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Run these ElectraSoft Fax Programs as an NT Service

  • Download newest version of 32bit Internet Fax 32bit Internet Fax - 32bit Internet Fax is ElectraSoft's newest and best fax program.

  • Download newest version of FaxAmatic FaxAmatic

  • Download newest version of 32bit Fax 32bit Fax

  • Download newest version of FaxMail Network for Windows FaxMail Network for Windows


    • Why run FaxMail, 32bit Fax, FaxAmatic or 32bit Internet Fax as a Windows NT Service?
    This will allow the fax program to be active when there is no one logged on. People can log in and out of NT without interrupting the sending and receiving of faxes.

    Here is a step-by-step tutorial on how to implement FaxMail Network for Windows, 32bit Fax, FaxAmatic and 32bit Internet Fax as an NT Service using this special version of INSTSRV.EXE and SRVANY.EXE.
    Notes:
    This tutor is the same for FaxMail Network for Windows, 32bit Fax,FaxAmatic, and 32bit Internet Fax. The only difference is a few substituions. When implementing FaxAmatic, 32bit Fax or 32bit Internet Fax make the following substitutes: 
    substitute: FaxAmatic,    32bit Fax   or 32bit Internet Fax for: FaxMail Network for Windows
substitute: FAXMATIC,     32BITFAX    or 32BIFAX            for: FAXMAILN
substitute: FaxAmaticSrv, 32bitFaxSrv or 32biFaxSrv         for: FaxMailSrv
substitute: FaxA.EXE,     32BF.EXE    or 32BI.EXE           for: FMNW.EXE
substitute: faxa.exe,     32bf.exe    or 32bi.exe           for: fmnw.exe
    ?:\FAXMAILN is the drive and directory where you installed FaxMail Network for Windows. Where ? is the drive-letter. Replace all ? with the appropriate drive letter.
    Note:
    Use the INSTSRV.EXE and SRVANY.EXE that we supply here, as other versions may not work properly.
    Install ServeAny INSTSRV.EXE Install a Service
    ServeAny, Install a Service SRVANY.EXE Run Apps as an NT Service
    Download newest version of 32bit Internet Fax 32bit Internet Fax - 32bit Internet Fax is ElectraSoft's newest and best fax program.
    Download newest version of FaxAmatic FaxAmatic
    Download newest version of 32bit Fax 32bit Fax
    Download newest version of FaxMail Network for Windows FaxMail Network for Windows

    Here are the steps:

    1. Step 1
      Be sure that you have INSTSRV.EXE and SRVANY.EXE in your ?:\FAXMAILN (FaxMail Network for Windows) directory.
    2. Step 2
      Go to the DOS Command prompt and navigate to the ?:\FAXMAILN Drive and Directory. At the DOS prompt type:
      INSTSRV FaxMailSrv ?:\FAXMAILN\SRVANY.EXE

      Notice the second element on the command line FaxMailSrv. This is the name of the service that you will create. Later, you will go to the Services applet in the Control Panel and access the service by this name.

    3. Step 3
      Exit the DOS COMMAND Console, and run REGEDT32.EXE (Registry Editor 32bit). This is dangerous territory. One false move and you can kill your Windows NT. Don't let it put you off though, just be careful. Don't mess with other stuff while you're in there for this particular mission.
    4. Step 4
      Open up the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE window and double-click on the [SYSTEM] branch. The branch will open and you will see the [CurrentControlSet] branch. Double-click on [CurrentControlSet] and the [Services] branch will appear. Double-click on the [Services] branch and a long list of all your Services will be displayed.
    5. Step 5
      Scroll down until you find FaxMailSrv.

      Double-click on FaxMailSrv and leave it highlighted.

      Click on [Edit], [Add Key...]
      If you have NT 5, you will select [Edit], [New], [Key].


    6. Step 6
      The Add Key dialog box will be displayed. In the Key Name text box type: Parameters
      You don't have to enter anything in the Class text box. Click [OK].

      If you have NT 5, just type in: Parameters
      where the new key name appears.

    7. Step 7
      Highlight [Parameters], click [Edit], [Add Value].

      If you have NT 5, highlight [Parameters], then select [Edit], [New], [String Value].
    8. Step 8
      In the Value Name text box type: Application
      From the Data Type list box select: REG_SZ
      and click [OK]

      If you have NT 5, just type in: Application
      where the new data type name appears.
    9. Step 9
      The String Editor Dialog box will open up. Enter the full path to the FaxMail Network for Windows executable:
      ?:\faxmailn\fmnw.exe

      If you have NT 5, double click Application and type in ?:\faxmailn\fmnw.exe for the value data.

