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Re: Unable to remove "Windows Fax and Scan" from Windows 10 Pro

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VanguardLH wrote:
> "John C." <r9jmg0@yahoo.com> wrote:
> 
>> I did a repair reinstall a few days ago and noticed that now I have
>> "Windows Fax and Scan" listed on my Start Menu. And when I click on the
>> shortcut, it actually runs. It has created a subfolder in my Documents
>> folder which is simply named "Fax". I don't want that folder and also
>> want to completely remove "Windows Fax and Scan" (which henceforth I
>> will refer to as "WFAS") from my computer.
>>
>> Yes, my copy of Windows 10 Pro is fully updated as I write this.
>>
>> The only method I've found available for getting rid of WFAS is the
>> following:
>>
>> 1. Open Settings
>> 2. Click on System
>> 3. Click on Optional features
>> 4. Click on the "Windows Fax and Scan" listing
>> 5. Click on Uninstall
>>
>> I did all this, but although WFAS disappeared from the Optional features
>> list, it did nothing to remove the "app" or whatever the hell it's
>> called. The shortcut is still there in my Start Menu and clicking on it
>> opens WFAS. The Fax subfolder is still present in my Dcuements folder.
>>
>> By the way, before attempting to use this method, I saw that WFAS is no
>> longer listed here:
>> 1. Open "Programs and Features"
>> 2. Click on "Turn Windows features on or off"
>> 3. Click on the plug sign next to "Print and Document Services"
>>
>> WFAS used to be listed here, but it isn't now. I read somewhere on the
>> internet that it was removed by an update.
>>
>> Like most people these days, I don't have a land line so having WFAS
>> installed is bullshit. And I don't want it taking over my scanner's
>> ability to scan, which I've read that somebody experienced as a problem.
> 
> Microsoft decided to move hence hide where to uninstall/install the
> Windows Fax & Scan service.  Used to be you went to appwiz.cpl, and
> could select/deselect the fax service.  Some folks report to look under
> Settings -> Apps -> Apps & Features to find an "Optional features" link.
> Nope, not there anymore.  Now it's been moved to Settings -> System ->
> Optional Features, and you'll find the fax service there (that's where I
> find it for Win10 22H2).  That's where you reported finding it.  If
> installed, clicking on it presents a Remove button.
> 
> If you show the Start Menu, and enter "fax", it is listed with the
> optional jump list.  One of the entries in the jump list is Uninstall.
> 
> Alas, I've had to deal with government agencies that won't accept
> e-mails, and demand you send them a fax.  I don't have a telco/POTS
> landline anymore, either, but I do have VOIP service and digital phone
> service.  VOIP is over the Internet whereas digital phone is with my ISP
> (Comcast who reserves 2 channels in the cable modem just for voice
> service).  So, I could send a fax using those comm methods.  
> 
> You can use an online faxing service.  However, you lose privacy in that
> whatever you send them they can see.  Yet when you send a fax, often it
> goes to a shared fax machine that anyone walking by can view your fax,
> not just the intended recipient, but then you might be sending to a
> department rather than a particular person.  Unless you have an
> encrypting fax machine, and so does the recipient, faxes are never
> secure, but then neither is the vast majority of e-mail since little of
> it is encrypted using x.509 or PGP certificates.  In addition to lack of
> privacy with online faxing services, the free service tiers often limit
> how many faxes you can send per day, and how many pages for each fax,
> and some will plaster a cover sheet onto your fax advertising the faxing
> service you used.  Some, like Fax.Plus, provide a desktop app, but
> that's just a web-centric app (instead of using their web app) that
> still uses their online service to do the faxing.
> 
> You might think you will never send a fax, but sometimes it is not your
> choice.  You want some transaction to transpire, have to supply
> information, and the recipient demands a fax.  I've had that happen with
> the gov't, and with contracting companies where I had to send them a
> copy of my driver license.
> 
> In the Start Menu, I went to "Windows Accessories -> Windows Fax and
> Scan" entry, right-clicked on it, and selected More -> File location.
> It is a shortcut under the following folder:
> 
> C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Accessories
> 
> The shortcut's target field points to:
> 
> %windir%\system32\WFS.exe
> 
> I don't know what DLLs, or other support files on which wfs.exe is
> dependent.  However, if after the uninstall the wfs.exe file still
> exists, you could rename it to, say, wfs-ORIGINAL.exe (and remove the
> shortcut from the Accessories folder, and from the Start Menu).  I
> wouldn't delete the wfs.exe file since updates, sfc.exe, or dism might
> replace it, yet renaming it could result in you having both wfs.exe and
> wfs-ORIGINAL.exe at some point.
> 
> Windows Fax and Scan is considered deprecated, not removed by updates.
> Deprecated means no longer supported.  With the intense decline of fax
> machines, or fax modems, the need to send/receive faxes is rare.  Plus,
> attachments to e-mail work just as well, and only the intended recipient
> sees the fax, not everyone walking by a fax machine.
> 
> I left Windows Fax & Scan installed. The ancilliary software that came
> with my Canon printer does not include faxing, so I don't have a problem
> with WFAS usurping the fax function as other users have noted.  However,
> since you never want to fax, why would you have other fax software
> installed to be concerned if WSAS usurped the fax function?
> 
> I have both WFAS still installed, and the ancilliary software that came
> with a Canon printer which includes a scanner.  When I run the Canon
> scanner tool, there is no usurping of the scan function by WSAS.  The
> Canon scanner works just fine.  You read that some folks noted WSAS
> usurped the scan function, but did they actually report an intercept of
> the scan function, or an intercept of the fax function (assuming the
> printer's ancilliary software included a fax function)?  If you never
> will fax, why would you be intigating some fax function in
> printer-supplied software?
> 
> Do you have other fax software installed to be concerned if WFS will
> usurp its faxing function?  Did you test the scanning software that came
> with your printer to actually determine if WFS was usurping its scan
> function?

