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Print from DNA·VIEW or PATER in Windows XP

    (or NT or 2000 or probably in ME)

  1. Overview – net use
  2. Important note – Shortcut – Feb 2007

    Newer DNA·VIEW/PATER installation programs include installation of some icons to help make it easier and more convenient to arrange a printer connection, compared to the manual NET USE procedure described here.

    See DNA·VIEW enhancement tools.

    Having a DOS program print on a network printer requires you to "fool" the DOS program into thinking that an available LPT port is available to print to. This gets accomplished in the Windows Environment (from the command prompt) using the NET USE statement. The syntax would be for instance:
    NET USE LPT1: \\SARSERV\HP4500

    or, to avoid having to do this every time the computer restarts –

    NET USE LPT1: \\SARSERV\HP4500 /persistent:yes

    This would connect and establish a Virtual LPT1 for a DOS based program to print on the ICMP network to our HP 4500 color laser.

  3. Formal recap – how to establish DOS printing on the network
  4. The syntax is net use port ResourceName persistence.
    port
    E.g. LPT1:, a traditional name for one of the plugs on the back of the computer where printers used to be plugged in. DOS, being very old, sends messages to one of these old-fashioned port names in order to print. Windows needs to be told somehow to intercept and re-route all such messages.
    ResourceName
    The Windows name for, in this case, the destination printer. The name is written in two parts, with backward slashes: \\MachineName\PrinterName
    MachineName
    The name of the machine the printer is plugged into. Right click on "My computer", choose Properties, select the tab "Computer Name", click "Change", and you can see the Computer name.

    An idea (still in beta-test mode) – If the machine name you want to use if the same as the machine you plan to print from you shouldn't need to look up your computer name. Just use the environment variable COMPUTERNAME, like this:

    net use LPT1: \\%computername%\Panasoni /persistent:yes

    Question: But what do you do if the printer isn't plugged into any computer, but just into a hub or a router?

    Answer: Use the name of your local computer or of any computer on which the printer is defined and shared.

    PrinterName
    To determine the name of the printer, open Printers and Faxes (sometimes in the Control Panel), right click on the printer and choose Properties. Look at the page with a Sharing tab.

    If the printer is shared ("Share this printer" is selected), then for printer name use the "Share name".

    net use lpt1: \\Guru\Panasoni /persistent:yes

    If the printer is not shared, maybe the easiest thing is to share it. Other than that, a name can be obtained from the "Printer" column of the "Ports" tab.

    If the printer name includes spaces then enclose the entire ResourceName in quotes:

    net use lpt1: "\\Guru\Epson Model T" /persistent:yes
    persistence
    Including the phrase /persistent:yes means that the assignment persists even when you reboot your computer.

(thanks to Scott Strong, ICMP; bartender_1, Experts-exchange)