A client from Bicester contacted us recently with a frustrating problem. Their Epson XP-6005 had stopped scanning via Apple’s Image Capture app after upgrading to macOS 26 (Tahoe). Printing still worked. Epson Scan 2 still worked. But Image Capture was throwing an error “Failed to open a connection to the device (-21345)” and refusing to connect to the scanner.
Troubleshooting
The usual steps didn’t get us anywhere. We reinstalled the Epson print driver and Epson Scan 2, reset the macOS printing system, and re-added the printer. Epson Scan 2 continued to work fine after that, but Image Capture still failed with the same error.
The Issue
macOS Tahoe introduced tighter Local Network privacy controls, and it turns out these had silently blocked one of the Epson background components from accessing the network. Under System Settings → Privacy & Security → Local Network, there was an entry called EPSON ES0156 – the ICA scanner component that Image Capture uses
The Fix
We enabled the EPSON ES0156 entry in Local Network permissions, and Image Capture connected to the scanner immediately.
Whether this is the cause in every case of Epson scanner errors under Tahoe, we can’t say, but if you’re seeing the same symptoms (Epson Scan 2 works, Image Capture doesn’t, error -21345), it’s worth checking that setting before going down the route of driver reinstalls.
Need a Hand?
These kinds of issues, where an OS update quietly breaks something that was working fine, tend to eat up a lot of time if you’re not sure where to look. We support businesses and home users across Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire, and this is exactly the sort of thing we deal with day to day.
If something’s not working and you’d rather get on with your day, get in touch with us here.
