Installing Epson Perfection 1200U Scanner XP Drivers under Vista and Windows 7
Like myself, many folks still own the popular Epson 1200 Photo or 1200U scanner. Likewise, many of us have transitioned to Vista or Windows 7. Unfortunately, Epson, in their “wisdom” has failed to provide working Vista or Windows 7 drivers for these older scanners—preferring no doubt that we all go out and purchase a new scanner instead. It’s called “planned obsolescence,” no doubt the most annoying trend in the hardware and software industries.
Fortunately, there is a workaround that preformed well in my case. This involved using the most recently available Windows XP Twain drivers installed under Windows 7 using Windows XP compatibility mode. For Vista users the process should follow the same principles.
[Edited: If you are using a 64-bit version of Vista or Windows 7, you may wish to attempt the method outlined by Equinox in the comments to this post.]
Step 1: Download the most recent version of the Epson Twain drivers from the Epson site. At the time of writing this was TWAIN Driver v5.53A (for Windows XP, Windows 2000, Windows Me, Windows 98 – epson10245.exe – 4.6MB – posted on 02/25/02). The file bundle is a self-extracting Zip archive. Note the location of the download.
Step 2: Locate the file (epson10245.exe) that you have downloaded and extract it by double-clicking the file. By default the auto-extractor will attempt to install its files in C:\epson\epson10245. You may specify a different location if you wish. NOTE: When you progress to the screen below, UNCHECK the section “When Done Unzipping Run: Setup.exe.” We will want to handle that differently below.
![Epson 1200U Twain Driver - WinZip Self-extractor [epson10245.exe]](http://vancebell.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/epson1.gif "Epson 1200U Twain Driver - WinZip Self-extractor - epson10245.exe")
Epson 1200U Twain Driver - WinZip Self-extractor - epson10245.exe
Step 3: Navigate to the directory C:\epson\epson1024, or your alternative location if you selected different directory for extraction.
Step 4: Locate the file Setup.exe. Right-click on it and select Properties.
Step 5: Switch from the General to the Compatibility tab.
Step 6: On the Compatibility tab, under “Compatibility mode” check the box for “Run this program in compatibility mode for:” and select Windows XP (Service Pack 2) from the dropdown menu. Select Apply on the bottom right, then OK.
Epson 1200U Twain Driver - Setup.exe Properties
Step 7: Double click on Setup.exe to launch the installer and proceed through the installation.
After the installation has completed you should be able to find the driver options available in Photoshop under File –> Import –> EPSON TWAIN 5 and/or WIA-Epson Perfection1200.
Hopefully, now you can get another lifetime out of that old hardware before consigning it to the landfill.
Best of luck,
Vance
Related posts:
Folligné
September 12th, 2010 at 4:57 pmI do as you explain and my scanner 1200U doesn’t work.
Regards !
Someone
September 24th, 2010 at 7:30 pmThank you, thank you, thank you!
I love my Epson Perfection 1200U and I was even thinking about setting up a separate XP just for scanning.
Stewart
September 25th, 2010 at 1:10 pmWas happy to read this and followed the intruction exactly (several times). However I get the following error message when trying to use the scanner:
“You need a WIA driver to use this device. Please install it from the installation CD or Manufacturer’s website and try again”
When I use photoshop elements, I get the following error message:
“Could not open the TWAIN source. Make sure there is a valid source for your scanner in the TWAIN directory found in the Windows directory”.
Have checked the device on the device manager and there appears to be no errors?
Any ideas what I have done wrong?
Thanks
Stewart
Greg
October 3rd, 2010 at 2:46 pmVance Bell is da Bomb!!!
Thank you!! Thnak You!!!
Gosh…I love the Internet and esp this website…
Thanks again…
I will have to figure a way to Pay it forward!!!
Thanks Vance bell
Greg
Carolyn
October 3rd, 2010 at 7:59 pmI love my Epson Perfection 1200photo and I am going to give your directions a try and hope my new lap top running Vista Home will accept the drivers. I currently have the epson driver 5. for windows xp. I hope it works. Thanks for your post.
Vance Bell
October 8th, 2010 at 11:09 amFolligné and Stewart: Sorry the method didn’t work for you. Unfortunately, I cannot offer any additional advice in your cases. For Stewart, I will note in passing that I was using Photoshop CS2 and CS4 instead of Photoshop Elements. Best of luck everyone.
Dan Carlson
October 18th, 2010 at 5:34 pmHi Vance,
You’re the man! This tip also helped me with another program i was having problems with under WIN7. But i have a question: how did you ever come up with this solution?
Doug Mar
October 18th, 2010 at 5:49 pmI was not able to load the Twain 5 drivers for my Epson 1200u scanner even after trying to use compatibility mode for all OS from 98, to 2000, to Vista and XP sp 2 and 3. I could load it with XP sp 3 on one of my Win 7 computers but not on another. I then just plugged the unit in, found it in Device Manager and updated the drivers to the C:\epson\scandrv\twain directory that is formed when you download the epson10245.exe file from the Epson site. And everything works just fine!
Peter Glaser
October 28th, 2010 at 9:34 pmThanks! Mine worked. I installed following your instructions. I am running Windows 7 Pro on a home built PC.
michelle
November 8th, 2010 at 12:01 amhi vance!
i’ve installed the twain as mentioned though i couldn’t get to customize the installation because i didn’t have the option for windows xp in my compatibility tab. i’m using photoshop cs5 and eveyrtime i try to import images from my epson 1200 u, i get a window saying that my scanner is warming or that it’s being used by another program…
some help, please?
Dragula
January 27th, 2011 at 2:01 pmI have the same problem with michelle. I don’t have windows xp in the list
What can I do?
please help me
edem
January 30th, 2011 at 1:26 pmhelp me download epson perfection 1200 photo scanner drivers
erol
February 21st, 2011 at 1:00 pmallah razı olsun gardaşşşımmmmm dualarım seninlee
)
Marc
February 24th, 2011 at 12:09 pmExcellent suggestion, but after using compat mode I had to update driver in system properties and point Win 7 to the c:\epson\sacandrv\twain and Win 7 installed just fine.
I’m using win 7 x86 btw.
Experimenting never hurts!
Thanks
Tony Dyke
March 31st, 2011 at 12:36 amthanks! the last step didn’t work runnig on vista home 2008- until I went into control panel – device manager- unkown -Didn’t recognize epson1200- I then clicked on the upgrade drivers text and it got the driver off the web installed it and changed from unkown to epsom 1200-opened photoshop -clicked on import-twain and everything was beautifull again!
Tony
Equinox
April 9th, 2011 at 1:35 pmThese hacks are not so good. I did it another way:
1. Uninstall/delete all Epson stuff you tried to instal, if any.
2. Download from Epson site x64 bit driver for late “Perfection” models, almost any. I used EPSON Perfection 4990 driver. Run, unpack do temporary directory.
3. Go to device manager
4. Turn the scanner on. And wait for it in “Other devices”.
5. Right-click on “Perfection1200″, then “Update driver software” -> “Browse my computer for driver software” -> “Let me pick..” -> “Imaging devices” -> “Have Disk” -> locate the folder you uncompressed 4990 drivers and install driver, ignoring warnings. That’s it
PS: for 32-bit Windows you have to download x32 driver of course.
yanni
April 25th, 2011 at 10:31 pmthank you very much, it works.
Carolyn
April 26th, 2011 at 2:19 amWhat about those of us who don’t use PhotoShop? I use PhotoDeluxe and it wont work with this software.
Stuart
May 20th, 2011 at 12:58 pmThank you! This work around is fantastic for GIMP. I’m used to Win XP & LINUX just picking up the scanner and going. This was surprising that Epson/MS didn’t just carry things through for Win7. Thanks again for the help.
Bill
May 20th, 2011 at 10:24 pmI need help as well because I don’t use PhotoShop on my PC. Is there a way that Carolyn and I would be able to use the Epson Perfection 1200U with Windows 7?
Pavel
May 22nd, 2011 at 1:08 pmI’m not sure if it’s because I’m running a 64 bit Win7 machine or something else, but the solution listed in the article did not work.
However, the solution posted by Equinox did work fine. Thank you, Equinox.
Karl Traub
May 28th, 2011 at 12:56 pmWith Your exact description, it took a few minutes and
my old Perf1200U run properly within Windows 7.
Thank You very much.
John Pine
June 6th, 2011 at 6:08 pmI followed your instructions, with Doug Mar’s twist (though I did not upgrade it to Service Pack 3) and it installed on my Toshiba Satellite running Windows 7 (32-bit). Thanks for your selfless service.
Huw
June 7th, 2011 at 11:11 amThanks man, this worked a treat with Service Pack 3 and Photoshop.
dartfever
June 15th, 2011 at 1:10 amHello! After trying several other methods unsuccessfully, I used the solution submitted by Equinox, which worked perfectly on Windows 7 Ultimate! Selecting File/Import/WIA-EPSON Perfection 4990 (it does not bother me that the scanner identification is incorrect) in the PhotoShop Elements 6 menu allows for Image Sizing, Preview, Resolution, and other tweaks prior to scanning. Thank you so much, I would have really missed my 1200U (plus the money to buy a new unit)!
pascal
June 16th, 2011 at 2:03 pmhello
thanks but this solution didn’t work with vista x64
Vance Bell
July 20th, 2011 at 1:23 pm@pascal — I wouldn’t expect the old 32-bit driver to function correctly under a 64-bit OS. Try the approach outlined by Equinox above if you are running Vista or Win 7 64-bit OS.
