Windows Image Acquisition (WIA)

5 June 2003 by Snakefoot | Comment » | Trackback Off
Description:
Provides image acquisition services for scanners & cameras. It is used for transferring the pictures from a camera or scanner to the computer.

WIA is an attempt to make it easier for camera and scanner developers to write drivers, as it was rather difficult within Twain.org. WIA has its own API for extracting pictures, but it also includes a TWAIN compatibility layer.

Note Windows Vista (and XP SP2) comes with WIA ver. 2.0 which brings new features, but also breaks compatibility with devices and drivers using WIA ver. 1.0. Vista now uses the Picture Transfer Protocol (PTP) which is part of the Windows Portable Devices (WPD) standard for transfering pictures instead of WIA. More Info MS KB927836

More Info MS KB Q307001
More Info MS KB Q819017
More Info MS KB Q823612

Recommended State:
  • Manual, if using digital camera or scanners.
  • Disabled, if not wanting the service to interfere in startup detection or when browsing My Computer.
Default State:
  • WinXP: Manual.
  • Win2k3: Disabled.
  • Vista/Win7: Manual.
Process Name:
Supports:
  • None
Depends:

Updated: 22 September 2009

Comments:

Comment by Terje - 7 April 2004 @ 6:33 Reply

About the service Windows Image Acquisition (WIA) (svchost.exe -k imgsvc):

If you have PaintShop Pro, then the service is started during PaintShop Pro startup. It stays running after you quit PaintShop Pro.

(Observed with Paintshop Pro 8 using default install settings).

Comment by jeff - 4 March 2011 @ 20:45 Reply

I have vista home 32 bit OS and cannot get my computer to recognize my hp7410 printer on the wireless network. I have been told the problem is with my Windows Imaging Acquisition. Unfortunately, No one has told me how to fix problem. Any suggestions?

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