Ever since I had to replace my hard drive a few months back, I've had a problem with my Dell All-in-One Printer not scanning anymore. I think that a printer driver that it needs to scan either didn't get reinstalled when I hooked up the printer again, or it's being blocked by something.
I've gone to all my programs (anti-virus, anti-malware, etc) and added the file as an "okay" file and to ignore it when scanning.
No difference.

My husband's been bugging me to uninstall and reinstall the printer; I'm not sure that will help but I'm willing to give it a try. Do I need to uninstall all the printer drivers or do they uninstall when I "remove" the printer? Or can I just reinstall the printer again with the printer CD that I have?

I'm really frustrated right now since I really miss my scanner, but nothing I've tried has helped.

Did you install from the CD after replacing the hard drive or did you let Windows choose the drivers automatically? If you let Windows do it, it may just have chosen generic printer drivers that didn't include scanner functions. Check the instructions on the CD as to whether the printer should be attached or not before installing the drivers from the CD.

I had a similar issue with my HP all-in-one printer. I would first go to the printer website and download the most recent drivers for your printer. Unless this is a new printer, the chances are good that there are updated drivers on the website. The drivers I had on my CD were quite outdated.

Then completely uninstall the printer from your add/remove programs. Just to be sure, I would also run CCleaner on your registry to be sure all traces are gone.

Then go to your downloaded file and install it. See what happens.

EDIT: What Jenny said too.... if only generic drivers were installed, the full suite of drivers for scanning were not installed.

Jenny, Draclvr,
I know that I used the CD to install the printer, but I'm not sure if the printer was connected to the computer for a period of time before I put the CD in. Would Windows install the drivers if there was a time that the printer was connected to the computer but the CD not put in yet?

There are no instructions on the CD as to whether the printer should be connected or not when getting the drivers.

Do I download every new driver that Dell recommends? There is one that is listed as "Drivers for OS Deployment"; I have no idea what that means.
The other downloads are for Firmware. All 3 driver downloads are "recommended" by Dell.

Windows might install generic drivers. I would have thought the drivers from the CD would overwrite or augment them, but who knows? Some printers come with instructions that definitely say to install the drivers before attaching the printer. With others it makes no difference.


What brand and model number is the printer? Maybe we can find some instructions online.


No.

OS Deployment is what an IT does to install Windows on a roomful(s) of office computers over the company's internal network. If you have to install Windows on 200 or more computers, it's faster to do it by deploying a Windows image over a network than by visiting each computer, sticking a Windows disc in, and waiting... for each one to finish. Maybe these drivers are meant to be slipstreamed into a drive image or maybe they're for the computer that's deploying the image. I'm not really sure. Maybe Inland would know.


They probably won't hurt. But it doesn't sound like they're for your printer.

What is the printer model you're using? I have one as well, and it requires that it be hard wired to the router for the initial setup. After that it works just fine.

Inland,
I'm using a Dell V313W Printer.

Yep, follow Drac's advice - If you still have the CD that came with the printer, run the setup from there.

Every now and then I run into similar issues with my own. The only way to resolve it is to reinstall the software (which includes both the drivers and scanning software).

Except for downloading more recent drivers from the website. It doesn't appear there are any. Just run setup from the CD.

Mary,
It has been my experience that you install the drivers BEFORE you connect the printer. After the drivers have installed, you should get a "prompt" to then connect the printer. I hope this helps you. I also have a Dell printer.
Sandy

Thanks for your input, Sandy,
So if I'm understanding you, I should disconnect the printer from the computer, insert the CD that came with the Printer and when that is all done, reconnect the printer to the computer.
I'll keep my fingers crossed.

This would be after you have completely uninstalled the printer and all drivers from your computer.

Draclvr,
Yes, I know that I have to uninstall the printer; it's finding the drivers to uninstall which may give me a problem since I've never uninstalled any drivers.

This should help you out Mary -
How To Remove A Printer And Driver