There are a  lot of older multifunction centers and scanners that will not scan across a network to a windows 8.1 pc. Upon migration to 8.1 many of us are losing our ability to scan across our networks.  I have a lot of Brother DCP8040 machines out there.  Brother refuses to rewrite and support network scanning capabilities under win 8.1 for its older machines.  The drivers we now have support network scanning under XP, Vista and win 7... but not under win 8.1.  Win 8.1 cannot find the scanner on the network.  I can connect a DCP8040 directly to a win 8.1 pc, load the drivers and both print and scan.  I can print across the network, but cannot scan.  Again, windows 8.1 cannot find the scanner on the network.  Anyone know of any 3rd party solution where the older scanner drivers can be used under win 8.1?  My clients refuse to migrate to win 8.1 as it means they have to trash the older MFC's and make considerable investments in new equipment.  I am reading that the same problems are being experienced with older HP, Epson, and Cannon scanners.  Someone has to come up with a generic solution.

BK

Obviously if the MFR will not write a driver for win 8 (and if the older driver does not work in compatibility mode) I doubt there will be a "generic solution" pending (just IMHO)

Have you tried the older driver in compatibility mode?

To install in compatibility mode do the following:

Right click the installer>properties>compatibility>choose OS

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-vista/Make-older-programs-run-in-this-version-of-Windows?SignedIn=1
(works in vista, win 7, win 8, and win 10)

Hi Budk,

Have you tried to work with the built-in driver ?

I tried to search the driver of the Brother DCP8040 for Windows 8.1 and it referred me to install the built-in driver.

http://support.brother.com/g/b/downloadlist.aspx?c=us&lang=en&prod=dcp8040_all&os=135

NOTE: This response contains a reference to a third party World Wide Web site. Microsoft is providing this information as a convenience to you. Microsoft does not control these sites and has not tested any software or information found on these sites.

Best regards  

• Edited by MeipoXu Friday, January 16, 2015 5:53 AM
• Proposed as answer by Yolanda ZhuMicrosoft contingent staff, Moderator Thursday, January 22, 2015 1:01 AM

How can I install a driver for a device in compatibility mode that cannot even be seen on the network by the win 8.1 pc new device wizard?

The printer portion of the MFC can be seen. New device wizard finds it, shows it. And there is a win 8.1 built in driver... and it does work.  But nothing for the scanner function.

MFC has its own network card.  IP address is assigned and static.   Entering the IP address, trying to setup manually does not find it either.  And this problem is not specific to this MFC.  Many HP, Cannon and Epson MF machines are experiencing the same problem.

The problem is, I don't understand the reason.  Don't understand the differences between the operating systems, what could possibly be causing the problem.  Everything works fine under win 7 and vista.

I cannot even get the MFC to show let alone set up the driver to make it function

Hi BudK,

From my experience, network scanners (those having IP address) do not have and do not need drivers.

They scan documents into format of your choosing (pdf, jpeg etc) and then either e-mail that content, or send it to a network share. The communication with the user is usually done thru contol panel on the device.

Perhaps you just need to point your scanner to a network share or mail server.

• Proposed as answer by MeipoXu Monday, January 26, 2015 2:53 AM
• Unproposed as answer by MeipoXu 9 hours 41 minutes ago

The instructions provided by Brother for this device clearly state:

The built-in drivers you can install via USB connection support printing and scanning*1 functions.

The built-in drivers you can install via network connection ONLY support printing function.

Brandon
Windows Outreach Team- IT Pro
Windows for IT Pros on TechNet

Brandon:

Is there some sort of merit in restating the obvious, restating what I've already said?  We know what Brother says.  We know what MS says.  the response question is why?  Why is there no solution? Why won't someone at Brother or someone at MS sit down and devote a couple of days writing routine that solves the problem?

Why do I and all the other loyal MS and Brother customers have to shell out all of this cash to replace perfectly good technology.   For the record, the scanners run from the local USB port on the machines, but cannot even be seen across an MS 8.1 network... why not??????? 

And its the MS partners who are getting the bad wrap for this.  My customers are blaming me.  They want to migrate to win 8.1 but it is incompatible with some of the most expensive equipment on their networks... their MFC's.  If they migrate they have the extreme expense of replacement or they simply live without the convenience of network scanning.

Do you honestly believe that I or my clients might just accept the MS bull answer you've given to pump yourself a few extra points... like no one has been to the Brother site for the same information prior to coming here and posting.  Where do you think I got my information?

How about a real solution minus the meaningless irritating reiteration?

You want to do manual scan from the device to the PC.  The MFC's will only manually scan to a USB connected PC.  They will not manually scan back to PC over the network under any of the MS OS's

The MFC has its own network card.  It will accept a dynamic IP assignment but I give the card a static IP address at the far end of the scope so there is no competition or conflict when new leases are assigned by the local router.

Now you can use/configure any printer/scanner if you can see on the network from your local PC.  if you can see it you can configure it in control panel, you can use a wizard.  But you cannot set it up or assign it if you cannot even see it or find it on the network.

Everything works fine from XP, Vista, and Windows 7 PCs.  What is it about Win 8.1?????  What is the difference here???  It simply cannot be that difficult a problem to solve.

Hi Budk ,

"You want to do manual scan from the device to the PC.  The MFC's will only manually scan to a USB connected PC.  They will not manually scan back to PC over the network under any of the MS OS's"
Scanning via network is not supported .We can get the information more clearly from this link.
Functions supported in the Windows 8 built-in drivers
http://support.brother.com/g/b/faqend.aspx?c=us&lang=en&prod=dcp8040_all&faqid=faq00003000_000

Since it worked correctly in Windows XP ,Vista, Windows 7.There is a driver compatibility issue here .To make the printer work correctly in Windows 8.1 ,we need a driver compatible well with the Windows 8.1 .If the manufacturer won`t release a compatibility driver ,I am afraid it won`t work .It is recommended to look for help from the manufacturer .

NOTE: This response contains a reference to a third party World Wide Web site. Microsoft is providing this information as a convenience to you. Microsoft does not control these sites and has not tested any software or information found on these sites.

Best regards