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Groups > alt.comp.os.windows-10 > #181636

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

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"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?

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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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