I sincerely appreciate your reply, since this has really annoyed me.
I started off having no issues, scanning a number of 6x45 negatives in a row with no issues.
Then allofasudden I started getting the message that the scanner could not be detected, AFTER the epson scan program launched, and I configured what I wanted to do, and it started making the scanner move about when I pressed the preview button.
I started thinking Windows 10 64bit had a registry issue since the program had worked for awhile and then started barfing.
After scouring the net, seeing other people having issues with Epson scanner drivers, I downloaded the demo of Silverfast and found that did indeed work, though the demo version wouldn't let me scan negatives, it didn't give me the error message and did complete a scan.
Assuming this was a windows 10 incompatibility (which had been documented a lot) I went to the effort of loading WindowsXP Mode within VirtualBox, loaded just the epson driver, noting that Epson only has a single driver for this scanner, the same one whether using windows2000 or windows 10, and after getting the scanner to work in the Virtual XP, RECEIVED THE EXACT SAME ERROR MESSAGE!.
Needless to say I was perturbed, since I actually like the epson scanner software because of how it recognizes more than one negative frame on the preview, eliminating the need for me to crop out the extra space between the frames as I'd need to do with another program like Silverfast.
However while resigning myself to the notion that I couldn't use the Epson software I started thinking in more detail about what the error message said and the recommendation it mentioned, which was mainly to check that the transparency cover that you remove from the lid when scanning negatives was properly removed?
Looking at my negative insert, I noticed one end of my strip of 6x45 negatives was extended out of the negative carrier and was hanging out over the edge of the glass on the scanners surface near the hinged end.
Not knowing anything else to try, I slid the strip over so that it was entirely on the glass surface of the scanner and tried again.
Wouldn't you know that it actually worked?
So apparently something with the epson scan software doesn't like it when the scanner initializes and runs it's scanner doohhicky, ether in the lid or below, to the end and see's that negative sticking out over the edge.
I'd say it's not the driver, since the Silverfast software said it used parts of the epson driver to load, so something with the scanner software itself didn't like it.
I'm hoping that was actually it, since I was then able to scan several negatives with no issue, since it'd be a real pain if this is an intermittent issue.
Sorry for the long winded response, but wanted to be clear on what I did in case someone else has a similar issue, and hoping someone can confirm what I did?
thanks
Barry