# DirectScan can't see your scanner or reach the server

Work through DirectScan's three layers in order — scanner to Windows, the DirectScan Agent on this workstation, and the connection to your Content Central server — changing one thing at a time until scanning works.

Product: content-central · Versions: 7.x · Audience: user · Time: 20 minutes · Last verified: 2026-08-30

Canonical: https://help.ademero.com/content-central/capture/directscan-cant-see-scanner-or-server

**At the end of this guide you'll know which of DirectScan's three layers is broken on this workstation — scanner-to-Windows, the DirectScan Agent, or the connection to your Content Central server — and have fixed the right one instead of reinstalling everything in sight.**

> **IMPORTANT:** Change **one thing at a time**, then retry the scan. If you reinstall the driver, reinstall the agent, and reboot all at once, you won't know which change fixed it — or which one broke something else. Keep a note of what you changed and what happened; that list is gold if you end up contacting support.

## How DirectScan is wired (30 seconds)

Scanning from the browser involves three separate layers, and each one fails with different symptoms:

1. **Scanner → Windows.** Your scanner's TWAIN driver (the standard Windows scanning interface) makes it visible to programs.
2. **The DirectScan Agent.** A small system-tray app on this workstation that drives the scanner. Your browser talks to it on this computer only — never across the network.
3. **Workstation → server.** Your browser talks to the Content Central server directly, like any other web page.

Layers 2 and 3 are independent: "the Content Central page loads fine" tells you nothing about the agent, and a healthy agent tells you nothing about the server.

## Start with the exact message

The wording on the Capture screen tells you which layer to work on:

| What the Capture screen says | Broken layer | Go to |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **Scanner Agent Not Found** — "The DirectScan agent is not running…" | Agent not running, or browser not allowed | Step 3 |
| "If your browser asked for permission to reach this computer, choose **Allow**, then retry." | Browser permission | Step 3 |
| "Your browser does not trust the scanner software on this computer." | Agent certificate | Step 3 |
| "DirectScan has not been allowed to work with this site yet." | Server not approved in the agent | Step 4 |
| "DirectScan is running, but no scanner is connected to this computer." | Scanner / driver | Steps 1–2 |
| A connection error such as `There was no endpoint listening at…` | Workstation can't reach the server | Step 5 |

No message handy? Work the steps in order.

## Step 1: Can Windows see the scanner at all?

1. Check the obvious first: scanner powered on, cable seated at both ends (or, for a network scanner, connected to the network).

2. Scan one page with the **scanner vendor's own utility** — every scanner ships with one. Windows' printers-and-scanners settings also show whether the device is detected.
   
   **What you should see:** the vendor tool scans a page. If it can't, the problem is the scanner, cable, or driver — no amount of DirectScan work will fix it. Reinstall the vendor's **full driver package** (the one that includes the TWAIN driver — some "basic" drivers omit it), then retest with the vendor tool before touching DirectScan.

> **NOTE:** The reverse matters just as much: if the vendor tool scans fine, the scanner and driver are healthy. Don't keep reinstalling scanner drivers without evidence against them — the problem is in a later layer.

## Step 2: Does DirectScan list the scanner?

1. In Content Central, open the Capture screen in DirectScan mode. Under **Scanner Settings**, open the **Device** dropdown.

2. If your scanner is listed: select it and start a scan. Pages coming in means you're done — the remaining steps are for the messages below.

3. If you see **"DirectScan is running, but no scanner is connected to this computer."** — the agent and server connection are fine; Windows simply has no TWAIN scanner source. Go back to Step 1 and fix the driver. This message is never an agent or server problem.

4. If you see **Scanner Agent Not Found**, continue to Step 3.

## Step 3: Is the DirectScan Agent healthy?

1. **Answer the browser's permission prompt first.** The first scan from a site makes your browser ask whether the page may reach software on this computer, and until you click **Allow**, a perfectly installed agent looks exactly like a missing one — the single most common cause of **Scanner Agent Not Found**. Allow it, then click **Retry Connection**.

