DOS Printing from Windows Server 2003 TS?

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John Kotuby

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Hi all,
I need some help please.
We have a customer who is still using and old DOS version of software that
we suppy to them and still support (even though I am encouraging them to
move to the Windows version).

They have a number of users that work from home. Up until a little while ago
they were using Win2000 terminal Services and had no trouble printing
remotely from DOS. Our DOS program, much like MS DOS Edit, can print to
ports LPT1 - LPTn.

They were using LPT2 without problem on Win2000.

Now their tech support consultant has called and asked me for help. I could
not find anything except a Kixstart script. I am not familair with Kixstart
but did my best to get it to work without success.

I see that the script looks to the Registry and grabs the correct Default
printer from HK_Current_User and then tries to use NET USE to re-direct LPT2
to the TS printer.

Can anyone help me with this problem?

BTW... the reason they won't upgrade to our Windows version is that they are
a relatively small company and have closed an office to save money and our
Windows version costs more per seat. So any expensive 3rd party solution
will probably not work for them.

I am a software developer familair with VB and DOS scripting. Can a VBS
script be used during Login?

Actually I am hoping for an easier solution, as I am neck deep in a
programming project at the moment.

Any help would be appreciated...
 
Re: DOS Printing from Windows Server 2003 TS?

John Kotuby <johnk@powerlist.com> wrote:
> Hi all,
> I need some help please.
> We have a customer who is still using and old DOS version of software
> that we suppy to them and still support (even though I am encouraging
> them to move to the Windows version).
>
> They have a number of users that work from home. Up until a little
> while ago they were using Win2000 terminal Services and had no
> trouble printing remotely from DOS. Our DOS program, much like MS DOS
> Edit, can print to ports LPT1 - LPTn.
>
> They were using LPT2 without problem on Win2000.
>
> Now their tech support consultant has called and asked me for help. I
> could not find anything except a Kixstart script. I am not familair
> with Kixstart but did my best to get it to work without success.
>
> I see that the script looks to the Registry and grabs the correct
> Default printer from HK_Current_User and then tries to use NET USE to
> re-direct LPT2 to the TS printer.
>
> Can anyone help me with this problem?

What is the actual problem they're seeing? Exact symptoms would help. The
consultant should be able to give you this information and also do basic
troubleshooting (including trying a manual "net use lpt2: " to the printer).

>
> BTW... the reason they won't upgrade to our Windows version is that
> they are a relatively small company and have closed an office to save
> money and our Windows version costs more per seat. So any expensive
> 3rd party solution will probably not work for them.
>
> I am a software developer familair with VB and DOS scripting. Can a
> VBS script be used during Login?
>
> Actually I am hoping for an easier solution, as I am neck deep in a
> programming project at the moment.
>
> Any help would be appreciated...
 
Re: DOS Printing from Windows Server 2003 TS?

Wich port does your application needs to print to LPT1 or LPT2 because on
TS2003 you wont be able to print to LPT1 if you are not an administrator.
here what i had to do to make it work is on the client machine share my
printer then on the TS machine when the printer is reconized put the same
share name on that printer manually then i use my script to map my printers
to that shared name


"John Kotuby" <johnk@powerlist.com> a écrit dans le message de news:
u6h6GuAZIHA.600@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
> Hi all,
> I need some help please.
> We have a customer who is still using and old DOS version of software that
> we suppy to them and still support (even though I am encouraging them to
> move to the Windows version).
>
> They have a number of users that work from home. Up until a little while
> ago they were using Win2000 terminal Services and had no trouble printing
> remotely from DOS. Our DOS program, much like MS DOS Edit, can print to
> ports LPT1 - LPTn.
>
> They were using LPT2 without problem on Win2000.
>
> Now their tech support consultant has called and asked me for help. I
> could not find anything except a Kixstart script. I am not familair with
> Kixstart but did my best to get it to work without success.
>
> I see that the script looks to the Registry and grabs the correct Default
> printer from HK_Current_User and then tries to use NET USE to re-direct
> LPT2 to the TS printer.
>
> Can anyone help me with this problem?
>
> BTW... the reason they won't upgrade to our Windows version is that they
> are a relatively small company and have closed an office to save money and
> our Windows version costs more per seat. So any expensive 3rd party
> solution will probably not work for them.
>
> I am a software developer familair with VB and DOS scripting. Can a VBS
> script be used during Login?
>
> Actually I am hoping for an easier solution, as I am neck deep in a
> programming project at the moment.
>
> Any help would be appreciated...
>
>
 
Re: DOS Printing from Windows Server 2003 TS?

