Enabling DOS Printing

A DOS print redirector enables you to print from a DOS application to a network printer. To enable DOS printing, you must first add the printer using the Windows 95 or Windows NT Printer Wizard.

Once the printer has been added, enable DOS printing by associating the network printer with an LPT port on your computer (referred to as capturing a port). Print requests that are sent to that port are then redirected to the network printer.

Enabling DOS Printing on Windows 95

On a Windows 95 system, you can enable DOS printing by capturing a printer port with Print Wizard or with the net use command:

net use LPT# \\server_name\printer_queue_name  

where # is number 1-4.

To Enable DOS Printing on Windows 95 Using Print Wizard

1. Click the Start button, point to Settings, and then click Printers.

2. Right-click a printer icon and then click Properties.

3. Click Details.

   The printer Properties window opens.

4. Click Capture Printer Port.

   The Capture Printer Port window opens.

5. Select an LPT port: LPT1, LPT2, LPT3, or LPT4.

6. Type the path of the selected printer. For example,

   pcnfsd://server_name/printer_queue_name  
   

   or

   lpr://server_name/printer_queue_name
   

7. Click OK on the Capture Printer Port window.

8. Click OK in the printer Properties window.

Enabling DOS Printing on Windows NT

On a Windows NT system, you can use the print pooling option to pool a network printer with an unused LPT port. When you send a print request to that LPT port, the document will be redirected to the network printer.

To Enable DOS Printing on Windows NT

1. Click the Start button, point to Settings, and then click Printers.

2. Right-click a printer icon and then click Properties.

   The printer Properties page opens.

3. Click Ports.

4. Select Enable Printer Pooling.

5. Select a port-- LPT1, LPT2, or LPT3--that does not have a local printer attached to it.

   You should now be able to print to the LPT port from a 16-bit DOS application.