IE Create Unknown File Type (6)

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I thought this was odd – so I thought I would pass it along. Don’t know if this is really an IE issue – maybe the Lounge needs another Forum category called “Undocumented Features” (AKA “Bugs”).

Call up IE (your home page will do) and do a Print Preview.
Click on Print…
Check Print to file – notice that the file name text field is prefilled with: *.prn
Change the wildcard to whatever you want but leave the .prn extension
Save it to where you want – desktop is fine for this test.

Now double click on the file – Windows (XPP and Home, at least – and in my case the two systems have different default printers) will yell at you saying it can’t open the file because it does not know what file created it!

Bill (AFE7Ret)
Freedom isn't free!

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This is a Windows issue, not an IE one. You, like everyone else using a standard issue version of Windows, has NO defualt association for “.prn” files. Therefore, Windows will not recognize them. “Print to File” as never worked correctly by default — at least not in my memory.

I believe the .prn files were to be used by DOS to print files (COPY filename.prn LPT1 /B). I also believe you must install software to EASILY print those files in Windows — or at least that is one solution… Check out these programs:

Freeware:

http://www.lerup.com/printfile/%5B/url%5D
http://www.magma.ca/~russrite/software/PrnPrint/%5B/url%5D

Payware:

http://www.gallicrow.co.uk/Imprint.html%5B/url%5D

Note: I have not used any of these so I cannot give a recommendation.
__________________________

I found something else! MS says you can print these files by simply dragging them and dropping them on your Printer icon!! Worth a try.

How to Print .prn or .ps Files in Windows 95 or Windows 98

I must point out that the same article says you can double-click the file or right-click and select “Print” — and that is bogus infomation — since there is NO default association on my Win98SE computer….
_____________________________

Next I found out this useful bit of advice on how to “tweak” your computer and give it a usable default association for .prn files!

Note: .prn files are printer specific — so you can only print them out on the type of Printer you specified when the file was saved.

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This is a Windows issue, not an IE one. You, like everyone else using a standard issue version of Windows, has NO defualt association for “.prn” files. Therefore, Windows will not recognize them. “Print to File” as never worked correctly by default — at least not in my memory.

I believe the .prn files were to be used by DOS to print files (COPY filename.prn LPT1 /B). I also believe you must install software to EASILY print those files in Windows — or at least that is one solution… Check out these programs:

Freeware:

http://www.lerup.com/printfile/%5B/url%5D
http://www.magma.ca/~russrite/software/PrnPrint/%5B/url%5D

Payware:

http://www.gallicrow.co.uk/Imprint.html%5B/url%5D

Note: I have not used any of these so I cannot give a recommendation.
__________________________

I found something else! MS says you can print these files by simply dragging them and dropping them on your Printer icon!! Worth a try.

How to Print .prn or .ps Files in Windows 95 or Windows 98

I must point out that the same article says you can double-click the file or right-click and select “Print” — and that is bogus infomation — since there is NO default association on my Win98SE computer….
_____________________________

Next I found out this useful bit of advice on how to “tweak” your computer and give it a usable default association for .prn files!

Note: .prn files are printer specific — so you can only print them out on the type of Printer you specified when the file was saved.

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Hi Bill:
R2 is correct about the .prn file. You can install the “Generic/Text Only” printer driver and print to a file with that. The resulting .prn file contains nothing but text (you might as well rename it to *.txt). To do this, go to Add/Remove Printer & select generic in left hand pane.

However, when trying to print with a generic printer, you will get a message that says “This file does not have a program associated with it for performing this action. Create an association…”.

There are 3 ways to print a .prn file:
1. Associate .prn with Wordpad or Notepad.
2. Rename the .prn file into .txt.
3. Go to a C prompt & type “copy/b filename LPT”
or try “copy filename.prn lpt1 /b”. The “/b” tells the system you’re processing a “binary” (machine language) file, not text.
Cheers,

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Hey R2 and Phil,

Now I remember “copying” prn files to lpt1 in DOS long ago and far away – guess it has been a decade or so since I tried to do it from within Windows. Unbelievable that MS has allowed this to continue for so long – well, maybe not.

At any rate – thanks for the replies and solutions.

Bill (AFE7Ret)
Freedom isn't free!

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Hey R2 and Phil,

Now I remember “copying” prn files to lpt1 in DOS long ago and far away – guess it has been a decade or so since I tried to do it from within Windows. Unbelievable that MS has allowed this to continue for so long – well, maybe not.

At any rate – thanks for the replies and solutions.

Bill (AFE7Ret)
Freedom isn't free!

Reply | Quote

Hi Bill:
R2 is correct about the .prn file. You can install the “Generic/Text Only” printer driver and print to a file with that. The resulting .prn file contains nothing but text (you might as well rename it to *.txt). To do this, go to Add/Remove Printer & select generic in left hand pane.

However, when trying to print with a generic printer, you will get a message that says “This file does not have a program associated with it for performing this action. Create an association…”.

There are 3 ways to print a .prn file:
1. Associate .prn with Wordpad or Notepad.
2. Rename the .prn file into .txt.
3. Go to a C prompt & type “copy/b filename LPT”
or try “copy filename.prn lpt1 /b”. The “/b” tells the system you’re processing a “binary” (machine language) file, not text.
Cheers,

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