Setting Up HP Scanner on Linux with SANE

Once your HP printer is working on a Linux system, enabling the scanner requires installing SANE (Scanner Access Now Easy) and HP-specific backends. If wireless connectivity is already established for printing, the scanner should be discoverable on the same network.

Install Required Packages

On Fedora:

sudo dnf install sane-backends sane-backends-devel hplip hplip-common

On Ubuntu/Debian:

sudo apt install sane-backends sane-utils hplip

The hplip package includes HP device drivers and utilities for both printing and scanning. sane-backends provides the core scanning framework.

Verify Scanner Detection

Check if your device is recognized:

sudo scanimage -L

This lists all detected scanners. If your HP device appears with a valid URI (like hp:/net/...), move to the next step. If nothing appears, your device may not be on the network or SANE doesn’t have permissions yet.

Configure SANE Permissions

SANE requires proper permissions to access USB and network devices. Add your user to the scanner group:

sudo usermod -aG scanner $USER

You’ll need to log out and back in for group membership to take effect, or use:

newgrp scanner

For network scanners, also check /etc/sane.d/net.conf and ensure the HP device’s IP isn’t blocked. For wireless HP printers, this is usually not an issue, but verify:

sudo nano /etc/sane.d/net.conf

Make sure the file doesn’t have a blanket deny rule that would block your subnet.

Test the Scanner

After permissions are set, test scanning:

scanimage -T

This performs a test scan. For actual scanning:

scanimage -x 210 -y 297 --format=png > scan.png

This scans an A4 page as PNG. Adjust dimensions as needed (in millimeters).

Use a GUI Application

For everyday use, install a scanning front-end:

sudo dnf install simple-scan

or on Ubuntu:

sudo apt install simple-scan

Open Simple Scan, and your HP device should appear in the device menu. If it doesn’t, restart the application after confirming scanimage -L shows your device.

Troubleshooting Wireless HP Devices

If scanimage -L doesn’t detect your wireless scanner:

Check HP device discovery:

hp-probe -i

This scans your network for HP devices. If found, note the IP address.

Manually add the device to SANE:

Edit /etc/sane.d/hp.conf:

sudo nano /etc/sane.d/hp.conf

Add the line (replace with your printer’s actual IP):

#/dev/usb/lp0
#192.168.1.100

Then test again with scanimage -L.

Verify network connectivity:

Ping your printer to ensure it’s reachable:

ping 192.168.1.100

If it times out, check your WiFi connection and router settings.

Restart SANE Services

If you’ve made configuration changes, restart the SANE daemon:

sudo systemctl restart saned.socket

or for systems using the older approach:

sudo systemctl restart saned

Then retest with scanimage -L.

Additional Notes

• PDF scanning: Pipe scanimage output to convert to PDF:

  scanimage -x 210 -y 297 --format=pnm | convert - scan.pdf

  This requires ImageMagick (sudo dnf install imagemagick).

• Batch scanning: Use Simple Scan’s batch feature for multi-page documents, or script scanimage calls with pauses between pages.

• AirPrint/Bonjour: Modern HP printers use mDNS discovery. If your printer doesn’t appear, check that Avahi is running:

  sudo systemctl status avahi-daemon

If the scanner still isn’t detected after these steps, verify the printer model is SANE-compatible at the SANE device list, and check logs with journalctl -u saned -n 50 for error details.