Fax Server information cannot be retrieved

[Guest]

I have windows XP home edition and I cannot send a fax. I have a separate
phone line for computer and my fax used to work. Not sure at what point it
stopped working, possibly after I installed windows XP service pack 2 and
then deleted it because it made something not work. Now when I try to fax I
get a message from the Fax Wizard: Fax Server information cannot be found and
the fax wizard will close now. What is the fax server? I uninstalled the
fax and reinstalled, no luck, still doesn't work.

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

Many users who have updated an older version of Windows XP to SP2 before
they try to install the fax service appear to be encountering a problem
installing the fax service. 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/