Safe to allow WIA (Windows Image Acquisition) to interact with desktop?
Scan Snap ix500 by Fujitsu has connectivity problems with Windows 10. We have found an interim fix by allowing the WIA (Windows Image Acquisition) service to interact with desktop. Just wondering if there are other implications, especially security, of allowing this access?
exact instructions followed are below:
Solution for connection error for Scansnap ix500 running Windows 10:
1. Control panel, select “Administrative Tools”, open “Services”
2. Find service named “Windows Image Acquisition (WIA)”, right-click on it, select “properties”
3. Go to the “Log On” tab, select “Log on as: Local System Account”, check the “Allow service to interact with desktop” box
4. Click OK, restart.
exact instructions followed are below:
Solution for connection error for Scansnap ix500 running Windows 10:
1. Control panel, select “Administrative Tools”, open “Services”
2. Find service named “Windows Image Acquisition (WIA)”, right-click on it, select “properties”
3. Go to the “Log On” tab, select “Log on as: Local System Account”, check the “Allow service to interact with desktop” box
4. Click OK, restart.
McKnife
Services are isolated, normally, so no weak user will be able to misuse a strong service (system permissions) to act on his command. Selecting "allow interaction with the desktop" takes this isolation away and probably, if you executed malware that would be a little sophisticated, that could lead to a virus taking over your system. Hard to tell how probable, but nothing you would want as a workaround.
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ASKER
Thanks Joe-
I was thinking the same thing, but didn't want to look a gift horse in the mouth. The fujitsu drivers are adequate, even good, but not perfect. This is a heavy user and has had problems on her Win7 machine. We hoped the new Win 10 machine would solve it, but still a few issues with the ix500. The newest drivers are installed, but I may also need to adjust the antivirus settings and maybe even usb selective suspend. Overall the scanner works, just don't like the lapses in productivity to re-connect or restart to get the scansnap back in line.
The comment was not on Fujitsu site:
IT was
Lots of complaints about the scanscap on Win 10:
http://www.documentsnap.com/scansnap-windows-10/
thanks
I was thinking the same thing, but didn't want to look a gift horse in the mouth. The fujitsu drivers are adequate, even good, but not perfect. This is a heavy user and has had problems on her Win7 machine. We hoped the new Win 10 machine would solve it, but still a few issues with the ix500. The newest drivers are installed, but I may also need to adjust the antivirus settings and maybe even usb selective suspend. Overall the scanner works, just don't like the lapses in productivity to re-connect or restart to get the scansnap back in line.
The comment was not on Fujitsu site:
IT was
Lots of complaints about the scanscap on Win 10:
http://www.documentsnap.com/scansnap-windows-10/
thanks
> The comment was not on Fujitsu site
As I expected...otherwise, it would have been a seismic shift by Fujitsu for the ScanSnap series. Note that all the links at the site you posted ("See this page for instructions and this page for software") are (properly) to the Fujitsu site...and nowhere does it mention WIA.
I see that the instructions in your original question here are not from the DocumentSnap site itself, but are in a comment from Daco on 22-Feb-2017. Many comments after that say that Daco's method worked for them, but I am hard-pressed to explain that, since all the ScanSnap scanners use Fujitsu's proprietary scanning driver, not WIA. I suppose it's possible that the ScanSnap driver calls WIA under the covers, but not as far as I know, and almost surely not before W10. But maybe Fujitsu decided that the easiest path to getting their proprietary ScanSnap driver working on W10 was to leverage WIA. Again, not as far as I know, but I guess it's possible. Indeed, an interaction/interface between the ScanSnap driver and WIA is the only reason that Daco's method would have any effect. Regards, Joe
As I expected...otherwise, it would have been a seismic shift by Fujitsu for the ScanSnap series. Note that all the links at the site you posted ("See this page for instructions and this page for software") are (properly) to the Fujitsu site...and nowhere does it mention WIA.
I see that the instructions in your original question here are not from the DocumentSnap site itself, but are in a comment from Daco on 22-Feb-2017. Many comments after that say that Daco's method worked for them, but I am hard-pressed to explain that, since all the ScanSnap scanners use Fujitsu's proprietary scanning driver, not WIA. I suppose it's possible that the ScanSnap driver calls WIA under the covers, but not as far as I know, and almost surely not before W10. But maybe Fujitsu decided that the easiest path to getting their proprietary ScanSnap driver working on W10 was to leverage WIA. Again, not as far as I know, but I guess it's possible. Indeed, an interaction/interface between the ScanSnap driver and WIA is the only reason that Daco's method would have any effect. Regards, Joe
ASKER
agreed. Thanks again
You're welcome. Good luck with the iX500. Regards, Joe