A flatbed or document scanner works without the vendor suite: Windows Fax and Scan uses WIA, saves straight to PDF and keeps the profile you set. The vendor tool is only needed for buttons on the device.
Install **Windows Fax and Scan** as an optional feature, set a scan profile with **300 dpi, colour and PDF**, then scan to a folder. Check the WIA device with **Get-PnpDevice -Class Image** when the app finds nothing.
The scanner app is an optional feature, not part of the default install. The WIA class tells you whether Windows sees the hardware at all.
Get-WindowsCapability -Online -Name 'Print*' | Select-Object Name,State
Add-WindowsCapability -Online -Name 'Print.Fax.Scan~~~~0.0.1.0'
Get-PnpDevice -Class Image | Select-Object FriendlyName,Status,InstanceId**New Scan** opens the profile dialog, and the profile is where quality is decided. 300 dpi is the practical default for text; 600 dpi doubles file size without adding legibility.
wfs
:: File > New > Scan... > New Scan
:: Profile: Photo, Document or set your own
:: Colour format: Colour, Grayscale, Black and whitePDF keeps the page layout and opens everywhere; TIFF keeps lossless pages for later OCR. JPEG is the wrong choice for text because it blurs edges at low quality settings.
# File type: PDF or TIFF
# Resolution: 300 dpi
# Save to: D:\Scans\2026
Get-ChildItem D:\Scans -Recurse | Select-Object Name,Length,LastWriteTimeWith an automatic document feeder, tick **Feeder** and scan all pages into one file. A flatbed needs **Add page** after each sheet, which keeps the pages in one PDF.
:: Scan source: Feeder (or Flatbed)
:: tick 'Preview' off for speed
:: after the first page: Add page, place the next sheet, ScanGrey backgrounds and black borders come from the colour mode and the crop. **Black and white** with a brightness of 0 removes the grey cast on plain paper.
# Colour format: Black and white
# Brightness: -20 to 0, Contrast: 0
# Crop to the page before saving
Get-Item D:\Scans\2026\document.pdf | Select-Object Name,Length**Tools > Scan Routing** defines where files land, and a folder per month keeps the archive readable. A fixed naming scheme beats a folder full of scan0001.pdf.
# Tools > Scan Routing > set the folder to D:\Scans\2026
$d = 'D:\Scans\2026\invoice-2026-10-31.pdf'
Rename-Item 'D:\Scans\2026\scan.pdf' $d
Get-ChildItem D:\Scans\2026 | Measure-Object Length -SumThe device is not bound as a WIA device. Check Get-PnpDevice -Class Image and install the WIA driver; a TWAIN-only driver does not show up here.
The lamp is off or the lid is open. Let the scanner warm up for a minute and check the device display for an error code.
Fan the stack and check the separation pad. On worn feeders, scanning at a slower quality preset reduces double feeds.
The preview shows the orientation before saving. Rotate in the preview; a wrong setting in the document feeder guide produces a rotated page every time.
Only for device buttons, network scanning and advanced features. Basic scanning, PDF output and profiles work with the built-in app.
No OCR is built in. Save as TIFF or PDF and run the OCR step in a separate tool, or use the vendor suite if it includes one.
Only if the device exposes WIA over the network and the driver is installed. Most multifunction devices do this after their own driver package is installed.
Remove the optional feature with Remove-WindowsCapability -Online -Name 'Print.Fax.Scan~~~~0.0.1.0'. Scanned files stay where you saved them.
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