With Windows 3.1, users printing from MS-DOS – based applications could not take advantage of the Windows-based spooling functionality offered by Print Manager, and encountered device contention issues when trying to print from MS-DOS – based applications and Windows-based applications at the same time.
Windows 95 addresses the printing limitations of Windows 3.1 by incorporating the functionality for an MS-DOS – based application to spool directly to the 32-bit Windows 95 print spooler. This support is integrated into a print spooler virtual device, which takes the output destined for a printer port and first places it in the Windows 95 print spooler before sending the data to the printer. This functionality works with all existing MS-DOS – based applications, and results in quicker return-to-application time through the use of the spooling mechanism.
Although MS-DOS – based applications do not benefit from EMF spooling (which is supported only for printing from Windows-based applications), users won't encounter device contention issues, and will instead experience smoother background printing and improved printing performance in Windows 95. The print spooling support for use with MS-DOS – based applications is automatically installed and configured, requiring no user intervention.