Mac OS X 10.4: Printer sharing also shares fax modems

Issue or symptom

When Printer Sharing is enabled in Sharing preferences or "Share these printers with other computers" is selected in the Sharing tab of Print & Fax preferences, any fax modems in your Fax List will also be shared with other computers in your local network.

This happens even if "Let others send faxes through this computer" is disabled in the Sharing tab of Print & Fax preferences.

Solution

If you do not want to share your fax modem with other computers in your local network you can do one of the following:

• Turn off Printer Sharing in Sharing preferences. This will also stop sharing your printers with other computers in your local network.
  
• Or, remove the fax modem from the Fax List, in Printer Setup Utility (located in /Applications/Utilities):
  
  
  1. Click "Set Up Fax Modem..." in the Faxing tab of Print & Fax preferences, or select Show Fax List from the View menu in Printer Setup Utility.
     
  2. Select any modems you do not want to share in the list and click Delete.

Note: The next time you send a fax from your computer, your fax modem(s) will automatically be added back to the Fax List--you must remove them again from the list after sending a fax to stop sharing them with other computers in your local network.

This document will be updated as more information becomes available.