April
July 22nd, 2011 at 3:19 pmThanks so much for this! I have an Epson 1200 I use to scan color slides and now I can use it again!
Ogsystems
July 30th, 2011 at 11:53 amthanks alot, it works for me now…Godbless your effort… we need people like you in this world.
Edith
August 3rd, 2011 at 6:25 amThanks a lot Vance and Equinox! The approach of Equinox worked. Fortunately we didn’t throw our Epson 1200 away!
Catherine
August 10th, 2011 at 12:59 pmI’m running Epson’s 1660 scanner, which I haven’t used in yeeeears, on Vista (32-bit) for Photoshop CS4. I tried Vance’s method and it didn’t work. I then tried Equinox’s method and it WORKED!! Thank you very much.
MikeO.
August 22nd, 2011 at 11:10 pmYou guys are awesome! Thanks!!
Allenr
August 25th, 2011 at 3:37 pmThank you! I used Equinox’s method on Win 7 64 bit and it worked great.
FYI, my device says its a 4990. When I turned on the scanner it came up unknown device; but, I just continued and installed the 4990 driver and the scanner works just fine. What’s in a name?
Terry
August 29th, 2011 at 12:16 pmDriver for 4990 worked fine for me on new Windows 7 install. Auto-install did not do it, but after installing the driver and then clicking on the device in the control panel, I was able to select the 4990 driver. Voila!
drclive
September 8th, 2011 at 4:45 pm@Equinox: Your instructions were perfect. It works like a champ with IrfanView 4.28 under 64-bit Windows on a quad core i7. Thank you so much!
Dave
September 9th, 2011 at 4:46 pmThanks so much….managed to get an elderly 1200U back into service with my new Win7 PC.
Dick Capriles
September 12th, 2011 at 5:19 pmNeed a driver for the Epson Scanner Perfection model 1200u
Needit for Windows 7 32 bit and 64 bit. Your help will be appreciated. Please don’t tell me that there is no driver for it. The scanner is in A condition.
In advance my thanks,
pj2cq@yahoo.com
Dick Capriles
Kiran
September 29th, 2011 at 6:06 pmGreat advice. I tried first the solution in Vance’s page which did not work. I then tried the procedure set out by Equinox and that worked a treat. I will hold back on dumping my scanner which is a great unit complete with sheet feeder.
Once again, thanks guys.
Gary Thomsen
October 17th, 2011 at 6:57 pmThanks Equinox – you saved me a lot of time and money. Why doesn’t Epson care about the customers and update drivers?
Diane
November 10th, 2011 at 8:04 pmAfter having my Windows 7 computer for a month, I have (I think) got my 1200 scanner working, thanks to this webpage. I tried Vance’s fix, no go. I tried Equinox, still no luck. I deleted everything and tried everything again. I consulted Photoshop 6′s help and Window’s driver update. I read each of the preceding comments. Finally, I think it is working at an acceptable level, although different than with my old computer. Now I need an OCR program. I am very grateful not to have to go out and buy a new scanner…..yet! Thanks.
Paco
November 27th, 2011 at 9:39 amEl sistema ha funcionado a la perfección.
Se desinstala todo lo de Epson—>descarga Epson driver 4990 photo—>descomprimes en una carpeta diferente—>Abres Administrador
de archivos–>actualizar controlador—>no segfguir la vía normal, sino desde un disco—>vas a la carpeta donde has descomprimido el zip y aceptas el driver que te aparece—->funciona muy bien. Gracias. Thanks
Seamus
December 18th, 2011 at 11:01 amEquinox thanks
rick
December 31st, 2011 at 4:45 pmThanks from Colorado. Happy New Years eve. My wife does websites. She’s had a win7 x64 machine for a year but we kept the xp machine so she could scan. She said get her a new win7 scanner or make the Epson 1200 work if I wanted to get rid of the xp machine. Equinox’s work around did it. But thanks to this site for being here. Now we will only have 4 computers in the house. I did have to download a 210mg video driver but with the first scan it was better that what had been coming from the xp machine. Thanks again this website is awesome.
Vtaylor100
January 2nd, 2012 at 11:32 pmI have Window 7 64-bit. Equinox method worked perfectly for me. Thanks, Equinox.
Tony
January 9th, 2012 at 5:59 pmThank you Equinox. It worked for me. You don’t need photoshop. I just use the scan icon from my desktop which was installed with the 4990 software.
jon
January 12th, 2012 at 5:14 pmHelp-i followed Equinox’s instructions and got as far as downloading the epson 4990 driver and then unzipped it to a folder on my desktop. but when i went to run it (clicked on the setup) it didnt give me a choice as to where it went. i found the scanner, but when i tried looking for the driver i couldnt find it-it doesnt appear to be anything in the unzipped folder (i could be wrong) nor is it anywhere else that i looked. HELP. thanks
Vince
January 30th, 2012 at 6:45 pmThanks so much!