Brother Printer Won’t Scan To Computer – How To Fix?

Brother printer is very well known to everybody because of its reliability, space-saving, and user-friendly features. This device not only allows you to print but copy, scan and fax also.

But like the other technologies, after using for a while, it might happen that you have to encounter some problems in it. Especially, when you upgrade your computer to Windows 10, there is a possibility of having errors like when your Brother printer won’t scan to computer.

This is a common issue in Windows 10 according to user reports. It might be due to an incorrect network configuration or wrong scanner driver. You can try to fix this problem by using the solutions listed below.

How To Fix Brother Printer Won’t Scan To Computer!

There are some easy solutions provided below to help you resolve your Brother printer won’t scan to computer. Following these steps appropriately, you can easily fix your Brother printer not scanning.

Solution 1: Ensure That The Brother Machine Is Powered On Properly

At first, you should check the power supply of your Brother machine. If the LCD display of the Brother printer is blank when it is powered on, it means the printer is either in sleep mode or has some problem with the power supply. Press a button on the printer to check if it wakes up from sleep mode.

Power it off, unplug the power cord and check if there is everything fine with it or not. Then again turn the machine on. You should also check the LCD for any error message like a paper jam or ink/toner empty. If you notice any issue here, troubleshoot and clear it.

Solution 2: Check The Network Connection

You should configure your Brother printer if you want to use the network scanning feature in the peer to peer network environment. In a network shared environment, the scanning feature works from a server computer, not client PCs. If you don’t know how to configure, follow the configuration steps.

Solution 3: Check Your Brother Machine For Print Availability

You should ensure that your Brother printer is available to print. This might be the reason for your Brother printer won’t scan to computer. You will find the guide on how to operate the printer in the printer properties option. To find out the printer properties option, follow these steps:

• Click on the Start icon and select the Control panel option.

• Here you will find the Hardware and sound option. Click on it.

• Now search for Devices and printer option where you can see your printer name.

• Right-click on your printer name and select Printer properties option.
• Click on the Print test page to check if your printer is available to print.

Solution 4: Check Scanner Driver Of Your Brother Printer

Your Brother printer won’t scan if there is a problem with the scanner driver. You should check if your Brother printer driver is available. To do this, follow steps:

• Go to the Control Panelapp.
• Click on Hardware and sound option.
• Here you will find the Devices and printer option. Click on it.
• Now check if your Brother printer icon is present under the printers list.

• If you cannot find the icon of your Brother scanner, download it from the official website.

Solution 5: Check IP Address Of Your Brother Scanner Or Set IP Address

Your Brother printer won’t scan to computer if the IP address of your scanner is not well configured. You can obtain the machine’s IP address by printing a network configuration list. You can print the network configuration page by the following steps:

• Press the Menu button on your Brother printer.
• Now press the up or down arrow to navigate to the Print report option and press OK or Set.

• Again press the up or down navigation key until the Network Config option appears. Then press OK or Set.
• Press Black (Mono) start or Color Start to print the configuration page and you can see the current configuration of your Brother machine.
• To end this process, press Stop/ Exit.

Now, set the IP address on your Brother machine. Follow these steps to do this:

• Click on the Start icon and open the Control Panel app.
• Now select Devices and printer option under Hardware and Sound tab.
• Choose your scanner from the list and click on the Properties button.
• If the user account control screen appears, click on Continue or Yes if you have administrator rights. If you don’t have administrator rights, then enter the administrator password and click on OK or Yes button.
• Now click on the Network settings tab.
• Select Specify your machine by address option.

• Now enter the IP address you have from the printed current network configuration page.
• After following all these steps carefully, click on OK.

Solution 6: Check The Firewall Settings On Your Computer

If the firewall is active on your computer, it may reject the necessary network connection for the network scanning software and as a result, the Brother printer won’t scan to computer. You should disable the firewall temporarily and try the network scanning again.

To disable the firewall on your computer, do the following steps:

• Open the Control panel by clicking on the Start icon.
• Select System and Security option.

• Now click on the Windows Defender Firewall option.

• There is an option named Network and Sharing Center. Click on it.

• Now check your network location in the View your active networks section.

• Go back to the Control panel and click on the Windows firewall again.
• Select Turn Windows Firewall on or off option.

• Click on Turn off Windows firewall and select OK.

If the issue still continues, there is another method for you.

• Open the Control panel and select System and Security option.

• Click on the Windows firewall.

• Select Allow a program or feature through Windows firewall.

• Click on Change settings.

• Check file and printer sharing for your network location and click on the OK button.

Now you try scanning again to check if the error is resolved.

Solution 7: Uninstall And Re-Install The Brother Drivers

Sometimes, there might be some problem with your scanner driver and the Brother printer won’t scan to computer. Uninstalling Brother driver can resolve your problem easily. You can uninstall and reinstall the scanner driver simply by following the steps below:

• Click on Start icon and select Brother from All apps option.
• Now select Brother Utilities.
• Click on your model name from the pull-down list.
• Now select the Tools option from the left navigation bar and click on Uninstall.

 

• When the user account control screen appears, click Allow or Yes.
• Now follow the instructions in the dialogue box to uninstall the software and drivers.
• After a successful uninstall, Reboot your computer.
• After rebooting your PC, re-install the Brother software and drivers.

You can also click here to download Brother software and driver from the official website.

Solution 8: Check If The Control Center Is Running

To check if the control center is running, you should follow the steps below:

• Click on the Start icon and type Brother in the search box.
• Select the Brother option from the list.
• Now go for the Brother utilities and click on it.
• Click on the Control center.
• Now try scanning again.
• If still, it doesn’t work from the printer’s buttons, check if the scanner driver is installed and port is well connected and configured.
• Now open the Scanner properties.
• Click on the Network setting tab.

• Choose either Specify your machine by address or Specify your machine by name.

• If you choose to specify by address, then type the printer’s IP address and click on the apply button to save changes. If you have selected to choose by name, then you have to enter the node name in the box, click browse option, then choose your Brother printer and click OK.
• Finally, click on Apply and OK option to save the changes you made.

Now, you should not have Brother printer scan to PC not working after applying the solutions above.

Conclusion

Now you know why your Brother printer won’t scan to computer and the methods to remove the error from your PC. If you found this article helpful, let us know by commenting below. If you still have queries regarding Brother scanner not working, feel free to tell us here.