Thanks for the tip. Our program can use LPT1 thru LPT9
I will pass it on.

I wish there was a way to automatically set the sharename of the TS printer
upon connection. I can't see the 5 remote users doing that everytime they
connect.

<TEST@TEST.COM> wrote in message
news:ub0uvyBZIHA.4860@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
> Wich port does your application needs to print to LPT1 or LPT2 because on
> TS2003 you wont be able to print to LPT1 if you are not an administrator.
> here what i had to do to make it work is on the client machine share my
> printer then on the TS machine when the printer is reconized put the same
> share name on that printer manually then i use my script to map my
> printers to that shared name
>
>
> "John Kotuby" <johnk@powerlist.com> a écrit dans le message de news:
> u6h6GuAZIHA.600@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
>> Hi all,
>> I need some help please.
>> We have a customer who is still using and old DOS version of software
>> that we suppy to them and still support (even though I am encouraging
>> them to move to the Windows version).
>>
>> They have a number of users that work from home. Up until a little while
>> ago they were using Win2000 terminal Services and had no trouble
>> printing remotely from DOS. Our DOS program, much like MS DOS Edit, can
>> print to ports LPT1 - LPTn.
>>
>> They were using LPT2 without problem on Win2000.
>>
>> Now their tech support consultant has called and asked me for help. I
>> could not find anything except a Kixstart script. I am not familair with
>> Kixstart but did my best to get it to work without success.
>>
>> I see that the script looks to the Registry and grabs the correct Default
>> printer from HK_Current_User and then tries to use NET USE to re-direct
>> LPT2 to the TS printer.
>>
>> Can anyone help me with this problem?
>>
>> BTW... the reason they won't upgrade to our Windows version is that they
>> are a relatively small company and have closed an office to save money
>> and our Windows version costs more per seat. So any expensive 3rd party
>> solution will probably not work for them.
>>
>> I am a software developer familair with VB and DOS scripting. Can a VBS
>> script be used during Login?
>>
>> Actually I am hoping for an easier solution, as I am neck deep in a
>> programming project at the moment.
>>
>> Any help would be appreciated...
>>
>>
>
>
 
Re: DOS Printing from Windows Server 2003 TS?

Sorry for my bad expression they wont have to do that everytime just once on
the server itself and you will have to to it not them


