Connecting to Scanners with Remote Desktop Connection

Scanning to a remote desktop is actually quite difficult as there is no direct method nor protocol that has ever been agreed.  Different device manufacturers have come up with a number of different ways in which to to this, some rely on expensive software to be loaded with pay per user agreements etc., and other manufacturers have adopted methods based on existing Industry file transfers, FTP or SMB. 

Scanners can be classified into network scanners, ie photocopiers, and local scanners, ie USB or SCSI.  We will below document various free methods in which to scan a document and transfer into MyServer.

Network Scanners

There are two methods in which to scan and get the data to MyServer, as follows:-

  1. We can provide you some FTP details, IP address, username and password for you to give to your photocopier engineer to set up the FTP transfer from your scanner part of the photocopier direct to a folder that you can see on your shared S: drive, U: drive or any other area you like to use.
  2. If you can only use SMB scanning to a Windows computer, you will not be able to do this over the Internet for security.  However, no problem, set up a file share on your local computer, perhaps called "c:\scans" and share it as "scans".  Your photocopier engineer should then be able to send a print to your local PC and this share.  You can not easily transfer the scan into MyServer, see Transfers via Remote Desktop in section 7 of this user manual.

Local Scanners

When using USB or SCSI scanners, you really only have one free option here, create a folder on your computer to scan documents into, perhaps "c:\scans".  You can not easily transfer the scan into MyServer, see Transfers via Remote Desktop in section 7 of this user manual.

Notes:-

  • Please be aware that the file copies are only as fast as your broadband link, ie slow.  File copies to us will be slower than files copies from us because of this.
  • Please also be aware that if you share an office broadband, large file copies are best performed out of hours or lunchtime or when other users know it is being performed as it can cause a degradation of MyServer performance for others sharing your broadband link.
  • If you need to script any data transfers, you can reference your local computers hard disc using the following UNC convension,  \\tsclient\c  then append any sub folders as necessary.