Installing Windows XP Fax Software

[Earl F. Parrish]

Many users have complained about trying to install Windows XP Fax on an OEM
computer. The distributor often installed the software on individual
machines using a script from a network location. Needless to say, that
location is no longer available to you when you want to install additional
components. Here is what happened to me. I had to reinstall Windows XP
Professional from the CD to an empty hard drive because of a corrupted
registry which prevented Windows from starting. The installation went
without incident except that my CD drives had different letters than before
because the Windows XP installation software gave my card reader/ writer
drive letters ahead of the CD drives. This pushed by CD drive letters
forward by four letters. I changed the CD drives to the letters I wanted
before I installed any other programs. Later I realized that I had not
installed the Windows XP Fax software. I inserted the Windows XP CD in the
drive and selected Install Additional Components. The installation started
by then asked for the CD in the original drive location. I clicked OK and
then changed the drive letter to the current location. The installation
completed without trying to look for files at the nonexistent location. I
expect this would also work when other locations are requested if you have
the installation CD. If you install from Control Panel, I believe that the
original location will always be requested unless you go into the Registry
and change the Original Source Location Key at
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Setup

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

Good information. I think some users have been able to redirect the
installation routine to the correct CD drive even when installing from
Control Panel, but haven't verified it myself. The Original Source Location
key is worth remembering. I suspect users whose original installation was
from an OEM's network location are still out of luck unless they are
provided a full Windows XP installation disk to which they can redirect
fax's install routine.