To view faxes received with Microsoft Fax on a Windows NT system

Microsoft Fax uses an .awd file format, which isn't supported by Imaging for Windows NT and is not supported by Windows XP (and later) fax viewers. However, there are a couple of ways around this.

It's highly recommended that *.awd files be converted to a common file format such as TIFF or PDF. This will insure you can easily open them using common file views in the future.  

 

Save as TIF | Windows XP | Fax Viewer Hack | More Information

Save as TIF

One method is to open the MS Fax files in Imaging on a Windows 95/98 machine and save them as .tif images. They can then either be forwarded to NT users or stored in a shared network folder.  

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Windows XP

Microsoft provides a conversion utility on the Windows XP CD. Look under i386\win9xmig\fax\awdvstub.exe. Run it with no command line arguments to get its options. Use the /c command-line switch to convert an AWD file to a TIFF file.

If you want to run Awdvstub.exe from your local machine, rather than from the CD, you'll also need to copy Faxtiff.dll.

Tools

FaxSee Pro   FaxSee Pro is a professional fax image browser viewer & fax to tif tiff converter, enables you to browse, open, view, flip, mirror, print not only known-format fax images. Microsoft Fax AWD format supported. Other fax tools available. Version 2.8
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Fax Viewer Hack

Another solution is to use the Fax Viewer that comes with Windows 95. This can be made to run an NT Intel computer, at least some of the time. (Note that this method does not work with Windows 2000.) You will need to copy Faxview.exe to any convenient location on the Windows NT system, then copy the following eight files from the Windows 95 machine to the \System32 subfolder in the Windows folder on the Windows NT machine:

awcodc32.dll
awdcxc32.dll
awresx32.dll
awutil32.dll
awview32.dll
mfc30.dll
mfco30.dll
mfcans32.dll
mfcuia32.dll

The aw*.dll files are specific to the Fax Viewer program. The mfc*.dll files may already be present on your system, because they are used by many programs. If any of these files do already exist on the target system, then do not copy the Windows 95 version; keep the one you already have.

Also copy the Faxview.* files from \Windows\Help to \Winnt\Help, so the context-sensitive help will be available.

Once you have copied all the files, you need to register the .awd file type. Here’s how:

  1. In Windows NT Explorer, choose View, Options, and switch to the File Types tab.
  2. On the File Types tab, click the New Type button.
  3. Under "Description of type," enter "Microsoft Fax fax."
  4. Under "Associated extension," enter awd.
  5. Click the New button to display the New Action dialog box.
  6. In the New Action dialog box, under Action, enter "open."
  7. Under "Application used to perform action," enter C:\Winnt\Faxview.exe "%1" using the exact path to the folder where you copied Faxview.exe. Note the quotation marks; be sure to include them.
  8. Click OK to close the New Action dialog box, then click Close twice to the close the Add New File Type dialog box and the Options dialog, returning you to Explorer.
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More Information

  • Fax Tools
  • Personal Fax Services
  • Group Fax Services
  • Updated Feb 14 2009

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