Printing from a command window (SP1)

Topic

New Reply

How do you print from the command line? I want to use a batch file to print a small text file but cannot find the correct syntax. If I use the PRINT command with no parameters other than the file name, I get the error “Unable to initialize device PRN”. Using the command “Print /d:”brother hl-5050″ filename”, I get the error “Unable to initialize device brother hl-5050”. Brother hl-5050 is my default printer. All my printers are USB printers.

Reply | Quote

Replies

If the file is in a format that the printer can process directly, you can use the COPY command to copy the file to the PRN device. Take a look at post 368545 and this thread for more info.

Reply | Quote

The file is a text file but that doesn’t work. As I said in my first post, I get the error “Unable to initialize device PRN”. All my printers are USB printers and there is no PRN device. Device Manager does not show any printers. See attached screenshot. It looks as if the command window does not recognize USB devices.

Reply | Quote

The file is a text file but that doesn’t work. As I said in my first post, I get the error “Unable to initialize device PRN”. All my printers are USB printers and there is no PRN device. Device Manager does not show any printers. See attached screenshot. It looks as if the command window does not recognize USB devices.

Reply | Quote

Microsoft don’t seem much help:
MSKB 259939 – Unable to Print from Command Prompt or MS-DOS Program with USB Printer

…but it looks like John Savill to the rescue:
How can I print to a USB printer from the command prompt?

Reply | Quote

Microsoft don’t seem much help:
MSKB 259939 – Unable to Print from Command Prompt or MS-DOS Program with USB Printer

…but it looks like John Savill to the rescue:
How can I print to a USB printer from the command prompt?

Reply | Quote

If the file is in a format that the printer can process directly, you can use the COPY command to copy the file to the PRN device. Take a look at post 368545 and this thread for more info.

Reply | Quote

I’ve had some success on USB printers with Printfile by Peter Lerup.

But it still doesn’t match the simplicity of NET USE LPT1 … to a parallel-port printer!

John

Reply | Quote

I tried the NET USE command in the following batch file:
[indent]

---

@echo off
dir>dirlist.txt
net use lpt2 andrew15brother1 /yes
copy dirlist.txt lpt2
del dirlist.txt
net use lpt2 /delete

---

[/indent]
It works except that for some reason it doesn’t generate a form-feed. I have to go to the printer and press the continue button to eject the page.

Reply | Quote

Andrew

I have no idea what your “/YES” parameter does, unless you left off the PERSISTENT: bit! (usually abbreviated as /p:y). You don’t need it anyway in your BATch file.

Form Feeds never used to be generated when printing in DOS* – you either had to put an 0x0c FormFeed character at the end of your text, or send the 0x0c character to the printer after your text file. I used a binary editor to set up a file called FF which simply had this character as the only data, and did COPY FF PRN. All that just to save pressing a printer button!

An easier BATch file could be

@echo off
net use lpt2 andrew15brother1
dir > lpt2
copy FF lpt2 > nul
net use lpt2 /d

Personally I always use LPT1 or PRN (same animal), but LPT2 is fine!

John

* unless you used the actual PRINT command, which did cause a Form Feed!

PS sorry about heavy editing — it’s been a long time…

Reply | Quote

John,

Thanks for the info. Sorry for the slow response but I’ve been away for a few days. I got the “/yes” parameter from the link Leif included in his post (http://www.winnetmag.com/Article/ArticleID/39674/39674.html%5B/url%5D). I’m not clear how you create a file with the FF character in it. I don’t have a hex editor. Could you post or email me a copy? Thanks,

Reply | Quote

Andrew

If you have a 3 Mbps broadband connection, you’ll hardly notice the time taken to download the file! I’ve called it FF.txt, but you can call it anything you like!

John

Reply | Quote

Andrew

If you have a 3 Mbps broadband connection, you’ll hardly notice the time taken to download the file! I’ve called it FF.txt, but you can call it anything you like!

John

Reply | Quote

John,

Thanks for the info. Sorry for the slow response but I’ve been away for a few days. I got the “/yes” parameter from the link Leif included in his post (http://www.winnetmag.com/Article/ArticleID/39674/39674.html%5B/url%5D). I’m not clear how you create a file with the FF character in it. I don’t have a hex editor. Could you post or email me a copy? Thanks,

Reply | Quote

Andrew

I have no idea what your “/YES” parameter does, unless you left off the PERSISTENT: bit! (usually abbreviated as /p:y). You don’t need it anyway in your BATch file.

Form Feeds never used to be generated when printing in DOS* – you either had to put an 0x0c FormFeed character at the end of your text, or send the 0x0c character to the printer after your text file. I used a binary editor to set up a file called FF which simply had this character as the only data, and did COPY FF PRN. All that just to save pressing a printer button!

An easier BATch file could be

@echo off
net use lpt2 andrew15brother1
dir > lpt2
copy FF lpt2 > nul
net use lpt2 /d

Personally I always use LPT1 or PRN (same animal), but LPT2 is fine!

John

* unless you used the actual PRINT command, which did cause a Form Feed!

PS sorry about heavy editing — it’s been a long time…

Reply | Quote

I tried the NET USE command in the following batch file:
[indent]

---

@echo off
dir>dirlist.txt
net use lpt2 andrew15brother1 /yes
copy dirlist.txt lpt2
del dirlist.txt
net use lpt2 /delete

---

[/indent]
It works except that for some reason it doesn’t generate a form-feed. I have to go to the printer and press the continue button to eject the page.

Reply | Quote

I’ve had some success on USB printers with Printfile by Peter Lerup.

But it still doesn’t match the simplicity of NET USE LPT1 … to a parallel-port printer!

John

Reply | Quote