How to troubleshoot Fax Setup issues on SBS 2003.

Article
07/24/2008

[Today’s post comes to us courtesy Moloy Tandon.]

There are times when the Fax service may not start. Moreover, reinstallation of the Fax Modem may not clear the associated registry keys automatically. This can result in a faulty device list which is not actually attached to the system. This can also lead to the installation of new fax modem to fail. In such scenarios, you may have to reinstall the Fax component on SBS 2003. Sometimes, the quickest way out is to remove and install Fax. The Fax troubleshooting can be separated into Fax Hardware and Fax Software.

Things to consider before you install the Fax component.

- The first thing to check for is that the Fax hardware is supported by Windows HCL. Verify the Fax-Modem is listed on HCL.

https://www.microsoft.com/whdc/hcl/default.mspx

- Second, verify that the latest drivers are installed for the Fax device.

- The modem should be a Class 1 Fax Modem.

How to manually remove and install Fax?

- Delete the registry keys and folders associated with the Fax service

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Fax

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Fax

C:\Program Files\Microsoft Windows Small Business Server\fax

- Uninstall the Fax service from Windows Component selection screen (Control Panel->Add/Remove Programs->Windows Components)

- Rename the log files associated with Fax component. Refer to section “Location of log files associated with Fax” for the list of log files.

- Reboot the server

- Install the Fax component by launching the integrated setup of SBS 2003.

- On successful installation of the Fax service, a default Fax Printer is installed on SBS 2003

NOTE: The SBS Shared Fax uses Windows Fax service. Always install the Fax service by running the integrated setup of SBS 2003 from Add/Remove Programs in Control Panel. If you install Fax using Windows Components selection screen (Control Panel -> Add/Remove Programs->Windows Components) you will not get the option of routing incoming faxes to Companyweb.

Location of log files associated with Fax:

FaxSetup.log => C:\Windows

Fax Configuration => C:\Program Files\Microsoft Windows Small Business Server\Support\faxcfg.log

SBSMSI-Fax.log => C:\Program Files\Microsoft Integration\Windows Small Business Server 2003\Logs\SBSMSI-Fax.log

SBSMSI-Faxcfg.log => C:\Program Files\Microsoft Integration\Windows Small Business Server 2003\Logs\SBSMSI- Faxcfg.log

Reference:

Step-by-Step Guide for Configuring and Using Fax on Windows Small Business Server 2003

Use the wizard to configure SBS 2003 Fax Server

Error message when you start the Fax Configuration Wizard from the Server Management console in Windows Small Business Server 2003: "Fax service is not installed"

Installing fax and not seeing the fax printer created (and not getting an error either)

How to Configure Fax On Windows Vista for an SBS 2003 Environment

Managing Fax in Windows Small Business Server