I have a client that is using Nutshell, a DOS database program. Under Win95, it worked fine, adding records, doing lookups, and printing reports. After carefully trying to setup an identical system environment under WinXP Pro on a new computer, everything works fine until I try to print. The print job never goes, and the DOS program hangs (in an infinite loop waiting for somewhere to send the print job, I presume). Manually closing the application window corrupts the database file, which then needs to be restored via backup. I've tried printing to an HP6P that is attached directly to LPT1, and also on a test network that has an HP4 hooked up with an HP Print server appliance. Neither way works.
I'm assuming that there is some kind of communication problem between the DOS session and the XP printer port for lpt1. Any ideas on how to solve this?
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What would the procedure be for using an external HP print server? For instance, on my test network I have an HP3P hooked to an HP external print server. I print to this from Win XP from a port name of IP_192.168.250.200, as a Standard TCP/IP port. Would the Net Use command work to map LPT1 to this port?
First Go to Start>Printers and Faxes. Right-click on the printer and select Properties. Click on the Sharing tab. Click on "Shared as" and give the printer a share name (or accept the default share name). Then, from a DOS prompt (Start>Run, type CMD and click OK), type:
net use lpt2: \\my_computer_name\share_n
Here my_computer_name is the name of your PC, and share_name is the share name you just gave the printer.
Yes, you can try lpt1, but (to avoid conflicts)unless Nutshell insists on using lpt1, I prefer to use a different port.
Thanks for all of the info. I was able to setup the lpt2 printer port in Nutshell as the default, then I setup the net use command as above. I could get the command to work when specifying another computer on the network that had a directly attached printer, but I could not get the command to work when using the local computer name and the tcp/ip port or printer sharing name from the local computer.
The result? Print jobs still crash the database. I deleted the lpt2 net use, and tried lpt1, with the same results. Yet I know that the print capture is working, since the command Dir >lpt2 prints over the network to the computer with the local printer on it. What else could be going on here? I can now hit ESC when the print job hangs, and I return to the sending screen, but the program now gives an error: PC DOS error-General Drive Error. Any ideas would be appreciated, otherwise I'm thinking that this isn't a printing problem per se, and I'll close this question.
I'm running out of ideas here. It is beginning to look as if Nutshell wants something specific that is not provided by a captured port. But what that could be I can't even guess at present.
Maybe you should consider "upgrading" XP to 95? I have recently upgraded 3 PCs from XP to 2000 to get around some weird problems...
This is just a guess, but I'm wondering if it could be that Nutshell is trying to write a temporary print file by directly calling INT13, and XP's offended either by the direct hardware access request or by a FAT16 vrs. FAT32 issue. I'm going to load the database on Win98SE FAT32 and see if it still blows up. If it does, then it's got to be a FAT issue. If it works, then I'm betting the direct hardware access idea is probably right.
It could be a problem with temporary files. Many programs open files in the directory specified in the TEMP or TMP environment variables. XP has a default temp path that points to something like "C:\Documents and Settings\with lots more here". DOS programs particularly do not like spaces in file paths and names. Try setting the user's TEMP path to something small without spaces like C:\TEMP
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by: hdhondtPosted on 2004-03-02 at 14:17:12ID: 10499833
XP has problems with DOS printing. In a nutshell (no pun intended), it is not supported. The best way to fix it seems to be to dedicate an old PC (or an external print server) to the printer. Then, on the XP machine, capture lpt2 with the net use command, as follows:
net use lpt2: \\computername\printername
I used lpt2 to avoid any conflict with the real lpt1. If the DOS app insists on using lpt1, substitute it for lpt2.
"computername" is the name of the computer that drives the printer. If you use a print server it can even be the local PC (connect it by creating a Standard TCP/IP port for it). Either way, make sure the printer is shared on the PC. "printername" is the share name given to the printer under the Sharing tab
For more info see
http://support.microsoft.c