"John Kotuby" <JohnKotuby@discussions.microsoft.com> a écrit dans le message
de news: eSCKVTCZIHA.1212@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
> Thanks for the tip. Our program can use LPT1 thru LPT9
> I will pass it on.
>
> I wish there was a way to automatically set the sharename of the TS
> printer upon connection. I can't see the 5 remote users doing that
> everytime they connect.
>
> <TEST@TEST.COM> wrote in message
> news:ub0uvyBZIHA.4860@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
>> Wich port does your application needs to print to LPT1 or LPT2 because on
>> TS2003 you wont be able to print to LPT1 if you are not an administrator.
>> here what i had to do to make it work is on the client machine share my
>> printer then on the TS machine when the printer is reconized put the same
>> share name on that printer manually then i use my script to map my
>> printers to that shared name
>>
>>
>> "John Kotuby" <johnk@powerlist.com> a écrit dans le message de news:
>> u6h6GuAZIHA.600@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
>>> Hi all,
>>> I need some help please.
>>> We have a customer who is still using and old DOS version of software
>>> that we suppy to them and still support (even though I am encouraging
>>> them to move to the Windows version).
>>>
>>> They have a number of users that work from home. Up until a little while
>>> ago they were using Win2000 terminal Services and had no trouble
>>> printing remotely from DOS. Our DOS program, much like MS DOS Edit, can
>>> print to ports LPT1 - LPTn.
>>>
>>> They were using LPT2 without problem on Win2000.
>>>
>>> Now their tech support consultant has called and asked me for help. I
>>> could not find anything except a Kixstart script. I am not familair with
>>> Kixstart but did my best to get it to work without success.
>>>
>>> I see that the script looks to the Registry and grabs the correct
>>> Default printer from HK_Current_User and then tries to use NET USE to
>>> re-direct LPT2 to the TS printer.
>>>
>>> Can anyone help me with this problem?
>>>
>>> BTW... the reason they won't upgrade to our Windows version is that they
>>> are a relatively small company and have closed an office to save money
>>> and our Windows version costs more per seat. So any expensive 3rd party
>>> solution will probably not work for them.
>>>
>>> I am a software developer familair with VB and DOS scripting. Can a VBS
>>> script be used during Login?
>>>
>>> Actually I am hoping for an easier solution, as I am neck deep in a
>>> programming project at the moment.
>>>
>>> Any help would be appreciated...
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>
>
 
Re: DOS Printing from Windows Server 2003 TS?

The problem is that every time one of the remote machines connects to TS it
gets a different TS session. They have 5 remote users. Whatever script he
was using on Win2000 is not working on Win2003.

Maybe he needs a way to determine what the actual printer name is upon login
so that he can actually use NET USE.

Whatever script he is using causes our program to crash now when trying to
print to LPT2, or otherwise the print job goes nowhere.

I tried TEST's suggestion (se the other reponse) using a Win2003 server on
our local LAN.

I connected to the TS and on the TS I manually gave my Brother HL-2070N a
share name of BrotherH.

I then ran NET USE LPT2 \\ServerName\BrotherH. In this case the ServerName
is the name of the Terminal Server machine (not my client).

Bingo! I was able to print from the TS DOS via LPT2 to my local printer.

The hard part would then be to determine automatically what the name of the
TS Session printer is. Since they have 5 remote users, I would expect each
to receive different TS sessions depending on what order they logged in.

Now in my case I was able to log off and then back on an the Share Name of
the printer on the Server Side actually persisted! Wow.

If that were the case for the 5 remote users then the problem is solved.

I wonder if there is a way to associate a particular session number with a
particular Login??

Than would be sweet!

Thanks...

"Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]"
<lanwench@heybuddy.donotsendme.unsolicitedmailatyahoo.com> wrote in message
news:OloFpGBZIHA.984@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
> John Kotuby <johnk@powerlist.com> wrote:
>> Hi all,
>> I need some help please.
>> We have a customer who is still using and old DOS version of software
>> that we suppy to them and still support (even though I am encouraging
>> them to move to the Windows version).
>>
>> They have a number of users that work from home. Up until a little
>> while ago they were using Win2000 terminal Services and had no
>> trouble printing remotely from DOS. Our DOS program, much like MS DOS
>> Edit, can print to ports LPT1 - LPTn.
>>
>> They were using LPT2 without problem on Win2000.
>>
>> Now their tech support consultant has called and asked me for help. I
>> could not find anything except a Kixstart script. I am not familair
>> with Kixstart but did my best to get it to work without success.
>>
>> I see that the script looks to the Registry and grabs the correct
>> Default printer from HK_Current_User and then tries to use NET USE to
>> re-direct LPT2 to the TS printer.
>>
>> Can anyone help me with this problem?
>
> What is the actual problem they're seeing? Exact symptoms would help. The
> consultant should be able to give you this information and also do basic
> troubleshooting (including trying a manual "net use lpt2: " to the
> printer).
>
>>
>> BTW... the reason they won't upgrade to our Windows version is that
>> they are a relatively small company and have closed an office to save
>> money and our Windows version costs more per seat. So any expensive
>> 3rd party solution will probably not work for them.
>>
>> I am a software developer familair with VB and DOS scripting. Can a
>> VBS script be used during Login?
>>
>> Actually I am hoping for an easier solution, as I am neck deep in a
>> programming project at the moment.
>>
>> Any help would be appreciated...
>
>
>
 
Re: DOS Printing from Windows Server 2003 TS?

