XP, MS-DOS commands and printing...

[Freedom]

Hi people

I work for a company as a Guru and Kman programmer. For your information both of these two languages are MS-DOS based (Guru is the 32bit version of KnowledgeMan). So, right now we have an NT server (service pack 6) with Guru installed and all our users (actually ALMOST all of our users) are using Win98SE and few of them still use Win95.

As you know, in order to print via MS-DOS (to an NON local printer)you first have to capture the specific printer. This can be done with "NET USE" command. Our department uses several printers, some of them are network-printers (attached to print servers like HP Jet Direct or printer server PCs) and some others are shared (attached to client PCs). So, right now the "NET USE" command runs ok.

The problem is that our company started upgrading the users's PCs to XP. Right now we've got one of our users running XP and there is a serious problem with printing.

When using "NET USE LPT1: \\<pcname>\<printer name>", XP gives us a message like "no valid user" and it asks for username and password. The crazy thing is that even when we give a valid username and password we are getting an "Access denied" message and nothing happens!!! This user has full access not only to print to the specific printer but also to read-write to many of our server's shared folders.

So, the privileges seem ok. What is it then????

Does anyone have a link with infos about XP's MS-DOS commands??? Because something tells me that XP's MS-DOS may be a little bit incompatible comparing to other's Win's MS-DOSs.

So, any ideas???


If you want to give you some additional infos to get the full picture, PLEASE ASK.

Thanks in advance, mates (and sorry for my English).

[Pinky]

Is XP being setup under the same workgroup or member of the same domain? There are several differences between NT 4.0 and XP's NT 5.0+ (active directory for starters) and sounds like your network and XP are doing their job in protecting itself from what they perceive to be an intruder.

The fact these are DOS commands doesn't change the fact they're run as a service from the NT kernels...

[Freedom]

Well, i know one thing for sure: the specific PC and our server are members of the same Domain and as far as i know neither of them belong to a certain workgroup...

Don't worry Pinky, right now i'm setting up an "experimental" XP-box to play with and find out what is going wrong...

[Freedom]

Heh heh...

Now dig this!!!

As i said our programming language is MS-DOS based. So, in order to print something to a specific printer we must assign the printer to LPT1.

Now, i have been trying many different things to do this (different users, different priveleges, different printers and so forth) with NO result!!!

The funny thing is that i can assign ANY printer to LPT2 or LPT3 but NOT WITH LPT1!!!

So, if there is a printer attached to a PC called "FREEDOM" and the sharing printer name is "HP4000" the command "net use lpt2: \\freedom\hp4000 /yes" works just fine while the "net use lpt1: \\freedom\hp4000 /yes" doesn't work AT ALL!!! (keeps asking for username and password and it doesn't work even if you give the right ones)

The problem is that Guru or its 16 bit version Kman can print ONLY via LPT1 (LPT2 and LPT3 is for Unix purposes) so i have to find out what the heck is going wrong!!!

Also, i have tried to work with as many combinations of domains-workgroups as i could but nothing seems to give the solution. Authentication is not the issue.

I am starting to believe that there is some kind of LPT1 lock (or exclusion) in XP boxes...something keeps preventing the capturing of the LPT1 and ONLY the LPT1 port.

Any ideas???

[Freedom]

ITS OK!!! I FOUND THE SOLUTION!!!

So, the problem is that non-administrators cannot remap an LPT port to a network printer according to Microsoft…

Now, everyone that has the same problem must download “DEVCON.EXE” file from Microsoft’s site. Do it and copy it somewhere (“C:\” would be just fine).

Log in locally (to the box, NOT the network) as an administrator or person with administrator’s privileges.

Then you must create a batch file with the following command:

“C:\Devcon disable *PNP0401”

(without the quotes)

Then you must go to Start-Run and type GPEDIT.MSC. This gives you access to the group policy section. Finally, you must go to Computer Configuration\Windows Settings\Scripts(Startup/Shutdown)\Startup and add the specific script (browse the batch you have created).

Restart your PC and everything should be GROOVY!!!


Feels good when you solve a problem, mates!!!

[Freedom]

:devil:
Well, Microsoft is full of BS!!!!!:clown:

Remember the solution I found (or better, that MS gave to me) ???

I’ve noticed that the only thing that this procedure does is to disable the ECP Printer ports. I saw this from Device Manager.

So, I’ve got 2 things to say:

1- Congratulations to Microsoft!!! You can EITHER be able to print through LPT1 via MSDOS OR be able to print through a local printer via Windows!!! Combination of these 2 is out of question for MS. You see, this procedure disables the ECP port and there is NO WAY to print to a local printer attached to LPT. So, the choice is yours…LPT1 and MSDOS or LPT and Windows!!!

2- And once again congratulations to Microsoft!!! They give a 2 pages solution while the ONLY THING YOU NEED TO DO IS TO JUST GO TO THE DEVICE MANAGER AS AN ADMINISTRATOR AND JUST DISABLE THE ECP PORT MANUALLY AND NOTHING MORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! CLEVER…VEEEEEEEEEEERY CLEVER…..
:devil:

LINUX FOR EVEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEER!!!!!!!!!!!!!