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Guide · Updated

How to set up scan to folder on a Ricoh or Kyocera printer with Windows 11

In short

You need five things: a shared folder on the PC; a Windows user with a real password (not the PIN, not a user without a password); the network set to private, with file sharing allowed through the firewall; in the printer’s address book, a destination with the folder’s path, that user and its password; and a test from the panel. If the printer speaks only SMB1, or the PC runs Windows 11 24H2, read those two guides first: the right setup alone is not enough.

Before you start

  • What the printer speaks. On the status page of the web panel, read the model and firmware version. If it speaks only SMB1, this setup cannot work on Windows 10 and 11: see the SMB1 guide.
  • Which Windows the PC runs. Press Win+R and type winver. With Windows 11 24H2 Pro, Enterprise or Education you need a printer that can sign SMB connections: see the Windows 11 24H2 guide.
  • The PC’s address. Open a command prompt and type ipconfig: you need the “IPv4 Address”, for example 192.168.1.23.

How to set it up by hand

1. Create the folder

A simple folder near the top of the disk with no spaces in its name, for example C:\Scans. Long paths or paths with spaces are a common cause of panel errors.

2. Create a user for the scans

The printer enters the folder as a Windows user, and Windows does not accept network logons from a user without a password. The PIN or Windows Hello face sign-in do not count: the printer needs a password.

The sturdiest way is a dedicated local user without administrator rights. From a command prompt opened as administrator:

net user scans ALongPassword /add

Avoid your everyday user: the day you change its password, scanning stops. With a Microsoft account, the account password works, not the PIN, with the same problem when the password changes.

3. Share the folder

Right-click the folder → Properties → Sharing → Advanced Sharing: turn sharing on, give it a short name (for example Scans) and in Permissions give the user scans the Change permission. Then, on the Security tab, give the same user Modify on the folder.

4. Private network and firewall

In Settings → Network & internet, set the network to private: on a public network Windows blocks sharing. In the advanced sharing settings, keep File and printer sharing on. The printer uses port 445; some very old machines use 139. If an antivirus brings its own firewall, it must admit the printer too.

5. The destination in the printer’s address book

Open the printer’s web panel in a browser (Web Image Monitor on Ricoh, Command Center RX on Kyocera), sign in as administrator and add a folder (SMB) destination to the address book:

  • path: \\192.168.1.23\Scans, the PC’s address and the share name. On Kyocera the address and the share name often go into two separate fields, Host name and Path;
  • user: scans; if the printer asks for the full form, PCNAME\scans;
  • password: the user’s password.

Ricoh and Kyocera also offer a program to do this from the PC, Ricoh’s Scan to Folder Configuration Tool and Kyocera’s Scan to Folder Setup Tool for SMB: they take the same steps.

6. Test

Use the connection test next to the destination, then do a real scan. If the panel shows an error code or message, the send-errors guide says what it means.

PC name or IP address?

With the PC’s name the destination survives address changes, but on many office networks the printer cannot resolve it: that is why so many technicians write the IP address. With the IP address, though, the day the router gives the PC a different address, scanning stops and the destination has to be updated by hand. If you choose the IP, reserve the PC’s address in the router (a DHCP reservation).

What not to do

  • Do not remove the user’s password or turn off password-protected sharing: the folder becomes open to anyone on the network.
  • Do not give Everyone Full Control: Change for the scans user is enough.
  • Do not turn on SMB1 “to try”: if the printer really needs it, read the SMB1 guide first.

Sources