Good try, but not quite what I was looking for. That would require mapping LTP1 on several hundred workstations. Since I don't know what printer each user has set up, this could take days to deploy. I was thinking of some king of DOS command or clinet that I could push remotly using Ghost, set a shortcut in "All Users" startup to redirect LPT1 to whichever printer this user has selected as their default. The users have the ability to change their default printer amoung the list of installed printers we provide, however they cannot add or delete them. this is especially usefull when a printer goes down.
Main Topics
Browse All Topics
by: MASQUERAIDPosted on 2003-11-03 at 13:22:29ID: 9674085
You should be able to redirect by capturing the printer port in printer settings
This Googled from (http://www.edimax.com/htm
Q: I need to print from a DOS application. How can I do that?
The DOS program only can print to LPT1 or LPT2 of the local printer port of computers. Therefore, you need to capture printer port and redirect the LPT1 to a network printer port for the Print Server.
The procedure for windows 2000 and XP workstations is not the same with the procedure for windows 95/98/NT/ME.
For windows 95/98/NT/ME network, you need to share the printer from one computer so another computer can do the redirection. It means one of your computer needs to be on for other computers can print the DOS program. In our example below, machine B is the windows 95/98/NT/ME machine that needs to print DOS application.
First of all, make sure you have one machine (suppose machine A) print fine from a windows application to the print server device. Then click on Start button. Select Settings. Select Printers. Right click the mouse on the printer icon and then select Sharing. If you do not have the sharing option, you need to enable the File and Printer sharing option in Network of Control Panel.
Under Sharing, enable the sharing and assign a share name (suppose HP4000sharing) then click OK. You will see a hand underneath the printer icon.
Find out the computer name by going to Network in Control Panel. Click on the Identification tab. You will see the computer name. Write the computer name down. Here in our example, we use machine A as the computer name.
Go to the machine (suppose machine B) that needs to print the DOS application. Click on the Start button. Select Settings. Select Printers. Right click the mouse on the printer icon and select Properties. Click on the Detailed tab.
Click Capture Printer Ports button. Make sure you select LPT1. In path, type \\ComputerName\ShareName which computer name and Printer share name are the names in step 2 and step 3 above. In our example, it is \\machine A \HP4000sharing.
Check the option 'reconnect at logon'. By doing so, you will save the settings even you reboot your system.
Click OK. And click Apply or OK button.
Now you can test print your DOS application from your computer machine B.
If your machine B runs windows 2000 or windows XP, you do not need Machine A share the printer. Have the windows 2000 and XP share the printer and redirect LPT1 to the computer itself. For example, in step 5, machine B can redirect LPT1 to \\machine B \HP4000sharing directly.