PRB: "Error Writing Winspool.drv" During Visual FoxPro Setup

ID: Q138808

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Visual FoxPro for Windows, version 3.0

SYMPTOMS

The error "Error Writing to Winspool.drv" appears while you are:

Setting up Visual FoxPro under Windows or Windows for WorkGroups.
-or-
Starting Visual FoxPro.

CAUSE

The LaserMaster Print Manager was installed before you ran Setup. When Visual FoxPro is installed under Windows or Windows for Workgroups, the Setup program installs Win32s. The LaserMaster drivers interfere with installing Win32s because the LaserMaster creates a WINSPOOL device. When the Setup program tries to write to Winspool.drv, it fails because it tries to write to the WINSPOOL device instead.

WORKAROUND

Disable the WINSPOOL driver before installing Visual FoxPro. Once Visual FoxPro and Win32s have been installed, you can reinstall the driver. You may need to disable the driver at all times to run Visual FoxPro. However, this should not prevent you from printing to the LaserMaster. To disable the driver, change the following three lines to comments in the [386enh] section of the System.ini file.

   device = lmharold.386
   device = lmmi
   device = lmcap

Then restart your computer before you install Visual FoxPro, so the changes take effect.

STATUS

Microsoft is researching this behavior and will post new information here in the Microsoft Knowledge Base as it becomes available.

REFERENCES

For more information about this issue, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

   ARTICLE-ID: Q106715
   TITLE     : Troubleshooting Win32s Installation Problems

Additional reference words: 3.00 VFoxWin KBCategory: kbsetup kbprb KBSubcategory: FxsetupError