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Set Sparks to print to a USB printer

Sparks was written at a time when the only printer ports available were LPT and COM ports, so it doesn't recognize USB ports. Windows, if asked nicely, will allow you to print to a USB port by showing the computer how toprint to LPT and then re-directing the output to the USB port where the printer is attached.

1. First, be sure that you have a printer installed into Windows and that you can print a document from Word or Excel etc in a normal fashion. Next, make sure that theprinter has a shared name.

Click on Start > Settings > Printers & Faxes. Right click on the printer, pick Properties.

The box at the top of the General tab will show the printer's name, next to the little pictures of a printer. The name should start with a letter of the alphabet, not a number. It will be much simpler if there are no spaces in the name.

2. Next, find out what your computer is called. Click on Start. Right-click on My Computer and pick Properties.Full Computer Nameis your computer's name. Again, having no spaces in the name will be easier. You can add or change a nameif neededby clicking on Change.

3. Now you are ready to create the computer command that you will use. The format looks like this:

net use LPT1 \\computer_name\printer_name /persistent:yes

  • LPT1is the name of the printer port you will probably use. If there is a printer really plugged into this port, then use LPT2. Do nottype a colon [:]after LPT1.
  • \\computer_nameis the resource name of the computer that is attached to the USB printer. In the example above, it isLAURIE.
  • \printer_nameis the shared name of the USB printer. In the example picture above, it isCANON.
  • /Persistent:Yestells the computer to set up this connection whenever the computer is in use.

Using the example above, I would have typed:

net use LPT1 \\laurie\canon /persistent:yes

If your computer name or printer name must have spaces in them, then use this format:

net use LPT1 \\”computer name”\”printer name” /persistent:yes

4. Open NotePad. Type the "net use" command for your computer into the window. Pick File > Save As, name the fileSprkPrnt.batand put it into the Sparks folder.

5. Still in NotePad, pick File > Open. Use the Browse window to find a file calledconfig.NT.It will be in the \Windows\System32 or the \WinNT\System32 folder. [While you are here, if the last line reads "Files = 40", change this to "Files=150" and Sparks will run better.]

Add a new line at the bottom of the file that reads:

call C:\Sparks\SprkPrnt.bat

Revised 28 October 2018
*Species360 Organizational name change added on 07/18/2016

It is the mission of Species360 to facilitate international collaboration in the collection and sharingof information on animals and their environments for zoos, aquariums and related organizations.

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