      Click [OK].


      Close it all up and exit the REGEDT32.EXE program. Now you can breathe easy again. The worst is over. Move to the Control Panel, friendly and familiar territory.

    10. Step 10

      Open up the [Services] Applet and scroll to the FaxMailSrv line and double click it.
      Note: If you have NT 5, [Services] will be in [Administrative Tools] in the Control Panel.

      A dialog box will open. In the [Startup Type:] section, check (X)Automatic (for unattended operation) This will allow FaxMail Network for Windows to be active when there is no one logged on.


      In the [Log On As:] section, check (X)System Account and [X]Allow Service to Interact with Desktop.

      If you have NT 5, go to the [Log On] tab and make sure [Local System Account] is checked and [Allow Service to Interact with Desktop] is checked.

    11. Step 11
      Select [OK], and [Close] the Services applet.
    12. Step 12 (Final)
      Start FaxMail and from the FaxMail toolbar, select [Configure] and check:
      [X]Running as an NT Service - Do not close at: [OnEndSession]

      You are done. You can test your setup by shutting down the machine properly and re-booting. FaxMail Network for Windows will be active before you even log on. Once the log on is complete, FaxMail Network for Windows will be up.
    You will now need to reboot your computer before the changes take effect.
    Hint:
    To stop the FaxMail Network for Windows Service, exit FaxMail in the normal way. This will allow FaxMail to wait until any active connections are closed. Then [Stop] the FaxMailSrv service from the Services applet in the Control Panel. If you just [Stop] FaxMail, any active connections will be dropped immediately without warning, and the modem will be left in fax mode.

    If you have NT 5 and you have the [Use System Tray] option chosen in Configure, the icon for the fax program will not be in the system tray or in the task bar. You can access the program by printing a document to the ElectraSoft convert to Fax printer. If you need to make changes to the configuration, you will need to start the fax program from the start menu or other shortcut and go into the configuration through the button bar. Then you will need to reboot your computer for it to run as a service.

    Known problems:

    Problem 1:
    Only FaxMail version n5.15 and up will run as an NT Service.
    Only 32bit Fax version x8.02.07 and up will run as an NT Service.
    Download newest version of 32bit Internet Fax 32bit Internet Fax - 32bit Internet Fax is ElectraSoft's newest and best fax program.
    Download newest version of FaxAmatic FaxAmatic
    Download newest version of 32bit Fax 32bit Fax
    Download newest version of FaxMail Network for Windows FaxMail Network for Windows
    Message threads about running FaxMail as an NT Service and security issues:
    ===================================
============ Message 1 ============
===================================
   From: Riley J. McIntire
     To: Jon Krahmer
Subject: HardDrive Security

Hi Jon,

We received the upgrade, and appreciate it.

I thought you might be interested in what we had to do get it working as 
a service.

I don't know about most of your customers but here we needed for security 
reasons to install Faxmail in a directory other than ?:\faxmailn. It was
actually e:\fax\faxmailn.

This worked fine when manually starting it. Using NT 4.0, we simply
shared e:\fax as \\server\fax, and connected x: to \\server\fax on the 
same server. Thus we had x:\faxmailn as the faxmail directory.

This didn't work after installing as a service. We get an error like
"File does not exist" for x:\faxmailn\faxmodem.cfg. Also other, similar
errors for this file as I played around trying to get it to work.

Anyway, what I found was using a substituted drive instead of a mapped 
drive worked:

SUBST X: E:\FAX

As you probably know, this doesn't "stick" after a reboot. What I ended
up doing was making a batch file (called it FMNW.BAT) and edited the 
registry to reflect the name change. In the batch file I put the
substitute command and it worked fine.

I would think there's a more elegant way to do this, but I can't think of 
it now. Anyway, I thought you might be interested...

Thanks again,

Riley

===================================
============ Message 2 ============
===================================
   From: Jon Krahmer
     To: Riley J. McIntire
Subject: FMNW.BAT contents

Hello Riley,

Can you give me the lines in your FMNW.BAT please?

         Kind Regards, 
         Jon Krahmer, ElectraSoft

 Get newest version of FaxMail for Windows or FaxMail Network for NT, free:
 www-page: http://www.electrasoft.com/  or  http://www.blkbox.com/~jonk/
 Author member of Association of Shareware Professionals (ASP) 

===================================
============ Message 3 ============
===================================
   From: Riley J. McIntire
     To: Jon Krahmer
Subject: RE: FMNW.BAT contents

Hey Jon,

If we want faxmailn as a directory off the root of some drive, say x:, and 
faxmailn is a sub directory of e:\fax:

@echo off
%systemroot%\system32\subst.exe x: e:\fax
x:\faxmailn\fmnw.exe

If you call the above FMNW.BAT, where you edit the Parameter key with the
registry string (in your example):

?:\faxmailn\FMNW.EXE

one has to change it to 

?:\faxmailn\FMNW.BAT

Might be an idea to call the batch file something else for the sake of 
clarity.

