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Printer driver installation to emulate XP in Windows 7

Anonymous
2013-02-23T23:03:10+00:00

I've just moved from XP to Windows 7 and have been unable to find a printerdriver for my old Fujitsu DL3400 dot matrix printer (1990's vintage but cheap to run & in excellent condition). Closest I've come to a solution is a Generic text-only driver but would like to keep using the printer for spreadsheets that require simple graphics for formatting. Is there a way to emulate XP to drive a printer in XP mode in Widows 7?

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Devices and drivers

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  1. Anonymous
    2014-10-11T00:19:57+00:00

    Hi,

        I lived in DOS and when windows XP died I had to move to windows 7.

    Here is what  you can  do.   Go to http://www.lerup.com/printfile

    and download and install prfile32.exe.  Create the directory C:\SPOOL

    Then create the batch file

    "C:\Program Files (x86)\PrintFile\prtile32.exe" /s:C:\SPOOL\*.*

       You need  to do something to make the program stay resident.  I forget but it is

    explained in the instructions.

      Once you have done this  any file that appears in the C:\SPOOL\   directory will be sent

    to the printer.  After this is done the file is ERASED so do not put the only copy in this

    directory.

       You will have to redirect any output that went to your printer to the  file

         C:\SPOOL\trash789.pcl   (the name of the file is unimportant)

       It may take you a couple of hours to make it work, unless you are smarter that me.

      Hope this helps.

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  2. Anonymous
    2013-02-23T23:41:37+00:00

    You will need to be running Windows 7 Professional with Windows Virtual PC/Windows XP Mode installed:

    Running Windows XP Mode requires:

    1. Windows 7 - Professional, Ultimate or Enterprise (Not supported in Home Premium).

    Windows XP Mode and Windows Virtual PC

    http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtual-pc/default.aspx

    Windows XP Mode now accessible to more PCs

    http://windowsteamblog.com/windows/archive/b/windows7/archive/2010/03/18/windows-xp-mode-now-accessible-to-more-pcs.aspx

    Get started with Windows Virtual PC

    http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtual-pc/get-started.aspx

    http://www.notebooks.com/2009/11/23/using-windows-virtual-pc-with-windows-xp-mode/

    Windows 7 - Anytime Upgrade features:

    http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/products/features/windows-anytime-upgrade

    Print from a virtual machine

    There are several methods you can use to make a printer available to a virtual machine. The methods you can use are affected by whether a printer driver is available for Windows 7 and whether the printer is a local USB printer or a network printer. To share a local USB printer

    1. Note

    This method is appropriate when the printer driver is available for both the Windows 7 host operating system and the guest operating system. You only need to complete these steps once per virtual machine. This procedure assumes you have verified that the printer is working in the host operating system.

    Make sure the printer is turned on and that the printer driver is available for installation. For example, you can install the driver from the internet or from a CD.

    Redirect the printer to the virtual machine. From the virtual machine window, click USB and then click Attachdevice name.

    1. Install the printer driver in the guest operating system. You can install the driver from the internet or from a CD.
    2. Release the printer from the virtual machine. From the virtual machine window, click USB and then click Releasedevice name.
    3. Restart the virtual machine. From the virtual machine window, click Action and then click Restart.
    4. Navigate to the virtual machine desktop, and log on if necessary. (You will be logged in automatically if you saved the credentials.)
    5. The printer will be available for use in both the host operating system and the guest operating system. To configure a network printer for a virtual machine
    6. Navigate to the virtual machine desktop, and log on if necessary. (You will be logged in automatically if you saved the credentials.)

    Note

    The following steps are general, so the names of the buttons may differ from what is shown.

    1. Open Control Panel, and then open Printers.
    2. Click Add Printer. The Add Printer Wizard opens.
    3. On the Local or Network Printer page, select the network printer option and complete the wizard.

    If you are running Windows XP as the guest operating system, you must manually install the printer driver for each printer you want to use. The following steps describe this process. To install a printer driver in Windows XP

    1. Click Start, and then click Printers and Faxes.
    2. Under Printer Tasks, click Add a printer. The Add Printer Wizard opens.
    3. On the Local or Network Printer page, select Local printer attached to this computer and clear Automatically detect and install my Plug and Play printer.
    4. On the Select a Printer Port page, click the drop-down control and select one of the TS number ports and click Next.
    5. On the Install Printer Software page, select Windows Update or Have Disk and complete the wizard. To print from a virtual machine
    6. Navigate to the virtual machine desktop, and log on if necessary. (You will be logged in automatically if you saved the credentials.)
    7. Do one of the following:

    * From the desktop of the virtual machine, right-click a file and click Print.

    * Open any application that includes a print option, and then use the print command.

    1. All printers available to the virtual machine are listed. Select a printer, and then click OK.
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