LaserSoft Imaging

I have been using my Minolta 5400 with Minolta Scan Utility on WinXP. Now my Silverfast Ai 6 has arrived, but I have a few questions before installing it.

I have Photoshop on my computer, but I don't open it when I scan so that the computer is not slowed down by it. The installation manual seems to suggest that Silverfast will automatically be installed as a Photoshop plugin if Photoshop is detected on the computer. In my case, is there a way to install and run Silverfast as a standalone application? Is the Twain Module the only way to do so?

Will installing Silverfast affect Minolta Scan Utility in any way? I would like to be able to switch between Silverfast and Minolta Scan Utility. That would allow me to compare the scans from them. I don't need to have both of them launched at the same time, but it would be nice.

Thanks.

Dear CL

you want to use the Photoshop plug-in variant of SilverFast. This can be started with use of the SF_Launcher helper application as a stand-alone software.
You don't need to worry about how to do this - the SF installer will do this for you automatically.
During installation, you are asked if you want to install an alias / shortcut into the Photoshop directory. This is set by default. This makes SilverFast come available from Photoshop's File>Import menu.

Best regards
Sonny Noack
- Manager Technical Support, LaserSoft Imaging AG -

Thanks for the response. After installing, I am able to run Launcher without openning Photoshop. Perhaps the manual can clarify this better.

I did encounter a couple of problems with the Minolta Scan Utility (MSU) after installing Silverfast. While I can work around them, Silverfast's developers as well as Minolta 5400 users may want to be aware of them.

1. After installing Silverfast and closing it, I was able to launch MSU. But all my saved preference settings were gone. I had yet to figure out how to recover these settings. Had I known that, I would have saved these settings before installing Silverfast.

2. After installing Silverfast and closing it, I was able to scan with MSU, but the scan was not saved. MSU's error message was "File Could Not be Created". To get around this problem, I had to uninstall MSU and reinstall it again.

Apparently, installing Silverfast somehow messed up MSU.

3. With both Silverfast and MSU openned. I could scan with one, but was unable to scan with the other. It did not matter which one I started first.