It is always the same! When you have a device 10 years old (or even less) you can’t find any support from the producer when a new operative system is available!!! … even if it is a scanner that works very well and that you used not so much!
For example I have an Epson Perfection 1200U scanner: Epson site provide a driver only till Windows XP!!! In the past I succeeded to make it works with Windows 7, downloading a 64 bit version of the driver provided somewhere on the network … perhaps from here.
However now that I upgraded my PC to Windows 8, during the installation of that OS it was said that the installed Epson driver was not compatible … perhaps because it is not signed. In fact when I tried to use it, it doesn’t work anymore as you can see:
Errors running the Epson driver in Windows 8
After reading some posts online, especially this one, I realized that perhaps I could try to use a driver for the more recent scanner Epson Perfection 2400 (64 bit version) that can be found searching for epson12180.zip  in the Epson site. Anyway if you do not find it, I put here the one I found that is signed and therefore is OK for Windows 8 too!
First you have to install it. Then you must open Control Panel and go to the Device Manager, find the scanner Perfection 1200 and update its driver by selecting the 2400 one (you just installed) from “let me pick from a list of drivers on my computer“.
Select Properties from the Perfection 1200 device (imaging devices)
Again select Properties
Select the Driver tab and push Update Driver button
Choose “Browse my computer for driver …”
Choose “Let me pick from a list of device driver …”
Uncheck “Show compatible hw” and select “Epson Perfection 2400”
Photoshop now believes to have a scanner 2400 in line … Â but it’s work!
In Photoshop select Epson Perfection 2400 driver (even if the 1connected scanner is 1200)
That’s all folks!
Enzo Contini Blog 
Ciao. Dal 2015, defunto il, primo PC con Windows XP, ho applicato questa procedura e, quando il driver è stato appena installato funzionava bene con un Epson Perfection 1200 Photo ma, ad ogni riavvio del PC e all’accensione dello Scanner (usato regolarmente su Photoshop), solo Epson Perfection 2400 (e non WIA Epson…) compare nel menù di PS e, per farla breve, bisogna rifare la procedura di “aggiornamento del Driver” partendo dalla finestra “Proprietà ” del Driver (che nei dispositivi viene mostrato col punto esclamativo giallo), quindi devo cercarlo nel PC, localizzare Epson Perfection 2400 e dare OK. Solo allora il Driver torna disponibile… eccetera.
Inizialmente davo la colpa alle pulizie fatte con CCleaner ma, a quanto pare esse non c’entrano.
Quanto appena detto accade su PC con Windows 8.1, tonnellate di RAM, un HD da 2TB, sistema integro e così via…. qualcuno ha mai incontrato lo stesso problema?
"Mi piace""Mi piace"
Thank you very much. This works also on freshly installed Windows10!!
"Mi piace""Mi piace"
Thank you for sharing your experience: I did not tried yet with Window 10 and I am happy to know that the work around still work …
"Mi piace""Mi piace"
Grazie Enzo. Me too I have managed to get my old Perfection 1200PHOTO working with Win 8.1 thanks to your post. Photoshop Elements would not show anything new under File>Import, but I can launch the EPSON Scan utility separately and scan images to then open in Elements.
Again, thanks!
"Mi piace""Mi piace"
Thanks you For Your kind comment!
"Mi piace""Mi piace"
Thank you very much for your help, but I had a lot of trouble installing the epson12180 pilot, I could not find me in the beginning of your tutorial (I still had “the device does not work”), but soon after I could reposition myself on the same windows as your tutorial and I got the right result !!!
You may notice that the advantage of this driver (compared to my very old driver) is that I can save directly in pdf format and do several pages !!! (this what was not possible before)
For the record, I already contacted Epson France who confirmed me that it was impossible to work with this scanner “1200 Photo” on W8.1 … Normal they prefer losing customers than working on the maintenance of their drivers, or they hope they will sell new scanners….
I tried first to install the latest driver for Perfection 2400, found at Epson France, but that didn’t work….. (file “epson324500eu”)
So the only driver which works is the epson12180 from Epson USA, bravo Enzo !!
In addition I got the program directly in French after installation !!
"Mi piace""Mi piace"
Thank you Leonard for leaving your comment! Yes, I agree, ot is quite strange that a brand like EPSON does not provide any support for one of his product even though it is an old one … and even though they have already a driver of a newer product that anyway support it!!! The only way seems to share our customer’s experiences!! 🙂
"Mi piace""Mi piace"
Enzo, after the good result of images scanning, I tried to recover the OCR function, but nothing is working anymore on windows 8.1, I tried to find Presto!PageManager or TextBridge but I found nothing working, the only possibility I found for the moment is a software but it costs approx 80 USD…..
Do you have an idea how to install the OCR function from a free software ?
Grazie !
"Mi piace""Mi piace"
No Leonard, I didn’t try any OCR recently. I am in the mailing list of the “giveaway of the day” and sometime it happens that some OCR, free for one day, is proposed …
Anyway, if you find one, please let us know 😉
"Mi piace""Mi piace"
Enzo, I had an issue, the software Epson scan didn’t work anymore, I don’t know why.
I reinstall all, and now Epson scan works but not in Professional mode, strange… Do you have any idea about how to “repair” that ?
"Mi piace""Mi piace"
Sorry Leonard. I have not made scanning since one year ago!! Maybe some windows update did some changes in the OS configuration: you could try to reinstall the driver from the beginning! Let me know 😉
"Mi piace""Mi piace"
thank you. This helped me too 🙂
"Mi piace""Mi piace"
Thank you so much! This is the clearest description that I’ve found. My scanner is working again.
"Mi piace""Mi piace"
The best way to use the Web is to share our experiences, I think! 🙂
"Mi piace""Mi piace"
Thank you so much, Enzo! This solution works beautifully in Windows 8.1. I hate to dispose of Perfectly good equipment!
"Mi piace""Mi piace"
Ti ringrazio vivamente: erano anni che non potevo utilizzare lo scanner.
Mauro
"Mi piace""Mi piace"
Gratzi Enzo! That is very helpful!
"Mi piace""Mi piace"
Thank you much appreciated.
"Mi piace""Mi piace"
thanks, this has helped me use my scanner for the first time in years
"Mi piace""Mi piace"
thanks God~~ it’s very useful for me, I have an old epson1200 too. I can’t find anything in china website. Biggest thanks to U。
"Mi piace""Mi piace"
Nice to help you!
"Mi piace""Mi piace"
Ciao Enzo approfitto di questa tua email per porti un saluto, ma il suo contenuto per me risulta ostico. Allora ne approfitto per farti una domanda, a me utile. Ho una pendrive con alcune cartelle contenenti musiche dei Beatles, scaricate da mia figlia Laura da non so dove. Pessima qualità audio, quindi voglio formattarla o cancellare quelle cartelle.Però ad ogni tentativo ricevo l’avviso che non posso in quanto protetto da scrittura. Sai come aggirare l’ostacolo ? Grazie anticipate, anche se non hai la soluzione,Ciao.
"Mi piace""Mi piace"
Guarda le proprietà della cartella/singoli file (click con il tasto destro -> proprietà ): probabilmente é impostata in sola lettura, almeno per gli utenti del gruppo a cui appartieni. Cambia quindi la loro proprietà in modo che sia possibile effettuare qualsiasi operazione compresa la modifica/cancellazione.
Talvolta i file scaricati dalla rete sono protetti in modifica/cancellazione … 😊
"Mi piace""Mi piace"