I also noticed an "orphan/inactive" command window on the desktop after 
making the above changes and doing a test boot. It doesn't hurt anything,
but I don't care for it. Haven't had a chance to play with it yet to get
rid of it.

Cheers,

Riley

===================================
============ Message 4 ============
===================================
From: Riley J. McIntire
To: Jon Krahmer
Subject: RE: FW: Upgrade policy

Hi Jon,

I don't have the last email that went between us so I hope you remember 
this...

If you recall, you requested a batch file for your customers use in 
starting FaxMail as an NT 4.0 service. I sent you the one I was using,
but hadn't had time to redo it--it left an open command window--this one 
works better.

I just added the start and exit commands and it starts up cleanly

Listing of FMNW.BAT

@echo off
%systemroot%\system32\subst.exe x: e:\fax
start x:\faxmailn\fmnw.exe
exit

Cheers,

Riley

===================================
============ Message 5 ============
===================================
From: peter@helpnet.com.au (Peter Moulding)
Subject: Service surprise
Date: Mon, 7 Apr 1997 22:50:15 +1000
X-MSMail-Priority: Normal
X-UIDL: 55edd90ff29711abd33d3e58193590e0

Hello Jon,
Your customers using Faxmail as a service may be interested in another 
way to reassign disks.

Services run with a unique user id. Therefor they are not authorized
to use normal permissions. The batch process gives us the flexibility
to create the assignment under the user id of the batch process.

Assume directory Faxmailn is on a server as \fax\faxmailn and \fax is 
shared as \\server\fax. To use a batch procedure to create assignments,
go to the network client and:

Step 1:
Create a small batch procedure c:\runfax.bat containing:
	net use x: \\server\fax
	x:\faxmailn\fmne.exe
	net use x: /del

Point the scheduling service to c:\runfax.bat. In the Electrasoft
srvany.htm example, at step 9 replace:
	?:\faxmailn\fmnw.exe
with
	c:\runfax

Runfax.bat lets you insert any type of network connection. As runfax is
running under the user id of the scheduled service, runfax creates 
assignments with the right security id.

You could use the batch procedure to include a backup of a local user 
directory to the server. Assume user Fred creates all his letters to
customers in directory c:\cust, you could include, in Fred's Runfax.bat, 
the line
	xcopy c:\cust\*.* x:\Fred\cust\ /s/e/v

Peter Moulding
HelpNet
Helping PCs survive January 1, 2000

===================================
============ Message 6 ============
===================================
From: geir@nordic-innovator.no (Geir Hansen)
Subject: NT service on mapped drives
Date: Fri, 28 May 1999 11:18:13 -0000

Hello Jon,

Your customers using 32BitFax or FaxMail as a service on NT, may be 
interested in another way to reassign disks.

The problems with doing as the examples shown on your web site, is that by 
using a batch file as a "fake" service, you can't start and stop the Fax 
service manually.

In the Resource Kit for Windows NT (and on several download sites on the 
Internet), you can find an installable service called AutoExNT. The 
AutoExNT service allows you to run a custom batch file (AutoExNT.bat) when 
you start the computer, without having to log on to the computer.

Example:
Assume you have installed the 32BitFax into two mapped network drives as 
this: Workstation disk = M: (mapped to the shared directory 
D:\Fax\Program) Server disk = N: (mapped to the shared directory 
D:\Fax\Data)

1)
Create AutoExNT.bat with these lines:
@%systemroot%\system32\subst M: "D:\Fax\Program" > NUL: 2>&1
@%systemroot%\system32\subst N: "D:\Fax\Data" > NUL: 2>&1

2)
Install the AutoExNT service running the batch file above, and restart the 
computer.

3)
Install the 32BitFax as a service as described in your document "Run 32bit 
Fax as an NT Service" as disk M: and N: were real drives. When you edit 
the registry also add this:
Under the registry key for your service (eg. 
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/CurrentControlSet/FaxMailSrv), add the key 
Linkage. Under the key Linkage, add a value with name = OtherDependencies, 
data type = REG_MULTI_SZ and string = AutoExNT

This way, you can start and stop the Fax service as normal with NT 
utilities.


Geir Hansen
Nordic Innovator AS
geir@nordic-innovator.no