Overview

A newly purchased EPSON Perfection V500 Photo Scanner was attached to a Windows XP machine, at least twice.  The first installation attempt was in line with the printed instructions that came with the device.  A second attempt at installation was made when the software installer hung (most likely) due to Microsoft Security Essentials real-time, anti-virus protection feature.  At which time, the USB connector was unplugged and re-plugged in compliance with the installation software instructions.  After both instances, running the scanner software resulted in an error message: "Epson Scan Cannot Start..."

Reference(s):

End-user

Troubleshooting

1. Let the software installer complete the installation process.  This may require temporarily disabling anti-virus software.

2. Make sure the USB cable is connected directly to the computer.

3. Delete instances of the device from Windows' Control Panel > Scanners & Cameras.

4. Remove other scanner software in Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs.  In this case, there was LEXMARK software for a multifunction device—previously in use, but not connected to the computer.

5. Re-enable anti-virus software.

6. Reboot the computer.

Conclusion

After uninstalling the conflicting scanner software, the new Epson scanner's software ran properly.

Because scanners and multifunction devices are highly specialized in terms of driver software compared to displays, keyboards, mice and other common peripherals, it makes sense to check to see if a similar device has been installed previously.  It can save time, especially when considering the alternative: "How to solve 'EPSON Scan cannot be started' error message".