Need Desktop icon to run Brother Control Center 4 (CC4 system tray program)

[timmy2]

Thank you for the continued effort! 

My Brother Utilities lists two printers in the drop-down box at the top. One printer is at my desk (but on the LAN) and the other is across the house, also on the LAN.

First, I tried the name of the printer at my desk. I figure I installed the latest Brother software when I added it to the network recently.

Model=MFC-L2710DW series LAN

then I changed the line to:

Model=L2550DW series LAN

Neither attempt caused the shortcut to open CC4.

[KodeZwerg]

Hello there, after reading this thread i might have another try out for you.

Get ProcessExplorer or Process Hacker or similar.
Run it.
Let it display its window.
Now do everything you normal would need to do to run that Brother Control Center 4.
Focus PE/PH, hover with mouse over the process of that Brother Control Center 4.
Do a screenshot of that hint thats displayed and share it in here.
That way you might be able to read out process startup parameter to set up Desktop Shortcut.

edited:
That way you could also find out if its a sub-process that needed to be invoked and how its invoked.

[skwire]

Thank you for the continued effort!

-timmy2 (August 18, 2018, 08:37 PM)

How important to you is it to have my program handle the CC4 startup?  What I mean is, I can easily make this work if you enable those two options ("Start ControlCenter on computer startup" and "Open the main window on CC startup").  Yes, you will have the window show up when you first boot the computer but, after you close it once, my program should work for both Home and Advanced modes.  Can you test that?  If that works, and you're okay with the startup thing, I'll adjust my program to only have to show and focus the scanner window when run.  Cool?

[timmy2]

I recently had a similar wish to have a desktop icon that I could click on to get quick access to Control Center 4. I tried a number of things that seem similar to what timmy2 described at the start, and like timmy2, I had no success. My husband then suggested simply going into the Start Menu's All Programs and clicking on Brother (our printer). This produced a list of items, one of which was Control Center 4. I then just dragged that item to the desktop, and voilà, I had a desktop icon.  When I click on it, it produces the box I want with icons for the 4 Scan options: Image, OCR, E-mail, and File.  I should add that the CC4 version is 4.2.461.1, and my computer runs Windows 7 Prof. 64-bit. CC4 is apparently in the Startup menu, but I have not given it permission to start at the computer's startup, and Win Patrol assures me that it is currently not running.

I hope this may prove helpful.

-cyberdiva (August 12, 2018, 05:17 PM)

I overlooked your post. Thank you for the attempt to help, CyberDiva. I think what you did used to be possible. Maybe it's still possible with Windows versions prior to 10 or earlier versions of the Brother software. But recent installations for several Brother multifunction printers in Windows 10 all yield the same result: a single program, Brother Utilities, in All Programs > Brother. And the Control Center 4 icon cannot be dragged to the Desktop to make it a shortcut.

[Don G.]

Look in C:\Program Files (x86)\Brother\BrLauncher for a file with the .ini extension that has the same name as your scanner.  In my case the file was C:\Program Files (x86)\Brother\BrLauncher\HL-2930DW LAN.ini

Open the ini file and look for the section heading named [SCAN]. Under the [SCAN] section there should be a line for the Control Center Scan function that looks similar to this one (your model may be different):
ControlCenter_Scan=C:\Program Files (x86)\ControlCenter4\BrCcBoot.exe /model="HL-L2390DW LAN" /OpenTab=0x01

Copy everything from this line after the = sign to the end of this line and paste it into a new shortcut.
When you create your new shortcut you will need to edit the pasted line and put quotes around the path to the executable so that it looks similar this (your model may be different):
"C:\Program Files (x86)\ControlCenter4\BrCcBoot.exe" /model="HL-L2390DW LAN" /OpenTab=0x01
Your new shortcut will directly open the Control Center 4 Scan page.

I don't have the Control Center configured to run on start up and the new shortcut works fine. It can be closed and restarted without issues.  I hope this works for you too.

[timolaf]

Don G.,
You, my friend, are a genius.  Thank you!  It worked perfectly, and was so easy.  Exactly what I was trying to do when I came browsing here.  The shortcut even has the CC4 (Control Center 4) icon embedded automatically.
You made my day!

[bhey]

Thank all of you for the work on this issue and sharing the solutions.

Don G great work desktop shortcut with the correct CC4 icon awesome.

Thank you,

Brian

[Ueberflieger09]

@ Don G.:   Thanks for this easy and helpfull hint, works well, great job!   

Greetings from Germany, with my new Brother Printer MFC3730CDN and now with CC4 Desktop Icon   

[Apesbrain]

My issue is similar to this.  Whenever Win 10 crashes and automatically restarts, the ControlCenter 4 icon is the only one that does NOT reload into the notification tray.  Rather than take the time to reboot -- which does put the icon back where it belongs -- I've been looking for a shortcut that simply returns the icon to its rightful place.  Have tried variations on @Don G's solution above, but have not yet found one that works.  Suggestions are welcome!

[Brother User]

Hi, I just came across this thread looking for the same thing.  With my basic computer knowledge I skipped some of the intricacies of the thread and stumbled upon this:
From Control Panel
Select devices and Printers
Right click on the brother computer
Select "open in new window'
Right click the CC4 option
Select create shortcut.

