The Fax Service is a Telephony API (TAPI)-compliant service, and it provides fax capabilities from users' computers. The Fax Service allows users to send and receive faxes from their desktop applications through a local fax device or a shared network fax device. The service offers the following features:

• Fax distribution and receipt
• Fax activity tracking and monitoring
• Inbound fax routing
• Server and device configuration management
• Archiving of sent faxes

If you disable the print spooler or telephony service, the Fax Service does not start successfully. If this service stops, users cannot send or receive faxes. This service is installed by default and its startup type is Manual. It stops when there is no fax activity and restarts on an as-needed basis. On server operating systems, the Fax Service is installed with the Fax Server role. For more information, see Install the Fax Server Role.

This service is available on a Server Core installation of Windows Server 2008 R2 in addition to the Standard, Enterprise, and Datacenter editions of Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2.

The Fax Service is dependent upon the following system components:

• Plug and Play
• Print Spooler
• HTTP
• Remote Procedure Call
• DCOM Server Process Launcher
• RPC Endpoint Mapper
• Telephony

The following table identifies the application protocols, network protocols, and ports used by the Fax Service: