If an error suddenly pops up that states, “A problem prevented the document from being scanned” when you’re scanning a document in your computer, then you’ve come to the right place as this post will guide you on how exactly you can fix the problem.
A lot of users have reported that they receive a two-layer error message when they try to scan their documents – the first screen throws an error message that says, “Error applying Settings to Driver” while the next error message states, “A problem prevented the document from being scanned”. As a result, the scanning won’t be completed which defeats the whole process of buying a printer with a scanner. As you can see the two error messages point to two different situations, while the other one is pointing at the driver, the second one points to the scanning problem. To resolve these issues, there are several suggestions you need to check such as follows:
Option 1 – Run the Printer Troubleshooter
One of the first basic troubleshooting you can perform to resolve the printer issue is running the Printer Troubleshooter. This built-in troubleshooter can detect and automatically fix the problem for you. To use it, follow these steps:
- Tap the Win + R keys to open the Run dialog box.
- Next, type “msdt.exe /id PrinterDiagnostic” in the field and click OK or hit Enter to open the Printer Troubleshooter.
- Then click the Next button and follow the next on-screen instructions to fix the issue with the printer.
Option 2 – Try updating the Printer drivers
You might also want to try updating your printer drivers. All you have to do is locate the USB Composite Device. For complete details, follow the steps below.
- First, click the Start button and type “device manager”.
- Then click on the “Device Manager” from the search results to open it.
- From there, look for the USB Composite Device option and right-click on it, and select the Update Driver from the options.
- Restart your PC and then click the “Search automatically for updated driver software” option.
Note: You also have the option to download the latest version of your Printer from the manufacturer’s website.
Option 3 – Try to reset the settings of the Printer or reinstall it
If none of the two options given above worked, you can try to either reset the printer settings or reinstall the printer so that it can go back to its default state. However, if it doesn’t work, you can try to uninstall the printer as well as its related drivers. To do so, follow these steps:
- First, go to Settings > Devices > Printer and Scanners.
- After that, select the printer and select the Remove Device option.
- Once done, restart your computer and check again and see if the error is now fixed.
Option 4 – Try to modify the Registry settings for the Still Image devices
In case you don’t know, Windows has Registry settings for the Still Image devices like Scanners and Printers. And these devices have vendor-specific settings that if ended up getting corrupted or misconfigured then you will most likely encounter errors like “A problem prevented the document from being scanned”. Thus, to fix this error, you can try modifying the Still Image devices registry settings, and to do that, you need to follow the instructions below but before that, make sure that you create a System Restore Point first.
- Once you’ve created a System Restore point, tap the Win + R keys to open the Run dialog box and type “Regedit” in the field, and then hit Enter to open the Registry Editor.
- Next, navigate to this registry key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetControlStillImage
- From there, right-click on the “StillImage” registry key and delete it.
- After that, exit the Registry Editor and restart your computer.
- Once your computer has restarted, Windows will recreate the settings of the Still Image devices back to their default settings.