This put a shortcut of the CC4 onto my desktop.  I haven't tested turning off the computer and seeing if it is still there however many people do not turn off their computer so this should work for them.  Might have to eat my typewritten words if it disappears!!
Good luck

[timmy2]

The actual tested solution is as follows:

Go to this folder:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Brother\BrLauncher

There, you'll find a configuration settings file (ini) named for the printer model.

In my case it is MFC-L2710DW series.

Open it in Notepad++ and find in the [SCAN] section the following line:

ControlCenter_Scan=C:\Program Files (x86)\ControlCenter4\BrCcBoot.exe /model="MFC-L2710DW series" /OpenTab=0x01

Select and copy the entire line.

Create a new tab in Notepad++ and select Batch file language.

Paste that single command line into the new unnamed batch file.  Modify it as follows:

"C:\Program Files (x86)\ControlCenter4\BrCcBoot.exe" /model="MFC-L2710DW series" /OpenTab=0x01

The most important things to note besides removing everything to the left of the equal sign is where the double-quotes go. The path is in double-quotes and the model name is in double-quotes.

Because I have a custom tab in CC4 I changed the 0x01 to 0x11 and it jumps directly to that custom tab.

When you test run the batch file a command window will open momentarily followed by the CC4 Control Center. Once it works, put the batch file somewhere safe and make a desktop shortcut to it. In the shortcut's Properties change Run= to Minimized and change the icon to a scanner found in SHELL32.DLL

[Apesbrain]

^This worked! Thanks.

[Quebecout]

The actual tested solution is as follows:

Go to this folder:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Brother\BrLauncher

There, you'll find a configuration settings file (ini) named for the printer model.

In my case it is MFC-L2710DW series.

Open it in Notepad++ and find in the [SCAN] section the following line:

ControlCenter_Scan=C:\Program Files (x86)\ControlCenter4\BrCcBoot.exe /model="MFC-L2710DW series" /OpenTab=0x01

Select and copy the entire line.

Create a new tab in Notepad++ and select Batch file language.

Paste that single command line into the new unnamed batch file.  Modify it as follows:

"C:\Program Files (x86)\ControlCenter4\BrCcBoot.exe" /model="MFC-L2710DW series" /OpenTab=0x01

The most important things to note besides removing everything to the left of the equal sign is where the double-quotes go. The path is in double-quotes and the model name is in double-quotes.

Because I have a custom tab in CC4 I changed the 0x01 to 0x11 and it jumps directly to that custom tab.

When you test run the batch file a command window will open momentarily followed by the CC4 Control Center. Once it works, put the batch file somewhere safe and make a desktop shortcut to it. In the shortcut's Properties change Run= to Minimized and change the icon to a scanner found in SHELL32.DLL

-timmy2 (March 24, 2020, 03:45 PM)

I've been looking for a long time for a way to assign a Macro Key on my keyboard to open CC4. Thank you, and Don G. for this solution. On my system, the command window stays open after CC4 opens. Adding -multiwindow to the end of the .bat file line avoids this.

[optimfish]

Hey, thank you very much! this is working fine: http://www.dcmembers.../snacks/CC4_Tool.zip

I need it for an old man which is very happy about that "little thing"

Thank you again and sunny greetings from Switzerland 

[Styler001]

I came across this topic here in a Google search after my CC4 tray icon occasionally disappears for some reason I can't figure out, and wanted to say the Don G. and timmy2 methods still work in 2022 with my Brother MFC-L2710DW printer.  I didn't try the skwire method, but appreciate all the time he put into his solution(s).

My only question is...how are the Don G. and timmy2 methods different?  I know one's a batch file and one's a shortcut, but timmy2's method just seems to make the shortcut into a batch file.  I don't see the reason for that if the shortcut is sufficient.  Just save a copy of the shortcut somewhere safe in case you lose the original one.

If I'm wrong, and I probably am, please straighten me out.

Thanks again for everyone's efforts in this.

[DonKey2]

Thank you Don G.

you can also copy the shortcut from desktop to C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Brother and have the shortcut in the start menu.

[didier9]

Look in C:\Program Files (x86)\Brother\BrLauncher for a file with the .ini extension that has the same name as your scanner.  In my case the file was C:\Program Files (x86)\Brother\BrLauncher\HL-2930DW LAN.ini

Open the ini file and look for the section heading named [SCAN]. Under the [SCAN] section there should be a line for the Control Center Scan function that looks similar to this one (your model may be different):
ControlCenter_Scan=C:\Program Files (x86)\ControlCenter4\BrCcBoot.exe /model="HL-L2390DW LAN" /OpenTab=0x01

Copy everything from this line after the = sign to the end of this line and paste it into a new shortcut.
When you create your new shortcut you will need to edit the pasted line and put quotes around the path to the executable so that it looks similar this (your model may be different):
"C:\Program Files (x86)\ControlCenter4\BrCcBoot.exe" /model="HL-L2390DW LAN" /OpenTab=0x01
Your new shortcut will directly open the Control Center 4 Scan page.

I don't have the Control Center configured to run on start up and the new shortcut works fine. It can be closed and restarted without issues.  I hope this works for you too.

-Don G. (September 02, 2018, 09:11 AM)

This works perfectly! I have been frustrated for a long time with installing the drivers and utilities for my Brother DCP-7065DN which otherwise has been excellent.
Glad that I can save a bunch of clicks when I use it now
Thank you again!