2. Find the **DirectScan Agent** icon in the system tray (near the clock) and choose **Settings**. In the **This computer** group, check the rows — **Agent**, **Status**, **Listening**, **Certificate**, **Scanners**. Green is healthy; red marks the broken piece. The tray menu's **Why can't I scan?** produces a full diagnostic report.

3. No tray icon? Start **DirectScan Agent** from the Start menu, or sign out of Windows and back in. On agent versions before 7.8 the agent doesn't start until your next sign-in after installing; from 7.8 on, the installer starts it for you.

4. **Certificate** row red, or the browser says it doesn't trust the scanner software? Repair **DirectScan Agent** from Windows **Apps & Features** — repair restores the certificate (a reinstall does too).

5. Still failing — or failing repeatedly in odd ways, such as an error every time the scanner opens or complaints about missing files? Do a **clean reinstall from the current installer**: uninstall **DirectScan Agent** in **Apps & Features**, then in Content Central open **Downloads** and, under **Desktop Applications**, download and install **DirectScan Agent** ("Required for DirectScan capture integration"). This repairs a broken install *and* replaces an older build — older builds had problems the current installer fixes.
   
   > note: Download from **your own** Content Central **Downloads** page rather than an installer someone saved earlier — the copy from your server automatically trusts your server, and you're guaranteed the current build. The page also lists **Content Director**; that's a different app for editing checked-out documents and won't help scanning.

> **NOTE:** There is nothing to configure in the agent — no server address to type, no port to set. The agent picks its local port automatically and the browser tries the same ones, so don't go hunting for a settings box that doesn't exist.

**Success check:** all five **This computer** rows green, and after **Retry Connection** (or reloading the page) your scanner appears in the **Device** dropdown. Run a test scan — if pages come in, you're done.

## Step 4: Is the saved server address right — and reachable?

1. In the agent's **Settings** window, check **Approved Content Central servers** — only servers on this list may use the scanner. Showing `(none yet - the first server to ask will prompt you)` is normal on a fresh install: the first scan makes the agent ask whether to allow your server. The scan that triggered the prompt is refused, so click scan **again** after approving.

2. **Did your server recently move or change its address?** An address saved before the change can quietly point this workstation at a server that no longer answers — a classic aftermath of a server migration. Select the old address, click **Remove**, scan again, and approve the current address when prompted.

3. Confirm the workstation can actually reach the server: in a new browser tab **on this workstation**, open your Content Central address exactly as your organization gave it to you. If the login page won't open, scanning can't work either — and the problem is the network or server, not DirectScan.

> **NOTE:** In some organizations IT pre-approves the server when installing the agent; the agent then refuses every other server instead of asking. If you can't get an approval prompt for the right address, ask your IT team.

## Step 5: "No endpoint listening" and other connection errors

An error like this on the Capture screen:

```
There was no endpoint listening at https://… that could accept the message.
```

means this workstation **cannot reach a service on the Content Central server**. Nothing you do to the scanner or the agent will change it — it's a server or network check:

- **Every workstation failing at once?** The server or its services need attention from whoever runs your Content Central server.
- **Just this one?** Something on this machine's network path — VPN, proxy, firewall — is in the way. The browser test in Step 4 usually fails here too.

Hand this to your IT team or Content Central administrator; it's outside what a workstation can fix.

## Still stuck?

Send support this compact package — it turns five emails into one:

- [ ] The **exact error text**, ideally a screenshot of the Capture screen
- [ ] **When it started**, and what changed around then (new scanner, Windows update, agent reinstall, server move)
- [ ] **One workstation or all of them?**
- [ ] Whether the **vendor's own tool** can scan (your Step 1 result)
- [ ] The **Why can't I scan?** report from the agent's tray menu, and which **This computer** rows are red

Your IT team can generate the same report from a command prompt on the workstation:

```
"C:\Program Files\Ademero\DirectScan Agent\Ademero.ContentCentral.DirectScanAgent.exe" -Diagnose
```

## What's next

- [The Content Central login page won't open](https://help.ademero.com/content-central/administration/login-page-wont-open)