Brother MFC-Jxxxx Scanner not working on 64 bit Elementary and Ubuntu

I use Brother multifunction inkjet printers. Specifically MFC-J6510DW and MFC-J6520DW on USB.   And when I change my linux distribution I always end up with working printers, but no scanner.  And I'm O L D  so I forget what I did (which is the reason I created this blog).

Here's how I got them working when I changed from 32bit to 64bit Elementary OS.  It will also work on UBUNTU.

 

FIRST - Before installing the BROTHER Printer LPR and Cupswrapper and brscan drivers

Make Sure you install the 32 bit libs needed (see Brother Support Pre Install Instructions)

Either of these (Elementary only had lib32stdc++ 

ia32-libs or lib32stdc++

(Elementary only had lib32stdc++ in the repository - and it worked fine.

Then do the install 

Test the printers.  They probably work.

If you don't already have them, install xsane, sane and sane-utils.  

Open xsane and try to scan.

Usually you will get errors when you try to use xsane.  This is because by default Brother scanner driver needs to be root.  

***  There is actually a hint about this in the Brother Support Website, but it is easy to miss and I could not find it again after the first time I saw it  ***

To test this, if you cannot open the scanner with xsane open a terminal and type:

sudo xsane

You'll get a warning saying it is dangerous, but go ahead anyway - Chances are, xsane will work.

So you need to change the user from root to yourself.

In the terminal type;

sudo apt-get install gnome-system-tools    (if you are using Ubuntu this might already be installed)

In your menu you should fine a new entry 'Users and Groups'

Edit the saned  and scanner groups and add yourself as a user.

REBOOT and try xsane again

If you still have the error you might have to add an entry in a file.

Open a File Manager as root and go to:

/lib/udev/rules.d/

Edit the file called        40-libsane.rules

near the bottom of the file is a line that says "# The following rule will disable"

Above that line, add these two new lines:

# Brother scanner

ATTRS {idVendor}=="04f9", ENV {libsane_matched}="yes"

(Leave a BLANK LINE AFTER them)

Reboot and it should all work.

If it still doesn't work after all this you can use Brute Force if you're only using this computer at home.  It has some security risks in the work place!

Open a file manager as root and go to the /etc/udev/rules.d/ folder

Create a new file called 40-scanner-permissions.rules

Put these lines in the new file:

# usb scanner

SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ENV{DEVTYPE}=="usb_device", MODE:="0666"

SUBSYSTEM=="usb_device",MODE:="0666"

Then Save and REBOOT

See if the scanner is working

****   NOTE   ****

If you installed using the Brother Install Tool and all the stuff above doesn't work  (Unlikely)

Go back and MANUALLY  (download each driver and install it).

Then try xsane.  

If it still won't work, start at the beginning again by changing the permissions and try xsane.

You should not have to edit any files again.

By the time I remembered it was a permission thing I had installed using both the Brother install tool  and then manually installed, so I can't say if it would have simply worked after changing permissions.