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Get an old unsupported scanner working on Windows 11 with a new driver

A Redditor had Claude build a 64-bit Windows 11 driver for a CanoScan LiDE 30, whose last driver was for XP, and had it scanning in about an hour.

Done withClaude· Nov 3, 2026

What they did

The poster, u/Wizzard_2025 on r/ClaudeAI, owns a Canon CanoScan LiDE 30 flatbed whose last official driver was for Windows XP. For years they kept an XP virtual machine in VirtualBox just to scan. They asked Claude to make the scanner work on Windows 11 64-bit. Claude produced a WIA driver package built partly on code from a GPL Linux scanner driver, plus an install script that opens a PowerShell window and explains each step as it goes.

How it went

The scanner worked on Windows 11 after roughly an hour of work. It shows up in Windows Fax and Scan and can be used from MS Paint, but the newer Windows Scan app does not see it. The poster shared the package (version 0.2.5) as a zip so other owners of the same model could try it. They give no other numbers.

Worth knowing

Because it reuses GPL Linux driver code, the poster has to ship the source along with it. Windows requires signed drivers, so the installer signs it during setup and then deletes the private key so the certificate cannot be reused. The post does not say which Claude app or harness was used. Installing a driver from a shared zip means trusting code you did not review.

Try it

With Claude· 5 parts to fill in

I have a [scanner or device model] that only has drivers for [old OS]. I want it working on [current OS and architecture]. First, find out what protocol it speaks and whether an open-source driver exists for it on Linux or elsewhere, and tell me its license. Then plan a driver for [current OS] that reuses what you can, explain how it will be signed and installed, and wait for my OK before you build anything or touch system settings. Write an install script that explains each step as it runs. Stop when a test scan from [app I scan with] works, and list which apps can and cannot see the device.

Square brackets are the parts to fill in. The prompt is ours; the story is theirs.

Where they said it

Read the originalReddit · u/Wizzard_2025 · Nov 3, 2026 · 35 points

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