I thought I’d added this, but I can’t find it. I’ve commented recently about the Windows 7 drivers (or lack thereof) for my new HP Scanjet G4010 , and how I got round the problem by using W7’s XP Mode.
I was angry that HP had apparently programmed the installer not to work on anything other than Vista or earlier, but had told me via Tech Support that W7 drivers would be released once W7 was itself released. Well, on the day W7 was released I checked HP’s site and it had definitely been updated. There was a link to ‘how to get W7 drivers’ but nothing downloadable at the end of it, and nothing of any use from a technical perspective.
I can’t remember what made me do it – or even what it was exactly that I did – but without downloading anything at all, the drivers now install. The scanner works under W7.
On the one hand, I am happy. But I don’t like how HP did this, or what they apparently did to unlock the installer. I mean, what DID they do? I didn’t authorise any download, but something obviously got through.
EDIT 06/11/2009: I’m noticing a few hits for this. If this post helps anyone, could you drop me a line using the Contact Form to let me know?
One thing I will point out is that although the scanner works, the toolbox which contains the OCR software doesn’t. However, take a look at this link for SimpleOCR – a freeware OCR program.
I’m waiting for my copy of W7 Ultimate to arrive, and when it does I’ll be doing a clean install on my Vista partition. If anyone is having trouble with their G4010 scanner, I will check out what I do for them and post back here.
EDIT 13/11/09: I’m still getting hits for this. Note that the HP website says that the G4010 is definitely on the list referred to by the following:
The following list of scanners already have, or will soon have, full software support for Microsoft Windows 7. The Microsoft Windows 7 solution can be found either in the CD shipped with the scanner or at the HP support web site (www.hp.com/support)…
So stop worrying and wait… THEY DON’T YET EXIST, SO STOP KEEP LOOKING AND DON’T DOWNLOAD ANYTHING EXCEPT FROM HP!
EDIT 21/11/09: Just to point out that mine has stopped working even under Virtual XP. My PC just tells me the scanner isn’t connected or there is a problem. If you connect it under W7 you are likely to get a Blue Screen.
FOR THE HARD OF HEARING: THE G4010 DOESN’T WORK WITH WINDOWS 7 BUT HP IS SUPPOSED TO BE PRODUCING DRIVERS.
EDIT 2/12/09: Let me also clarify that SimpleOCR does not magically make the scanner work under Windows 7. The G4010 does not have W7 drivers, yet. Period. I mentioned SimpleOCR because it DID work for me whilst the scanner was functioning under Virtual XP. Seeing as it doesn’t anymore, SimpleOCR is just a separate piece of software.
EDIT 19/1/2010: There is an updated post detailing a possible workaround here .
EDIT 28/02/2010: For anyone too lazy to search properly, drivers are now available and mentioned in this post .
EDIT 21/06/2010: This post is proving very popular. Someone just found it on the search term “how to use ocr in hp g4010 scanners”. It’s easy – if you have installed the W7 drivers from HP which I linked to above.
Make sure the scanner is turned on and connected, open the HP Solution Center, then click “Scan Document”. You can then select from a list of different file types from TIF, through PDF and email, RTF and Word, all the way down to lowly WordPad. Then click “scan”. The rest is self-explanatory.