Fax feature on Windows XP

For those who have to run down to the STD booth to send a fax every now and then or for those planning to buy a fax machine for home or small business use; stop for a moment and think about the faxing feature on windows XP, it’s easy to setup and maintain and you don’t need to spend on extra hardware equipment because most of computer already come with a modem integrated in it for faxing. In what you will need to invest is on a scanner if you want to be able to fax hard paper copies through your computer.

Windows faxing does not come installed by default on Windows XP, is an optional feature you need to install manually, to do that go to start>settings>control panel>add or remove programs>Add/Remove Windows Components when the windows component wizard comes up check the fax services and hit next, you will need to insert your windows XP installation CD to complete the fax services installation.

At this time you should make sure the telephone line is plugged into the modem port on your computer, this should be the same port as the one you use for dial-up, so if you are using dial-up you should be all set, I guess you won’t be able to get onto the Internet while sending faxes though.

To open the fax console, go to, Start>All programs>Accessories>Communication>Fax>Fax Console and the first thing you will get when you run the fax console is to configure the Sender Information which should be easy if you have that information at hand.

After the sender information, you will be asked to select the modem you are using, and if you want to send and receive faxes, it also gives you the option to answer the fax calls automatically after the rings you specify. Clicking next it will ask you for the TSID, that should be your name or fax number, do the same for the CSID and click next.

Next you will be asked if you want to print the faxes or store a copy on a folder on your computer or a shared folder on the Network, by default all faxes are stored on the fax console inbox.

And from there you are basically done.

Please test the setup if it’s working by going to file on the fax console and try to send a fax to anyone you know to see if actually works.