This install guide applies to the following Umax scsi scanners:
Vista-S6
Vista-S6E
UMAX_S-6E
Vista-S8
SuperVista_S-12
UMAX_S-12
ASTRA_600S
ASTRA_1200S
ASTRA_1220S
ASTRA_2200
ASTRA_2400S
MIRAGE_II
MIRAGE_IISE
PL-II
POWERLOOK_III
POWER_LOOK_2000
POWERLOOK_3000
ASTRA_2100S
It is assumed that you have already successfully installed a Windows XP compatible PCI SCSI adapter card. If not, go buy an adaptec 2902e on ebay for about 15 or 20 bucks. If the SCSI card which came with your scanner was PCI you're also golden!
Before you start, if you want to be able to find and see the .inf files and \Windows\Inf folder I refer to in this text, you must make sure that you can see hidden files. Otherwise they will remain hidden to you but not to Windows along with all their contents. To do this, locate Control Panel, select the Folder Options icon, and select the View tab. Make sure the button marked Show hidden files and folders is selected.
So you went to www.umax.com to see if there are Windows XP drivers for your UMAX scanner and came up empty handed and discouraged. And your scanner is likely NOT listed on the XP compatibility list. Well, what Microsoft and Umax don' t know doesn't have to hurt you! These models really are compatible. And as far as downloading the drivers, fortunately for us, there is www.umax.co.uk , the British English language access to the European Umax site. It doesn' t seem to like Netscape, so use Internet Explorer. You need to download Vistascan 3.55 and the Windows XP patch. Here's the download link, straight from Umax Deutschland:
Before you start, if you have any of the S6 or S12 model name variations, copy my other file included in this download, umaxusd3.inf to the expanded driver folder disk2. My file is the same as the existing file umaxusd2.inf but includes the hardware id's for all the various firmware versions released in these series. The original file only supported the OLDEST revision levels, not the latest one which I had in my Umax S-6E.
Now you can simply install the downloaded, expanded driver files by running setup in the disk1. Vistascan will install along with your old friend, the Copy Utility. Then install the Windows XP patch.
Now you may be home free, especially if you have a 600s, 1200s, or 2400s (my other scanner). Otherwise, you're likely to have at least the "multiple scanner entries in Device manager" issue below.
First you can run the Scanner test. It should identify the scanner and successfully complete a test scan. Try running the Copy utility. It should now scan at least in black and white mode. Try a color scan. If that is successful, everything is now working . If not, the scanner driver is not successfully installed.
If the scanner device was previously found by Windows and is already listed in the Device Manager before you installed the drivers, you may have to locate the scanner in Device Manager under either Imaging Devices or Unknown Devices, select Properties, then the Driver tab, and the Update Drivers button. Select the option to specify a location to search, and browse to Disk2 in whatever you called the driver file. It should locate either umaxusd3.inf or umaxusd2.inf or both. Choose umaxusd3.inf if it gives you a choice. When the driver install is complete, recheck the Device Manager Properties again and this time check Driver Details. The files scsiscan.sys and scsimap.sys should appear in the driver details window.
If you find you have 8 entries for your scanner in Device Manager (and you will for many of these models), install the driver for each of them! After the first one has its drivers successfully installed, you may let Windows auto search. The first install should have caused a new .inf file to be created called oemX.inf, where X is a number to created in \Windows\Inf which will now be located by Windows for each of the other entries. When done, repeat the tests. This time even the grey scale and color scans should work! If not, you have a hardware id I don't know about. Find out what is being returned by the scanner by editing the setupapi.log file as described in the multiple scanner link below and email it to me so I can fix the file.
To learn how to eliminate multiple scanner entries in Device Manager, see Microsoft Knowledge Base Article – 311907,
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;en-us;q311907
I know this entire regedit action can be done with a few lines in the .inf file, but I'm still learning, so have not yet included it.