This is an old printer but drivers are still in most distros (CUPS).

It works for printing but the scanner is not found by scanning frontends.

Distro is not Mageia but ALT Linux, (rpm based and originally based on Mandrake Linux)

Just wondered what could be missing to cause this?

Are you using HPLIP drivers? Please show configured CUPS printer backend...
The hpaio scanner backend relies on the appropriate printer configuration.

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~]$ lpstat -t
scheduler is running
system default destination: HP-Deskjet-F300-series
device for HP-Deskjet-F300-series: hp:/usb/Deskjet_F300_series?serial=CN73DGW0WC04KH
HP-Deskjet-F300-series accepting requests since Fri 26 Feb 2021 12:28:15 PM CET
printer HP-Deskjet-F300-series is idle. enabled since Fri 26 Feb 2021 12:28:15 PM CET
~]$

Ok now get output from ubuntu, got to reboot

According to Open Printing, you need the HPLIP driver for the scanner to work:

https://www.openprinting.org/printer/HP/HP-DeskJet_F300

The HPIJS driver will only give basic printer functionality.

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Thanks. Installing the HP hplip package is not for everyone.. looked into it, compilation failed because of something that could not be found in Synaptic in ALT. The distribution specific packages ask for distro specific stuff and refuse to continue if that stuff is installed but has a different name in your distro (the distro list is ridic, outdated)
Ok so then I try the hplip driver available in ALT or find and copy over the PPD I guess. In ALT I have hpijs driver.

Ubuntu output here (scanning works just fine)
lpstat -t
scheduler is running
system default destination: Deskjet-F300-series
device for Deskjet-F300-series: hp:/usb/Deskjet_F300_series?serial=CN73DGW0WC04KH
Deskjet-F300-series accepting requests since sø. 28. mars 2021 kl. 15.13 +0200
printer Deskjet-F300-series is idle. enabled since sø. 28. mars 2021 kl. 15.13 +0200

CUPS driver info ubuntu:

Description: HP Deskjet F300 series
Location: arcadia
Driver: HP Deskjet f300 Series, hpcups 3.20.3 (color, 2-sided printing)
Connection: hp:/usb/Deskjet_F300_series?serial=CN73DGW0WC04KH
Defaults: job-sheets=none, none media=iso_a4_210x297mm sides=one-sided

Both ALT Sisyphos and ALT P9 provide the latest HPLIP 3.21.2 (arranged into several hplip-* packages). What you need is probably hplip-sane.

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Ok, so the lpstat output shows the expected HPLIP printer URI at least...
Check that /etc/sane.d/dll.conf contains an uncommented 'hpaio' entry. As user shruggy already mentioned, check that 'hplip-sane' is installed. There may be other missing supporting libraries. HPLIP provides diagnostic tools including 'hp-doctor' which can be used to get an idea about what may be missing.

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ALT output. Lots of code below, the output from hp-doctor is not helpful as to missing stuff as it does not recognize the distro.
But the errors about permissions suggest that may be the problem.
ALT has the newest hplip but maybe not too well integrated.
Also I'm using a SySV based starterkit and those are very barebones, have to add most stuff afterwards.

[@comp-pentium-cpu-142909 sane.d]$ lpstat -t
scheduler is running
no system default destination
device for HP_Deskjet_F300_series: hp:/usb/Deskjet_F300_series?serial=CN73DGW0WC04KH
HP_Deskjet_F300_series accepting requests since sø. 28. mars 2021 kl. 15.02 +0200
printer HP_Deskjet_F300_series is idle. enabled since sø. 28. mars 2021 kl. 15.02 +0200
[@comp-pentium-cpu-142909 sane.d]$
... Driver: HP Deskjet 400, hpcups 3.21.2 (color)
Connection: hp:/usb/Deskjet_F300_series?serial=CN73DGW0WC04KH

hp-doctor:
warning: starter distro is not found in AUTH_TYPES


Checking for Deprecated items....
error: This distro (i.e unknown p9) is either deprecated or not yet supported.
The diagnosis is limited on unsupported platforms. Do you want to continue?(y=yes*, n=no):

hp-doctor

HP Linux Imaging and Printing System (ver. 3.21.2)
Self Diagnse Utility and Healing Utility ver. 1.0

Copyright (c) 2001-18 HP Development Company, LP
This software comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY.
This is free software, and you are welcome to distribute it
under certain conditions. See COPYING file for more details.


