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 There are still old DOS based programs being run today on many computers. Mostly older retail systems or custom systems that were created many years ago and they just keep running. Here’s some info on network printing in a DOS enviroment with Win XP or Windows 2000.

Printing from DOS Programs under Windows XP or Windows 2000

In Windows 9x, there was a button in the printer properties to “capture printer port”. Windows 2000 and XP don’t have this button, so to print from a program running a Command Prompt window or an emulated DOS environment you may have to use a subterfuge. There are three cases:

- The printer is a Local Printer and the print device is connected directly to a parallel port (e.g. LPT1).

In this case, you should not have to anything to be able to print from a Command Prompt, from an emulated DOS prompt (command.com) or a DOS (16 bit) program.

- The printer is a Local Printer and the print device is connected to a USB or some other kind of port (e.g. a Standard TCP/IP port).

In this case, you need to either:

pool the port the printer is on with the LPT1 port

or

create a share for the printer and map the printer to an emulated local port that DOS knows about (e.g. LPT1). Do steps 1 through 7 below

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