Windows 7 - all fax printers are inaccessible is my error message.

Asked By ermessallprintersareinaccessibl

07-Mar-08 03:28 PM

I had this posted in the wrong group as the responses were not even close to
proving my problem was understood.  So I am trying in this group since it is
more appropriate.
I lost my access to my fax console a month or so ago.  With the help of the
internet I was able to determine that the fax console file had been removed
by one of my antivirus or spyware programs and quaranteened it.  I determined
this by searching for the file name provided, located and then restored it.
Console and contents came back.  Now it has happened again and I can't locate
the file that I need to restore.  Please reply back with the name of the file
that I should be searching for, then restoring.  Assuming this is the problem
this time.  I have already cleaned the registry and also tried the "faxfix"
regedit solution with no luck.  I look forward to seeing replies to bail me
out of my fax console trouble.  I have Windows XP Home Edition installed with
SP2.  Thank you in advance.

07-Mar-08 04:14 PM

The symptoms you list suggest your security database may be corrupt.  Many
users who have updated an older version of Windows XP to SP2 before they try
to install the fax service or who attempt to reinstall fax on an SP2 system
appear to be encountering a problem installing it.  In these cases there is
no error message during the installation (distinguishing this from the very
common problem where the installation routine states it cannot find the
necessary files). The installation appears to proceed without error, but
when it is over there is no fax printer apparent and any attempt to send a
fax results in the error message "Fax server information cannot be
retrieved. The Fax Wizard will now close." This problem appears to occur
because the security data base is corrupted as documented here:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/884018/EN-US/
You cannot add a Windows component in Windows XP

Note that this article describes a hotfix that users can obtain that might
fix the problem and that Microsoft does NOT recommend simply running the
Esentutl.exe utility to recover from security database corruption.

You can either:

1. Get the hotfix mentioned in the KB article and install it.  Microsoft
usually waives any charges for support calls to get supported hotfixes
listed in Knowledge Base articles.

2. Try this procedure using the Esentutl.exe utility mentioned in the KB
article to recover from security database corruption:

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/genericDocument?lc=en&cc=us&docname=c00270202
HP and Compaq Notebook PCs: Unable to Install Windows XP Fax Software

I can report that the Esentutl utility has corrected the problem in a number
of cases, HOWEVER, note that Microsoft does NOT recommend that you use the
utility and would prefer you try the hotfix.

Hal
--
Hal Hostetler, CPBE -- hhh@kvoa.com
Senior Engineer/MIS -- MS MVP-Print/Imaging -- WA7BGX
http://www.kvoa.com -- "When News breaks, we fix it!"
KVOA Television, Tucson, AZ.   NBC   Channel 4
Live at Hot Licks - www.badnewsbluesband.com

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