With Microsoft announcement of plans to disable SMBv1, due to its security vulnerabilities, this leaves millions of photocopier machines unable to use scan to folders function. To circumvent this, you can manually enable SMBv1 by adding it back from Windows Features add-remove.
For the newly launched Windows 11 operating system or computers upgraded with it, scan to folder once again no longer works despite of the following setup, which works perfectly for Windows 10 and before:
- Setting network to Private
- Window File and Printer Sharing Enable.
- Password Protected Sharing enabled.
- Relevant Firewall rules set to facilitate file sharing even disabling the firewall to troubleshoot.
- Secured user account setup for file transfer.
If you connect to the shared folders, which is shared from a Windows 11 computer, and accessing it using other Windows 10 computer, file transfer works fine. Upon closer studies, I find that there is an additional option SMB 1.0/CIFS Automatic Removal that may be the cause of the problem (This option exists in Windows 10 too) and may be unnecessary:
This blog offers one of the solutions to fix Scan to Folders does not work in Windows 11 which applies to photocopiers that still uses SMBv1 or SMB1 for their Scan to Folder function.
1) To start from your computer’s desktop click on Windows Start button followed by selecting Settings:
2) Windows System dialog will appear. From the left hand pane of this dialog, click on Apps followed by selecting Optional features.
3) From the Optional features dialog, scroll all the way down and select More Windows Features:
4) This invokes the Turn Windows features on or off dialog. Expand the list under SMB 1.0/CIFS File Sharing Support and uncheck SMB 1.0/CIFS Automatic Removal. Click on OK button to proceed.
5) Windows will apply the necessary updates and prompts you that it has completed the requested changes. Click on Close button to Finish.
6) Reboot your Computer and your Scan to folders should work again. While i recommend you approach your copier vendor to obtain the latest firmware that supports scan to folders via SMB v2 or even SMB v3, that may not be a luxury that many devices support and as such this blog will be a useful resource for you and i certainly hope this will help many organizations and Enjoy!
Solving the problem from Windows Control Panel
1) For the Windows Control Panel enthusiast, like me, click on Windows Start button then type Control Panel in the Windows Search Bar. Notice that Windows presents Control Panel even before you finish.
2) Click on Open to proceed.
3) Click on the pull-down menu beside View By and select either Large icons or Small Icons, your preference, this will show all features accessible in the Control Panel. Click on Program Features.
4) From Windows Program and Features dialog, click on Turn Windows Features on or off on the left-hand pane.
5) Here, the Turn Windows features on or off will appear. Just follow the steps from Step 4 from the above section to complete the setup.
