Virtual Scanner II in Image Capture

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Level 1

9 points

Virtual Scanner II in Image Capture

I have a Virtual Scanner II Device in Image Capture and don't know where it is coming from.

It shows a photo by Thomas Hawk. I also found the Device in /System/Library/Image Caputer/Devices. Weirdly there is also a PDF with the original Bitcoin white paper from Satoshi Nakamoto in the VirtualScanner.app Package Content.

Why is this in /System? Is this really from Apple? What is it good for?

How can I deinstall it? Since it's in /System it's write protected and can not be simply removed.

This strange device was also discovered by Josh D.

(https://twitter.com/schwa23/status/1332594197505798145?lang=en)

Posted on Apr 12, 2021 12:03 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

Old Toad

Level 10

207,313 points

Apr 18, 2021 1:15 PM in response to bernd178

It's not in my Big Sur system.

You may have installed some 3rd party software that included the virtual scanner. Download and run Etrecheck. Etrecheck is a diagnostic tool that was developed by one of the most respected users here in the ASC and recommended by Apple Support to provide a snapshot of the system and help identify the more obvious culprits that can adversely affect a Mac's performance.

IMPORTANT:

Before running Etrecheck assign Full Disk Access to Etrecheck in the Etrecheck's Privacy preference pane so that it can get additional information from the Console and log files for the report:

Also click and read the About info to further permit full disk access.

Copy the report

and use the Additional Text button to include the report in your reply.

Then we can examine the report and see if we can determine what might be causing the problem.

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Answer 2

Barney-15E

Level 10

112,506 points

Apr 13, 2021 12:56 PM in response to bernd178

It seems to be part of the OS. All of the documents are used in its interface.

I have no idea how to use it or why it is there.

It may be something that was used in testing and they forgot to take it out.

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Answer 3

Barney-15E

Level 10

112,506 points

Apr 18, 2021 3:25 PM in response to Old Toad

It's not in my Big Sur system.

You have to go into the folder where the executable lives and run it.

It doesn't survive a restart.

You may have installed some 3rd party software that included the virtual scanner.

No, they didn't. The item in question is located in /System/Library so nothing could have installed it.

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Answer 4

bernd178 Author

Level 1

9 points

Apr 23, 2021 2:52 AM in response to Barney-15E

I assume it's some old 3rd party software (maybe from a Canon Scanner) which I used a long time ago. The driver has installed itself in /System/Library on an older macOS Version and has never been completely removed.

Through the upgrades from each macOS Release to the next it always remained in /System and now can not be removed with Big Sur anymore (SSV was not disabled and authenticated-root is enabled).

Could this be possible?

Is there a some way to remove this old driver leftovers?

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