HP laserjet 6P and windows 10 v. 1511

[DAC324]

Yes, Microsoft knows about the problem as they intentionally broke the parallel port driver in an attempt to finally abandon parallel port support entirely.

So, chances are that my workaround will cease to work in the next Windows 10 build 😞

[ian1806]

How bloody high handed of them! They have, in effect, just written off thousands of perfectly good printers. They are a disgrace. I'm minded to screw them on Twitter 

[DAC324]

That's the way it goes, unfortunately. At some point in time, support for devices considered obsolete will be discarded.

Not only Microsoft is doing so but almost every hardware vendor, too.

There is, however, another elegant solution to circumvent the problem with parallel port on PCs not being supported any more:

Get a stand alone print server with parallel port(s) and connect it to your network and your printer. There is currently a great variety of such devices on the market, some of them even supporting WLAN. So you can turn your good old LaserJet into a decent WLAN printer 🙂

[ian1806]

Thanks. I have looked at widgets for that but without being sure which if any would work. If you know of any suggested bits of kit that are good, let me know. Anyway, I'm grateful for your help.

[ian1806]

btw, I'm running the printer through a server (HP directjet300x) connected via adsl. Doesnt work 

[DAC324]

If your printer is not directly connected to the PC via parallel port, you are not affected by the problem we are discussing here.

Using a print server should work in general as it is independent of the PC's ports. It is a matter of network connectivity.

In order to fix your setup, we would need more details. A print server connected to your PC via ADSL sounds a bit weird to me.

Are there any errors? Is the print server as such found by the PC?

What is the output of a ping to the print server's IP address?

Just curious,

DAC324

[jhoughton1]

"Now, type dir>>lpt1..."

Is that with or without spaces. The only answer I get having tried all configurations is "The system cannot find the file specified." Is that the expected answer if "it does not work?" (i.e. doesn't print the directory?) 

[jhoughton1]

Success! Take that Mr. Gates! I found that the first two steps of your suggestion did the trick -- think it was that "legacy" checkbox that did it. Recommend before writing scripts and all that, anyone with the problem go into device manager, parallel port properties, click the radio button "try not to use interrupt" and check that "legacy" button!

[ian1806]

I think there must be more to than parallel ports as mine is connected via a printer server on an ADSL not a parallel port

[ian1806]

I can't see the successful advice that you followed - what were the steps?