Though it's listed in Microsoft device manager. Do you think that maybe the scanner software tries to read a serialnumber or something like that on first startup? Maybe that's why the workaround kinda works but not for the hardwarebuttons?
Is there anything I can do to narrow down the issue? Can I monitor USB communication to see if the scanner actually sends an event to virtualhere using the buttons?
.
OK perhaps i can login with teamviewer and run some logging. I was thinking of using usblyzer or wireshark.
When its directly connected, take a usblyzer log when you press the button. then when its via virtualhere take a capture when you press the button and see if there are differences.
email mail [at] virtualhere.com (mail[at]virtualhere[dot]com). if you want to try this way, thanks.