TEST,
Thanks for the clarification. If this works for them I am indebted to you.

I tried it on my local LAN and it worked great. I ran NET USE LPT2
\\STAT-NT03\BrotherH.

STAT-NT03 is the TS server name.
BrotheH is the sharename of the Printer on the Server and also on my client
machine.

And, when I logged off and then back on again, the Share Name persisted. I
am amazed.

We will see if it works for the 5 remote users over the Internet. I would
suppose that the user is given a different Terminal Server session each
time, like TS001, TS005, etc.

But maybe the Share Name persists because the Server recognizes the
combination of the Client machine name plus the Printer Name (or Share
Name).

Thanks again...

<TEST@TEST.COM> wrote in message
news:u77RrpCZIHA.1204@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
> Sorry for my bad expression they wont have to do that everytime just once
> on the server itself and you will have to to it not them
>
>
> "John Kotuby" <JohnKotuby@discussions.microsoft.com> a écrit dans le
> message de news: eSCKVTCZIHA.1212@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
>> Thanks for the tip. Our program can use LPT1 thru LPT9
>> I will pass it on.
>>
>> I wish there was a way to automatically set the sharename of the TS
>> printer upon connection. I can't see the 5 remote users doing that
>> everytime they connect.
>>
>> <TEST@TEST.COM> wrote in message
>> news:ub0uvyBZIHA.4860@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
>>> Wich port does your application needs to print to LPT1 or LPT2 because
>>> on TS2003 you wont be able to print to LPT1 if you are not an
>>> administrator.
>>> here what i had to do to make it work is on the client machine share my
>>> printer then on the TS machine when the printer is reconized put the
>>> same share name on that printer manually then i use my script to map my
>>> printers to that shared name
>>>
>>>
>>> "John Kotuby" <johnk@powerlist.com> a écrit dans le message de news:
>>> u6h6GuAZIHA.600@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
>>>> Hi all,
>>>> I need some help please.
>>>> We have a customer who is still using and old DOS version of software
>>>> that we suppy to them and still support (even though I am encouraging
>>>> them to move to the Windows version).
>>>>
>>>> They have a number of users that work from home. Up until a little
>>>> while ago they were using Win2000 terminal Services and had no trouble
>>>> printing remotely from DOS. Our DOS program, much like MS DOS Edit, can
>>>> print to ports LPT1 - LPTn.
>>>>
>>>> They were using LPT2 without problem on Win2000.
>>>>
>>>> Now their tech support consultant has called and asked me for help. I
>>>> could not find anything except a Kixstart script. I am not familair
>>>> with Kixstart but did my best to get it to work without success.
>>>>
>>>> I see that the script looks to the Registry and grabs the correct
>>>> Default printer from HK_Current_User and then tries to use NET USE to
>>>> re-direct LPT2 to the TS printer.
>>>>
>>>> Can anyone help me with this problem?
>>>>
>>>> BTW... the reason they won't upgrade to our Windows version is that
>>>> they are a relatively small company and have closed an office to save
>>>> money and our Windows version costs more per seat. So any expensive 3rd
>>>> party solution will probably not work for them.
>>>>
>>>> I am a software developer familair with VB and DOS scripting. Can a VBS
>>>> script be used during Login?
>>>>
>>>> Actually I am hoping for an easier solution, as I am neck deep in a
>>>> programming project at the moment.
>>>>
>>>> Any help would be appreciated...
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>
>
 
Re: DOS Printing from Windows Server 2003 TS?

