This is apparently a known problem with the Samsung drivers, and has been for a while. I've found some additional pages that seem to explain why it occurs, although I think this is still a bug within Ubuntu (in addition to the drivers), as Debian seems to simply fail rather than successfully run xsane as root while a user. I haven't tried to apply this information to a workaround, but if I do I will update.
http://jacobo.tarrio.org/Samsung_SCX-4200_on_Debian http://lists.alioth.debian.org/pipermail/sane-devel/2006-October/017821.html http://www.elijahlofgren.com/ubuntu/#scx-4521f http://www.freestandards.org/printing/test/show_printer.cgi?recnum=Samsung-SCX_4200 Note that most of those links refer to a multi-function Samsung printer, but mine is not - this happens simply due to installing the driver, regardless of if any Samsung printer is even connected. -- xsane runs as root without password https://launchpad.net/bugs/76184 -- ubuntu-bugs mailing list ubuntu-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugs