Failed fax printer connection XP home

[Guest]

I have been using my fax from my computer for a long time and then one day it
just did not work anymore. So I installed the XP home CD and tried to
reinstall my fax and that was horrible. It still does not work and after all
the research I have done to try and get it to be fixed, I am led to this
conclusion, I get the error that the 'Attempt to connect to the fax printer
failed' and then it askes to connect the driver and I do so but nothing
happens. When I am in the Fax Console nothing is highlighted and at the
bottom of the Colsone it reads 'Refreshing' or 'fax inaccessible'. When I go
to fax and the Send FaX Wizard pops up and I click 'Next', nothing happens
and then I get an error saying that the program is not responding. I fax
alot and I really need your help....thanks a bunch!

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

Your post is too vague to permit any troubleshooting.
"One day it just did not work anymore" tells us nothing.
How you reinstalled is important.

That error message is often seen by users who have updated an older version
of Windows XP to SP2 before they try to install 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/
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. In
addition, the fax developers have worked on some modifications to the
fxsocm.inf file that might permit installation of the fax service. This is
an unsupported workaround that I can provide offline for use at your own
risk if you provide a valid email address and can accept zip files as
attachments.

 

[LarseeBear]

"This is an unsupported workaround that I can provide offline for use at
your own risk if you provide a valid email address and can accept zip files
as attachments."

My email address is (e-mail address removed) and I can receive zip files.
Thank you.

Your post is too vague to permit any troubleshooting.
"One day it just did not work anymore" tells us nothing.
How you reinstalled is important.

That error message is often seen by users who have updated an older
version of Windows XP to SP2 before they try to install 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/
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. In
addition, the fax developers have worked on some modifications to the
fxsocm.inf file that might permit installation of the fax service. This is
an unsupported workaround that I can provide offline for use at your own
risk if you provide a valid email address and can accept zip files as
attachments.

--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

I have been using my fax from my computer for a long time and then one day
it
just did not work anymore. So I installed the XP home CD and tried to
reinstall my fax and that was horrible. It still does not work and after
all
the research I have done to try and get it to be fixed, I am led to this
conclusion, I get the error that the 'Attempt to connect to the fax
printer
failed' and then it askes to connect the driver and I do so but nothing
happens. When I am in the Fax Console nothing is highlighted and at the
bottom of the Colsone it reads 'Refreshing' or 'fax inaccessible'. When
I go
to fax and the Send FaX Wizard pops up and I click 'Next', nothing
happens
and then I get an error saying that the program is not responding. I fax
alot and I really need your help....thanks a bunch!

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

On its way.
You can just send me your email address next time so you don't have to post
it in a public newsgroup.

--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

"This is an unsupported workaround that I can provide offline for use at
your own risk if you provide a valid email address and can accept zip
files as attachments."

My email address is (e-mail address removed) and I can receive zip files.
Thank you.

Your post is too vague to permit any troubleshooting.
"One day it just did not work anymore" tells us nothing.
How you reinstalled is important.

That error message is often seen by users who have updated an older
version of Windows XP to SP2 before they try to install 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/
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. In addition, the fax developers have worked on some
modifications to the fxsocm.inf file that might permit installation of
the fax service. This is an unsupported workaround that I can provide
offline for use at your own risk if you provide a valid email address and
can accept zip files as attachments.

--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

I have been using my fax from my computer for a long time and then one
day it
just did not work anymore. So I installed the XP home CD and tried to
reinstall my fax and that was horrible. It still does not work and
after all
the research I have done to try and get it to be fixed, I am led to this
conclusion, I get the error that the 'Attempt to connect to the fax
printer
failed' and then it askes to connect the driver and I do so but nothing
happens. When I am in the Fax Console nothing is highlighted and at the
bottom of the Colsone it reads 'Refreshing' or 'fax inaccessible'. When
I go
to fax and the Send FaX Wizard pops up and I click 'Next', nothing
happens
and then I get an error saying that the program is not responding. I
fax
alot and I really need your help....thanks a bunch!

 

[LarseeBear]

Thanks for sending the .inf files but that still didn't work. Anyone else
have any solutions?

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

Send me a detailed account of what you did and what happened.
"Didn't work" doesn't help us much.

 

[LarseeBear]

I followed your instructions implicitly. There was no difference in my file
fxsocm.inf and the one you sent me. So I used the fxsocm_modified.inf you
sent for that contingency. Tried add/remove again and got the same copy
error. So I rebooted and tried add/remove again-again the same copy error.
So I put my original file fxsocm.inf back in the i386 folder as if nothing
had happened.

These were your instructions attendant with the zip attachment:

I'm attaching a zip file here called faxocm.zip. This zip file contains two
inf files: (a) fxsocm.inf & (b) fxsocm_modified.inf

The first thing you need to do is compare your fxsocm.inf with (a) above and
see if there are any differences, especially in the security line. If there
is any difference, you can replace your fxsocm.inf with this file and try
setting up fax.

If there is no difference, you can then use the (b) file. All they've done
there is remove the security section for the [Faxsvc.Service]. You can
rename fxsocm_modified.inf file to fxsocm.inf and copy this over your
existing fxsocm.inf and then try to setup the fax service. This will not set
the ACE specifically on the fax service object (instead it picks the Windows
default) and hence installation will most likely go through.

In the above operations, you need to ensure that "Windows Resource
Protection" is not replacing back the fxsocm.inf file with the file from the
original Windows XP CD during the installation.

I want to emphasize that this is still trying a work-around and the root
problem still exists. I expect the you to face the same setup problem with
some other services too - because most service will try "setting up ACE" for
the service object. This problem most likely lies outside fax.

Last point I want to mention is that if using fxsocm_modified.inf file
solves the problem, this is not opening any big security holes.

Russ Valentine

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

Same "copy error?"
You are not dealing with the same problem at all.
Read the first post. You problem does not match.

 

[LarseeBear]

I am desperate and that's why I asked for any solution at all. Again, thank
you for sending me those zipped .inf files. Anyone else have a solution to
my problem??????

This is a copy of my 7/22 thread:

When I try to add Fax Services as an XP Home SP 2 windows component in the
add/remove control panel, I get a prompt for file fxsapi.dll. I can see the
file in C:\Windows\Service Pack Files\i386 but this setup routine says it
can't find it even when I point it to it. After I hit retry many times I try
the other solution it asks for- which is to insert the windows xp home
service pack 2 CD-ROM. I do that and it says it can't find the file on the
CD either.

I've also tried removing MSN and it says it can't find certain files to
remove MSN either. What is corrupted? Service Pack 2? I have 3 other XP
computers and never had this problem before.

When I point it to C:\windows\system32\ , I receive the same copy error box
which says "Setup cannot copy the file fxsapi.dll"

"Ensure the location specified below is correct, or change it and insert
"Windows XP Home Edition Service Pack 2 CD" in the drive you specify"- so I
put in the CD and it still can't read the file which is on the CD as plain
as day. ;(

Copy files from:
"C:\Windows\system32\"

And my choices are "Retry" "Cancel" or "Browse" {I see the file fxsapi.dll
in that system32 folder, yet it won't copy it for some reason when I keep
hitting "Retry")

When I do a search, I have 4 occurances of fxsapi.dll:
a. C:\Windows\system32\fxsapi.dll
b. C:\Windows\LastGood\system32\fxsapi.dll
c. C:\Windows\ServicePackFiles\i386\fxsapi.dll
d C:\Windows\\system32\dllcache\fxsapi.dll

I point the copy error box to each of these 4 fxsapi.dll files and it still
says it can't copy them.

I have a folder called C:\Windows\Software Distribution with 6 sub-folders
in it but no instance of fxsapi.dll in any of the 6 sub-folders.

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

Problems like this must be solved by the OEM because they have to do with
the original source of the installation files for your operating system.
There is no way for anyone here to solve them. That's why your post went
unanswered.
Joining a thread that is discussing a completely different problem and
trying that solution is unwise indeed.