Brother printer... Big Brother... Big Brother scanner...
I usually used the Twain source for my scanners instead of the scanner software, but they do sometimes behave oddly. I've had scanners that refused to connect to the network, and I've had scanners that automatically were found by my computers without me doing anything at all - I never even connected them to the network, yet there they were, showing up on the computers.
It's the ghost in the machines, I tell ya!
If you're on Windows 11, it was probably an update. Win11 updates are known to regularly break stuff, or uninstall stuff that Microsoft thinks you ought not to be using. With Windows 11, Microsoft appears to have gone fully into "this is not YOUR computer, it's OUR computer, and you'll only use it in ways we approve for you to use it" mode.
According to YouTube, Windows 11 users are jumping ship in droves and moving to Linux, mostly Linux Mint I think. At least with Linux, you get to use the computer YOU paid for in the way YOU want to use it, without having to kiss the ring and seek some corporation's approval.
I just saw a video this evening claiming that Linux has shot up in the market share to around 14%. Last time I checked, it was around 6%. They are predicting Linux to have 18-20% of the market by the end of this year, with Windows dropping to below 50% for the first time in over 30 years.
I don't currently have a printer or a scanner in my home network, so I'm sort of at a loss to explain what you're experiencing with yours... but I'm betting on The Ghost in the Machine.
ETA: A few years ago, I had a Dell desktop box that had WiFi built in to the motherboard, and I had no idea. Windows never even hinted that there was a WiFi connection available to that box. I got a wild hair and installed Linux on it in a dual-boot configuration (Zorin OS, because that's my favorite) and all of the sudden, the box was on the WiFi and internetting it's ass off before I ever connected the internet cable to it. That was how I found out it had WIFI capability - nothing in the manual or Windows even hinted at it.
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I usually used the Twain source for my scanners instead of the scanner software, but they do sometimes behave oddly. I've had scanners that refused to connect to the network, and I've had scanners that automatically were found by my computers without me doing anything at all - I never even connected them to the network, yet there they were, showing up on the computers.
It's the ghost in the machines, I tell ya!
If you're on Windows 11, it was probably an update. Win11 updates are known to regularly break stuff, or uninstall stuff that Microsoft thinks you ought not to be using. With Windows 11, Microsoft appears to have gone fully into "this is not YOUR computer, it's OUR computer, and you'll only use it in ways we approve for you to use it" mode.
According to YouTube, Windows 11 users are jumping ship in droves and moving to Linux, mostly Linux Mint I think. At least with Linux, you get to use the computer YOU paid for in the way YOU want to use it, without having to kiss the ring and seek some corporation's approval.
I just saw a video this evening claiming that Linux has shot up in the market share to around 14%. Last time I checked, it was around 6%. They are predicting Linux to have 18-20% of the market by the end of this year, with Windows dropping to below 50% for the first time in over 30 years.
I don't currently have a printer or a scanner in my home network, so I'm sort of at a loss to explain what you're experiencing with yours... but I'm betting on The Ghost in the Machine.
ETA: A few years ago, I had a Dell desktop box that had WiFi built in to the motherboard, and I had no idea. Windows never even hinted that there was a WiFi connection available to that box. I got a wild hair and installed Linux on it in a dual-boot configuration (Zorin OS, because that's my favorite) and all of the sudden, the box was on the WiFi and internetting it's ass off before I ever connected the internet cable to it. That was how I found out it had WIFI capability - nothing in the manual or Windows even hinted at it.
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“Trouble rather the tiger in his lair than the sage among his books. For to you kingdoms and their armies are things mighty and enduring, but to him they are but toys of the moment, to be overturned with the flick of a finger.”
― Gordon R. Dickson, Tactics of Mistake
― Gordon R. Dickson, Tactics of Mistake