OFF97: Can't Use MS Fax After Removing Windows Messaging

You may receive the following error message when you click Start, point to Programs, point to Accessories, point to Fax, and click either Compose New Fax or Request A Fax. This problem occurs even though Microsoft Fax is installed on your computer.

This problem may occur if all of the following conditions are true:

• You installed Microsoft Office 97 on your computer.
  
  -and-
  
  
• You then ran the Microsoft Office 97 Setup program in maintenance mode and chose to remove Microsoft Outlook 97 from your computer.
  
  -and-
  
  
• When prompted to remove the Windows Messaging shared component, you clicked Remove.

To prevent this problem from occurring, click Keep when you are prompted to remove the Windows Messaging shared component.

If you have already removed Windows Messaging and the problem described above occurs when you attempt to use Microsoft Fax, perform the following steps to remove and reinstall Microsoft Fax:

1. On the Start menu, point to Settings, and click Control Panel. Double-click Add/Remove Programs.
2. Click the Windows Setup tab.
3. In the list of installed components, clear (uncheck) the check boxes for the following items, in the order shown here:
   Microsoft Fax
   The Microsoft Network (if it is installed on your computer)
   Microsoft Exchange
   
   Click Apply.
   
   
4. If you are prompted to restart the computer, do so. When the computer restarts, repeat steps 1 and 2 to return to the Windows Setup tab of the Add/Remove Programs Properties dialog box.
   
   If you are not prompted to restart Windows, proceed to step 5.
5. In the list of installed components, select (check) the check boxes for the following items, in the order shown here:
   Microsoft Exchange
   Microsoft Fax
   
   Click Apply.
   
   
6. If the Inbox Setup Wizard is displayed, proceed through the Wizard. Otherwise, proceed to step 7.
7. When all files have been copied, click OK to close the Add/Remove Programs Properties dialog box, and close Control Panel.

The Microsoft Fax programs (Compose New Fax, Request A Fax) should now work correctly.

NOTE: If you removed it in step 3, you may need to reinstall The Microsoft Network online service, using either your Windows 95 diskettes or compact disc or your Microsoft Network compact disc.

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in the Microsoft products listed at the beginning of this article. We are researching this problem and will post new information here in the Microsoft Knowledge Base as it becomes available.

When you run the Microsoft Office 97 Setup program in maintenance mode and choose to remove Microsoft Outlook 97 from your computer, the Setup program prompts you to remove the Windows Messaging shared component. If you click Remove, the Setup program removes all files related to Windows Messaging, including Mapi32.dll, from the computer's hard disk.

However, because Microsoft Office 97 includes newer Windows Messaging shared components than are included with Microsoft Windows 95, if you remove the shared components, you may cause problems in other programs that use them.

Also, when you remove Windows Messaging, the Setup program does not modify certain keys in the computer's registry that indicate whether or not Windows Messaging files are installed. Because of this, the Windows Setup tab in the Add/Remove Programs Properties dialog box may indicate that Windows Messaging files are still installed on your computer, even though they actually are not.