Topic: DOS Printing Problems

[Stan]

Have an SME 5.5 server that won't print from DOS app's. Haven't really looked at it yet so I don't have any log files yet. (Can't log into it remotely because it's an old Dial Up System.) All I know is that when trying to print from DOS on several different machines DOS only returns errors. Windows works fine it's just DOS that's #$*%&* up. I was looking through this form and didn't find anything directly relating to it. Was hoping I'd get lucky and somebody have some info or at least someplace to start trouble shooting the problem.

[RuwanJ]

Try,

Start >> Settings >> Printers >> Printer properties >> details>> Spool Settings

-R

[Rick]

Remember that the printer just passes on the data to the printer, the printer drivers reside on your windows machine. If you want to be able to print from DOS then you need DOS drivers and you would have to specify the network location of your printer in DOS. Have you hooked your printer directly to your Wndows machine and printed from DOS like that? If you can print like that then your issue is not related to drivers and your problem would most likely relate to port settings of the printer in DOS

[Steve]

Did you 'capture' the printer port?  DOS usually has to print to LPT1 (or LP2, LP3).  When capturing the port, your dos applications can print to the hardware printer port, lpt1, and Windows will pass that information to the network printer.

[Stan]

Yes the printer port has been captured. We were able to print to another printer that was directly connected to a computer but it wasn't the network printer. I'd still like to try removing the network printer and connect it directly to a computer to see if it's the network or the printer. Steve wrote:
>
> Did you 'capture' the printer port?  DOS usually has to print
> to LPT1 (or LP2, LP3).  When capturing the port, your dos
> applications can print to the hardware printer port, lpt1,
> and Windows will pass that information to the network printer.

[Cyrus Bharda]

I have the same setup here at work as we use some old dos based programs on win 98 machines.

I have setup the printer on a 98 machine and share it. Then when I goto install it on the others, I use HP Jet direct (because we use HP's) and create a printing port named LPT2, even though it does not exist it still creates the port and points it to the printer share, then we setup the dos program to print to LPT2 and bingo.

Its a pain in the ass to setup but it works, I found that simply capturing a port just didnt work with the dos app we were using.

[Graeme Fleming]

Right

Firstly, DOS app's can print using several different methods.  The most common is to a logical DOS device called LPT1, LPT2, or LPT3 (LPT4 to LPT9 is usually only avail under Windows and mostly unavailable to DOS app's).  The app can print to a physical (hardware) device port such as 3BC or 378; it can also print to a port interrupt pair combination such as 378/IRQ7.

You will be successful if your app uses the logical port as Windows understands this fully.  If it prints using the port method you may succeed as long as the app doesn't test for the existence of the port first as Windows will trap the print job but I don't think it will respond properly to the test.  If the app uses the port/irq pair method then as before it may fail if it tests first; there is less chance of a test getting a positive response using this method.

To print to a device on the SME box the logical devices have to setup under the server manager printers page.

To access these devices the users need to be logged onto the SME box with a valid username/password combo.

Now if you browse your network in Windows to the SME box you will see the logical printer devices listed.

You can now right click on the logical printer device and map it to an LPT port; I suggest LPT1 if no local printer is connected otherwisr LPT2.  Make sure that you choose the option to reconnect at logon when creating tha mapping so it comes back after a reboot.

Phew, that should do for now.

HTH

[Stan]

Problem Solved, thanks to all. Although the printer port was captured in the Device line there was nothing listed in the Path section. Once I but the path \myserver\myprinter in the Path selection below the Device everything worked. Special thanks goes to Graeme Fleming for his quick and easy way to map a printer to a WinDoz machine. I've always done it by going throught the Add Printer section in the Control Panel. His method makes sure that the proper line gets installed into the Path section.