HP Linux Imaging and Printing System (ver. 3.21.2)
Self Diagnse Utility and Healing Utility ver. 1.0

Copyright (c) 2001-18 HP Development Company, LP
This software comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY.
This is free software, and you are welcome to distribute it
under certain conditions. See COPYING file for more details.

warning: starter distro is not found in AUTH_TYPES


Checking for Deprecated items....
error: This distro (i.e unknown p9) is either deprecated or not yet supported.
The diagnosis is limited on unsupported platforms. Do you want to continue?(y=yes*, n=no):y


Checking for HPLIP updates....
error: Failed to locate hp-upgrade utility


Checking for Dependencies....
warning: unknown-p9 version is not supported. Using unknown-0 versions dependencies to verify and install...

---------------
| SYSTEM INFO |
---------------

Kernel: 5.4.81-std-def-alt1 #1 SMP Fri Dec 4 09:57:57 UTC 2020 GNU/Linux
Host: comp-pentium-cpu-142909
Proc: 5.4.81-std-def-alt1 #1 SMP Fri Dec 4 09:57:57 UTC 2020 GNU/Linux
Distribution: unknown p9
Bitness: 64 bit


-----------------------
| HPLIP CONFIGURATION |
-----------------------

HPLIP-Version: HPLIP 3.21.2
HPLIP-Home: /usr/share/hplip
warning: HPLIP-Installation: Auto installation is not supported for unknown distro p9 version

Current contents of '/etc/hp/hplip.conf' file:
# hplip.conf. Generated from hplip.conf.in by configure.

[hplip]
version=3.21.2

[dirs]
home=/usr/share/hplip
run=/var/run
ppd=/usr/share/ppd/HP
ppdbase=/usr/share/ppd
doc=/usr/share/doc/hplip-3.21.2
html=/usr/share/doc/hplip-3.21.2
icon=/usr/share/applications
cupsbackend=/usr/lib/cups/backend
cupsfilter=/usr/lib/cups/filter
drv=/usr/share/cups/drv/hp
bin=/usr/bin
apparmor=/etc/apparmor.d
# Following values are determined at configure time and cannot be changed.
[configure]
network-build=yes
libusb01-build=no
pp-build=yes
gui-build=yes
scanner-build=yes
fax-build=yes
dbus-build=yes
cups11-build=no
doc-build=yes
shadow-build=no
hpijs-install=yes
foomatic-drv-install=yes
foomatic-ppd-install=yes
foomatic-rip-hplip-install=no
hpcups-install=yes
cups-drv-install=yes
cups-ppd-install=yes
internal-tag=3.21.2
restricted-build=no
ui-toolkit=qt5
qt3=no
qt4=no
qt5=yes
policy-kit=yes
lite-build=no
udev_sysfs_rules=no
hpcups-only-build=no
hpijs-only-build=no
apparmor_build=no
class-driver=no


Current contents of '/var/lib/hp/hplip.state' file:
Plugins are not installed. Could not access file: No such file or directory

Current contents of '~/.hplip/hplip.conf' file:
[installation]
date_time = 03/29/21 20:03:49
version = 3.21.2


<Package-name> <Package-Desc> <Required/Optional> <Min-Version> <Installed-Version> <Status> <Comment>

-------------------------
| External Dependencies |
-------------------------

error: cups CUPS - Common Unix Printing System REQUIRED 1.1 - INCOMPAT 'CUPS may not be installed or not running'
gs GhostScript - PostScript and PDF language interpreter and previewer REQUIRED 7.05 9.27 OK -
xsane xsane - Graphical scanner frontend for SANE OPTIONAL 0.9 0.999 OK -
scanimage scanimage - Shell scanning program OPTIONAL 1.0 1.0.32 OK -
error: dbus DBus - Message bus system REQUIRED - 1.12.16 MISSING 'DBUS may not be installed or not running'
error: policykit PolicyKit - Administrative policy framework OPTIONAL - 0.116 MISSING 'policykit needs to be installed'
network network -wget OPTIONAL - 1.20.3 OK -
avahi-utils avahi-utils OPTIONAL - 0.8 OK -

