Vista - How to: Copy/restore faxes from one Vista PC to a new one?

After a HD crash I reinstalled Vista, but I can't copy/restore/move my faxes (both Inbox and Sent Items) from the older machine to a freshly installed Vista machine.
It's quite annoying that it was not possible to move faxes from my old XP machine to a new Vista Ultimate PC. But it's a pain in the butt that I also can't move my later Vista faxes to a new Vista machine.

Can anyone help how to move them?

SuperFreak wrote:
You forgot to tell us:

1. How exactly you are trying to "copy/restore/move" the faxes; and
2. what happens when you try. If you get an error message, please include
the exact text, not an approximation.

Malke
--
MS-MVP
Elephant Boy Computers - Don't Panic!
FAQ - http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/#FAQ

1. I did copy the TIFF images from the Inbox folder on C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows NT\MSFax to the new machine. I did the same with the other images from "SentItems" folder, which can be found here: C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows NT\MSFax\SentItems

2. That happens that nothing happens. The faxes are not listed on the new machine neither in Inbox and Sent Items. No error message.

On XP the ActivityLog folder has some files (InboxLOG.txt and OutboxLOG.txt), that can be used for recover faxes on another machine. The ActivityLog folder (C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows NT\MSFax\ActivityLog) on Vista is empty.

If you've ever looked into the MSFax folder, sure you'll know it...

SuperFreak wrote:
I have never looked into the MSFax folder because 1) I don't send faxes from
my computer; and 2) I don't use Windows. However, I suspect the issue is
because you don't have permission to those directories in Vista where you
did in XP. I've read through this post twice and I don't see the name of
the directory to which you copied the files. I see the name of the
directories *from* which you copied the files, but not the name on Vista.
So, is it the same? Normally Vista doesn't have a C:\ProgramData structure.

Since I have never used faxing from Windows, someone else will have to help
you with the details, but in a situation like this in general I would:

A. Copy the files I wanted to transfer to a (perhaps temporary) folder in my
own user account, where I have permissions.

Example: C:\Users\[your-user-name]\Documents\fax

I would make sure I had full read/write permission on those copied files by
right-clicking on them and checking. If you need to take ownership, here's
how:

1. Right-click the file or folder, and then click Properties.
2. Click the Security tab.
3. Under Group or user names, click your name to see the permissions you
have.

To open a file, you need to have read permission. For more information on
permissions, see What are permissions?

http://tinyurl.com/2j9vgr

B. I would then open the fax program and see if there was an Import function
where I could import the saved faxes. If yes, obviously navigate to the
ones in your User account. If I didn't see this function, I'd use the fax
program's Help to see if there was an answer there.

C. If none of the above helped, then I'd examine the directory in Vista to
which you are attempting to copy the files and look at its permissions.

Malke
--
MS-MVP
Elephant Boy Computers - Don't Panic!
FAQ - http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/#FAQ

I tried moving a Fax file from my SentItems folder to the Inbox folder to
see what would happen. As in your case, the file didn't appear, however, it
DID appear after I clicked 'Edit|Refresh Folder'.

Hal
--
Hal Hostetler, CPBE -- hhh@xxxxxx
Senior Engineer/MIS -- MS MVP-Print/Imaging -- WA7BGX
http://www.kvoa.com -- "When News breaks, we fix it!"
KVOA Television, Tucson, AZ. NBC Channel 4
Live at Hot Licks - www.badnewsbluesband.com

"SuperFreak" <guest@xxxxxx-email.com> wrote in message
news:f79f9a4c3fa628347139f29a44a31909@xxxxxx-gateway.com...

Yes, it's the same folder - we are talking about copying the Fax (*.TIF) files from one Vista machine to another Vista machine. I copy ONLY the TIFF files, not the folders. And both machines has Vista.

Sorry, I've already tried this, but it didn't help.

I use "Microsoft Virtual PC 2007" to test this Fax-issue with a new installation of Vista before I 'd start to install in real.

SuperFreak wrote:

And what happens when you take ownership? What did the permissions show?

Malke
--
MS-MVP
Elephant Boy Computers - Don't Panic!
FAQ - http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/#FAQ

Here is the two different Vista showing the permissions of the same TIFF file properties under Security tab. They look pretty much the same to me.
I don't know much about that Fax user, but has got equal rights like Administrators.

SuperFreak wrote:
I think it's a permissions issue and that you haven't created identical user
accounts/passwords on each machine. It doesn't matter that one of the
Vistas is running in a virtual machine.

So I would:

1. Create a matching user account and password on both machines. Example:
superfreak for the user and 1234 for the password. It doesn't matter, it
just needs to match.

2. Then add the Fax group to that user's memberships.

3. Copy the files to that user's home directory and check the permissions.
If they need to be adjusted, take ownership of them as previously detailed.

Malke
--
MS-MVP
Elephant Boy Computers - Don't Panic!
FAQ - http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/#FAQ