Spooling Print Jobs from MS-DOS-Based Applications in Windows

• Microsoft Windows for Workgroups versions 3.1, 3.11

This article contains information about the use of Windows for Workgroups with third-party products or configurations that have not been tested and are not supported by Microsoft.

If the steps or procedures described in this article do not function properly, contact the manufacturer of the third-party product for more information or use a supported configuration.

SUMMARY

Windows does not have the ability to spool local print jobs sent to the printer by MS-DOS-based applications. This article contains a potential workaround for this situation. This workaround may also alleviate device- contention errors.

To spool print jobs from MS-DOS-based applications, you must print from one computer to another using a dummy port and then redirect the job back to the first computer. The print job is then put in the print queue. This process may eliminate device conflicts when you try to print to the local printer.

NOTE: This workaround works only if the application has the ability to choose the LPT2 port instead of the LPT1 port.

MORE INFORMATION

The following example shows how the print job is redirected over the network. The diagram illustrates the flow of the data, and the text explains how to configure your system to obtain this functionality.

----------------                                    --------------
|   Server     |=<<===LPT1=<<====<<====LPT2====<<===|   Client   |
----------------     (shared)       (to network)    --------------
       |     |                                           |
       |     |                                           |
       |      ==>>== LPT2 ====>>====>>==LPT2.DOS===>>====
       |         (to network)           (shared)
       |
       |  (Local, LPT1)

|  Printer: LPT1 |

1. From the server, share LPT1.

2. From the client, connect to the server using LPT2.

3. From the client, install a printer driver for the port "LPT2.DOS" and share it.

4. From the server, connect to the client's newly created share using LPT2.

5. From the server, print from the MS-DOS-based application to LPT2. Your print job is now effectively spooled to the printer.