------------------------
| General Dependencies |
------------------------

libjpeg libjpeg - JPEG library REQUIRED - - OK -
cups-devel CUPS devel- Common Unix Printing System development files REQUIRED - - OK -
cups-image CUPS image - CUPS image development files REQUIRED - - OK -
libpthread libpthread - POSIX threads library REQUIRED - b'2.27' OK -
libusb libusb - USB library REQUIRED - 1.0 OK -
sane SANE - Scanning library REQUIRED - 1.0.32 OK -
sane-devel SANE - Scanning library development files REQUIRED - 1.0.32 OK -
libavahi-dev libavahi-dev REQUIRED - - OK -
libnetsnmp-devel libnetsnmp-devel - SNMP networking library development files REQUIRED 5.0.9 5.8 OK -
libcrypto libcrypto - OpenSSL cryptographic library REQUIRED - 1.1.1 OK -
python3X Python 2.2 or greater - Python programming language REQUIRED 2.2 3.7.4 OK -
python3-notify2 Python libnotify - Python bindings for the libnotify Desktop notifications OPTIONAL - - OK -
error: python3-pyqt4-dbus PyQt 4 DBus - DBus Support for PyQt4 OPTIONAL 4.0 4.12.1 MISSING 'python3-pyqt4-dbus needs to be installed'
python3-pyqt4 PyQt 4- Qt interface for Python (for Qt version 4.x) REQUIRED 4.0 4.12.1 OK -
python3-dbus Python DBus - Python bindings for DBus REQUIRED 0.80.0 1.2.12 OK -
python3-xml Python XML libraries REQUIRED - 2.2.10 OK -
python3-devel Python devel - Python development files REQUIRED 2.2 3.7.4 OK -
python3-pil PIL - Python Imaging Library (required for commandline scanning with hp-scan) OPTIONAL - 5.2.0 OK -
python3-reportlab Reportlab - PDF library for Python OPTIONAL 2.0 3.4.0 OK -

--------------
| COMPILEDEP |
--------------

libtool libtool - Library building support services REQUIRED - 2.4.6 OK -
gcc gcc - GNU Project C and C++ Compiler REQUIRED - 8.4.1 OK -
make make - GNU make utility to maintain groups of programs REQUIRED 3.0 4.2.1 OK -

---------------------
| Python Extentions |
---------------------

cupsext CUPS-Extension REQUIRED - 3.21.2 OK -
hpmudext IO-Extension REQUIRED - 3.21.2 OK -

----------------------
| Scan Configuration |
----------------------

hpaio HPLIP-SANE-Backend REQUIRED - 3.21.2 OK 'hpaio found in /etc/sane.d/dll.conf'
scanext Scan-SANE-Extension REQUIRED - 3.21.2 OK -

------------------------------
| DISCOVERED SCANNER DEVICES |
------------------------------

No Scanner found.

--------------------------
| DISCOVERED USB DEVICES |
--------------------------

No devices found.

---------------------------------
| INSTALLED CUPS PRINTER QUEUES |
---------------------------------


HP_Deskjet_F300_series
----------------------
Type: Printer
Device URI: hp:/usb/Deskjet_F300_series?serial=CN73DGW0WC04KH
PPD: /etc/cups/ppd/HP_Deskjet_F300_series.ppd
warning: Failed to read /etc/cups/ppd/HP_Deskjet_F300_series.ppd ppd file
PPD Description:
Printer status: printer HP_Deskjet_F300_series is idle. enabled since sø. 28. mars 2021 kl. 15.02 +0200
error: Unable to communicate with device (code=12): hp:/usb/Deskjet_F300_series?serial=CN73DGW0WC04KH
error: Device not found
error: Communication status: Failed


--------------
| PERMISSION |
--------------



Checking Permissions....


Checking for Configured Queues....
warning: Fail to read ppd=/etc/cups/ppd/HP_Deskjet_F300_series.ppd file
warning: Insufficient permission to access file /etc/cups/ppd/HP_Deskjet_F300_series.ppd
warning: Could not complete Queue(s) configuration check


Checking for HP Properitery Plugin's....
No plug-in printers are configured.


Checking for Printer Status....
error: 'HP_Deskjet_F300_series' Printer is either Powered-OFF or Failed to communicate.
Turn On Printer and re-run hp-doctor

Diagnose completed...

Ok, tried Xsane as root. Yelled some crap about how dangerisk to run as root but found scanner. So, confirmed its about permissions I guess, got to look into that.

Add the user to the 'lp' group for USB-connected scanners.

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There is also be a 'scan' group you need to be added to. I think the lp group is just to control print jobs, not scanning.

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Thank y'all fixed now
Yes, there is a 'scanner' group but I was already added to that by the system. Not so with 'lp' but done now.

Yes, the 'scanner' group is historic, but contemporary udev rules generally set USB scanner device nodes to group 'lp'.

The permissions for USB device nodes can be checked with something like...
Anyway, glad to read that it is now solved.

1 members found this post helpful.

No, CUPS printer access is generally ACL controlled for USB devices. Scanner udev rules (for USB-connected devices) usually set r/w access explicitly for the 'lp' group.

Good to know. It has been years since I last setup a scanner, and I have not kept up with changes.