Error "Windows Fax and Scan cannot run as it cannot access your documents folder" when launching Windows Fax and Scan

Symptom

When you attempt to launch Windows Fax and Scan, the following error may occur and Windows Fax and Scan does not open:

Windows Fax and Scan cannot run as it cannot access your documents folder. Please ensure that Windows Fax and Scan can access that folder

Cause

This behavior is observed if:

• You've relocated the Documents folder to a network or removable drive earlier, and the path is currently unreachable.

(or)

• The Documents folder is pointing to a Root folder of a fixed drive (example, D:\). More information...

Resolution

For Case 1: See article Nothing happens when you click on a shell folder link in the Windows Vista Start menu to know how to fix the shell folder path manually.

For Case 2: Revert back the Documents folder to its original location, or relocate it to a folder which is at least one level deep from the Root folder (Example: D:\Documents, or D:\Users\Documents etc). To do so, follow these steps:

• Create the destination folder first
• Click the Start button
• Right-click Documents, and choose Properties
• Select the Location tab
• Click Move and select the target folder
• Click Apply
• Click Yes when you're prompted to move the files to new location
• Click OK