Sharing a Scanner on Home Network?

Is there an way to share a scanner on a home network the way you can share printers? (With printers, it’s pretty intuitive; you just go to Control Panel=>Printers and click “share” like you’re sharing a file or folder!) … but with scanners, I haven’t found a way yet … I have a couple of computers connect through a central router and 10/1000 mps network cards. I share files and printers … is there a way to share scanners?? Thanks!:slight_smile:

I don’t think you can without jumping through hoops. And why? If the scanner is in another room, what’s the point of putting the document/picture on the scanner and then going into another room to scan it?

So that you don’t have to buy two scanners for the same household. If one has a networked printer, one might have to travel across the house to retrieve the printed items. Your “why?” response is weak.

The problem I sometimes face at work is that I’ll need to use the scanner, but someone else is using that computer - and I don’t want to interrupt. It would be nice to be able to sh are it.

Somewhere I’ve seen a stand-alone scanner that isn’t connected to a computer, but has a zip drive for saving files.

Scanners really don’t share they way a printer or drive does. Best bet would to be to share a folder, put all scanned images on it, and then move them to the computer as needed. That’s how the two of us in my household use my scanner.

Not how I see it. A scanner is used differently then a printer. Sometimes it takes several tries to scan something right - yeah I know the same can be said about a printer but not the same frequency.

I think your best chance would be to get some sort of USB switch so you can dial into any computer. Another altennnitive would be to buy extra usb cables and leave one set by each computer. Whoever needs the scanner would take it and connect it. It would be helpfull to have one that is USB powered though.

Some scanners, like my Umax Astra 1220U, have software that allows the scanner to be shared. Unfortunately, their sharing mechanism seems to require IPX protocol – I’m strictly TCP/IP.