Yep - after some consideration I have decided NOT to mess with trying to get my main Win 7 laptop (ThinkPad T520) to work and fiddle with VM and all that. (I like this main laptop way too much to risk), and just get an old Win XP laptop from Ebay or amazon. That way, the set up should be straightforward.

If I get a laptop set up with XP and is proven to work well, I would also be willing to let Mafia members borrow it, too.

I did find this on E46f on how to get Win 7 to work, but just reading it and some people getting BSODs with this trick just doesn't sound comforting.
http://forum.e46fanatics.com/showthread.php?t=942966

Has anyone from the latest group that got the scanners work with them / tested them yet?