Just checked and it seems the problem resolved itself after I rebooted a
couple of times.

-- 
John C.

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Thread

Unable to remove "Windows Fax and Scan" from Windows 10 Pro "John C." <r9jmg0@yahoo.com> - 2025-01-21 05:42 -0800
  Re: Unable to remove "Windows Fax and Scan" from Windows 10 Pro VanguardLH <V@nguard.LH> - 2025-01-21 09:19 -0600
    Re: Unable to remove "Windows Fax and Scan" from Windows 10 Pro "Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> - 2025-01-21 20:07 +0100
      Re: Unable to remove "Windows Fax and Scan" from Windows 10 Pro VanguardLH <V@nguard.LH> - 2025-01-21 13:52 -0600
        Re: Unable to remove "Windows Fax and Scan" from Windows 10 Pro Char Jackson <none@none.invalid> - 2025-01-21 20:46 -0600
          Re: Unable to remove "Windows Fax and Scan" from Windows 10 Pro VanguardLH <V@nguard.LH> - 2025-01-22 00:29 -0600
            Re: Unable to remove "Windows Fax and Scan" from Windows 10 Pro Frank Slootweg <this@ddress.is.invalid> - 2025-01-22 16:38 +0000
            Re: Unable to remove "Windows Fax and Scan" from Windows 10 Pro Char Jackson <none@none.invalid> - 2025-01-22 23:46 -0600
          Re: Unable to remove "Windows Fax and Scan" from Windows 10 Pro "Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> - 2025-01-22 13:42 +0100
            Re: Unable to remove "Windows Fax and Scan" from Windows 10 Pro Char Jackson <none@none.invalid> - 2025-01-22 23:49 -0600
              Re: Unable to remove "Windows Fax and Scan" from Windows 10 Pro "Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> - 2025-01-23 10:44 +0100
                Re: Unable to remove "Windows Fax and Scan" from Windows 10 Pro Char Jackson <none@none.invalid> - 2025-01-23 14:21 -0600
    Re: Unable to remove "Windows Fax and Scan" from Windows 10 Pro "John C." <r9jmg0@yahoo.com> - 2025-01-22 08:14 -0800
    Re: Unable to remove "Windows Fax and Scan" from Windows 10 Pro Mark Lloyd <not.email@all.invalid> - 2025-01-22 17:51 +0000
  Re: Unable to remove "Windows Fax and Scan" from Windows 10 Pro Paul <nospam@needed.invalid> - 2025-01-21 11:12 -0500
  Re: Unable to remove "Windows Fax and Scan" from Windows 10 Pro Frank Slootweg <this@ddress.is.invalid> - 2025-01-21 16:25 +0000
    Re: Unable to remove "Windows Fax and Scan" from Windows 10 Pro "John C." <r9jmg0@yahoo.com> - 2025-01-24 03:29 -0800

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