I needed to install drivers for a MX-5001n printer.

The driver was easy to download and install from the sharp website.

I also decided to download the twain driver, so that the PC could also scan.

Normally, if I’m using someone else’s computer, I will use microsoft paint to test twain scanning.

So after installing and configuring the twain driver, I decide to use microsoft paint… but the “from scanner or camera” menu item is greyed out.

So I install my favourite scanner front-end: irfanview

But it also fails (but at least it gives a meaningful error message: install the twain driver, or enable the twain scanner).

So, I take a look at the printer.

I go to the printers “image send” menu, and I then notice that there is a tab called “PC Scan”.

After selecting PC Scan, the printer starts waiting for a PC to request a scan.

But I didn’t get any scanning software from sharp, so I go back to microsoft paint… but it still shows the greyed out “from scanner or camera” menu.

So back to irfanview, and it works perfectly.

Its just awkward that the printer needs to be put into pc scan mode, before and scanning can occur.