Yes the share name will persist once in a while it will loose it i don't
know why you just have to change it back me it happens maybe once or twice a
year that i will see that hapening.
they other thing that you might see if your user is getting disconnected and
he reconnect very fast after the share name on the server will be renamed to
Brother.2 for an example that is because he is still connected when he try
to log on again
that is about all the problem i had

Alain
P.S. sorry for the test@test.com just realized that


"John Kotuby" <JohnKotuby@discussions.microsoft.com> a écrit dans le message
de news: eixTKyCZIHA.4896@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
> TEST,
> Thanks for the clarification. If this works for them I am indebted to you.
>
> I tried it on my local LAN and it worked great. I ran NET USE LPT2
> \\STAT-NT03\BrotherH.
>
> STAT-NT03 is the TS server name.
> BrotheH is the sharename of the Printer on the Server and also on my
> client machine.
>
> And, when I logged off and then back on again, the Share Name persisted. I
> am amazed.
>
> We will see if it works for the 5 remote users over the Internet. I would
> suppose that the user is given a different Terminal Server session each
> time, like TS001, TS005, etc.
>
> But maybe the Share Name persists because the Server recognizes the
> combination of the Client machine name plus the Printer Name (or Share
> Name).
>
> Thanks again...
>
> <TEST@TEST.COM> wrote in message
> news:u77RrpCZIHA.1204@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
>> Sorry for my bad expression they wont have to do that everytime just once
>> on the server itself and you will have to to it not them
>>
>>
>> "John Kotuby" <JohnKotuby@discussions.microsoft.com> a écrit dans le
>> message de news: eSCKVTCZIHA.1212@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
>>> Thanks for the tip. Our program can use LPT1 thru LPT9
>>> I will pass it on.
>>>
>>> I wish there was a way to automatically set the sharename of the TS
>>> printer upon connection. I can't see the 5 remote users doing that
>>> everytime they connect.
>>>
>>> <TEST@TEST.COM> wrote in message
>>> news:ub0uvyBZIHA.4860@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
>>>> Wich port does your application needs to print to LPT1 or LPT2 because
>>>> on TS2003 you wont be able to print to LPT1 if you are not an
>>>> administrator.
>>>> here what i had to do to make it work is on the client machine share my
>>>> printer then on the TS machine when the printer is reconized put the
>>>> same share name on that printer manually then i use my script to map my
>>>> printers to that shared name
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> "John Kotuby" <johnk@powerlist.com> a écrit dans le message de news:
>>>> u6h6GuAZIHA.600@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
>>>>> Hi all,
>>>>> I need some help please.
>>>>> We have a customer who is still using and old DOS version of software
>>>>> that we suppy to them and still support (even though I am encouraging
>>>>> them to move to the Windows version).
>>>>>
>>>>> They have a number of users that work from home. Up until a little
>>>>> while ago they were using Win2000 terminal Services and had no
>>>>> trouble printing remotely from DOS. Our DOS program, much like MS DOS
>>>>> Edit, can print to ports LPT1 - LPTn.
>>>>>
>>>>> They were using LPT2 without problem on Win2000.
>>>>>
>>>>> Now their tech support consultant has called and asked me for help. I
>>>>> could not find anything except a Kixstart script. I am not familair
>>>>> with Kixstart but did my best to get it to work without success.
>>>>>
>>>>> I see that the script looks to the Registry and grabs the correct
>>>>> Default printer from HK_Current_User and then tries to use NET USE to
>>>>> re-direct LPT2 to the TS printer.
>>>>>
>>>>> Can anyone help me with this problem?
>>>>>
>>>>> BTW... the reason they won't upgrade to our Windows version is that
>>>>> they are a relatively small company and have closed an office to save
>>>>> money and our Windows version costs more per seat. So any expensive
>>>>> 3rd party solution will probably not work for them.
>>>>>
>>>>> I am a software developer familair with VB and DOS scripting. Can a
>>>>> VBS script be used during Login?
>>>>>
>>>>> Actually I am hoping for an easier solution, as I am neck deep in a
>>>>> programming project at the moment.
>>>>>
>>>>> Any help would be appreciated...
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>
>
 
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