[siddharthk]

Hi

We have WinFax Pro 10.0 installed on Windows Server 2000 SP4.

The issue we face is that after a certain period of time, WinFax stops sending out faxes and just doesn’t start. We keep getting this error – “WinFax canot send the binary file as a WinFax image because the program needed to print this file cannot be found. Do you want to omit all recipients from the event who require this file in WinFax image format?”

We have to clear out .fxs files (older than 24 hours) from the “C:Program FilesSymantecWinFaxData” folder and reboot the server. The average outgoing fax load is around 200-400 faxes per day.

Is this a known issue?
Please let me know if you I have missed providing you any information.

[Administrator]

Yes. there is a limit of the number of faxes you can create in the default Send and Receive Log.
How many FXD (sent fax) files do you have in your WinfaxData folder?

WinFax Tools can check this automatically for you by clicking on “Logs & Phonebooks” button and then “Check Send/Receive Limits” option.

[siddharthk]

Thank you for the reply.

There is only 1 .fxd file in the DATA folder however there are 2611 .fxs files currently. Earlier the folder had 30,000 .fxs files when it stopped working and I had to shift all these files to another folder and restart the server.

I don’t have WinFax tools installed on the server. Is it something that is installed separately or is it an option within the WinFax Pro Message Manager?

[siddharthk]

Hi

Is it a known issue that WinFax stops working if there are a large number of .fxs files in the Data folder?

[Administrator]

There are two problems,

the first is that WinFax can only create 10,000 unique fax file names. This is due to the file structure and naming convention that was designed for WinFax. Each fax page is a separate file, and each file is named with a 4 number prefix and a 3 number suffix to designate the page number of the fax (so any fax could have a maximum of 999 pages). This naming structure was carried over from earlier versions of WinFax that was originally designed for Windows 3.1.

the second is that Windows XP Explorer has difficulty with a large number of files contained in a single folder. So anything with 30,000+ files in a folder will take some time to open and view. This is likely related to the hang ups, delays and not-responding messages from WinFax.

you could automatically delete/remove old faxes after a specific time period. This can be done within WinFax itself message management options. This solution is only good if you don’t require a record/copy of the sent faxes. Alternatively, you can delete the pages, but keep the event in the log.

[siddharthk]

Thanks a lot!! I highly appreciate the detailed reply.

I think I finally understand the root cause here and would be able to resolve this.

Once again, thanks x 10000!

[Administrator]

you’re welcome.

WinFax Tools has an option to check the send and receive limits, so you know if you are over 50% capacity you should begin to clear some of the faxes.

[Author]

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