Running port drivers on DOS or windows workstations

The NetWare port driver portion of NPRINTER.EXE for a DOS or Windows workstation is a TSR (terminate-and-stay-resident) program that can be loaded either from the NPRINTER menu or from the command line.

NPRINTER.EXE can run any printer configured in NetWare Administrator, or PCONSOLE as ``Manual Load''.

Loading port drivers on Windows workstations

If your workstation uses Windows 3.0 or 3.1, you must load NPRINTER.EXE before you load Windows and you must use one of the following options:

• In PCONSOLE or NetWare Administrator, configure the printers to use polled mode instead of a specific interrupt number. (After selecting a printer, select the printer type at the ``Printer Configuration'' screen and then select ``Interrupt: None'' at the ``Configuration'' field.)

• If you want to use a specific interrupt, place the following lines in the Windows SYSTEM.INI file under the heading ``[386Enh]'':
  
  LPT1AutoAssign=0
  LPT1irq=-1

  Replace LPT1 with the port that the printer is cabled to (for example: LPT2, COM1, COM2).

Loading port drivers from the NPRINTER menu

The NPRINTER menu allows you to load printers configured as ``Manual Load'' and printers of type ``Other/Unknown''. This menu also allows you to view available print servers or printers before selecting which printer to load. Printers configured as type ``Other/Unknown'' can be configured at load time as parallel or serial with the interrupt you select.

1. (Optional) Log in.

2. Type the following:
   
   NPRINTER

   A list of available print servers appears.

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   NOTE: Press <F4> to switch to Directory Services mode and then press <Ins> to browse for a printer and skip the remaining steps. Press <F1> for help. Switching to Directory Services mode only determines how you find a printer. You will still have the advantages of Directory Services without using Directory Services mode to find a printer.

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3. Choose a print server.

   A list of printers assigned to the print server appears.

   For example, to load a printer that is assigned to PS-SALES, choose PS-SALES. A list of printers not in use that are assigned to PS-SALES appears.

4. Choose a printer.

   For example, to load network printer P_1, choose P_1 from the list of available printers on PS-SALES.

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   NOTE: If you choose a printer of type ``Other/Unknown'', you will be asked to specify the printer type (parallel or serial), the port, the interrupt, and so forth.

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Loading port drivers from the command line

The command line option of NPRINTER allows you to quickly load a port driver without entering a menu. We recommend that you use the command line option in the workstation's AUTOEXEC.BAT file to load the network port driver each time the workstation boots.

1. Log in and type the following at the command line:
   
   NPRINTER printername

   Depending on the default context for the workstation, you may need to specify the full name that includes the directory context. For example, to load the port driver for printer P_1, type one of the following:
   
   NPRINTER .P_1.SALES.ACME
   NPRINTER printservername printernumber

   For example, to load printer P1, which has printer number 0 and is assigned to PS-SALES, type:
   
   NPRINTER PS-SALES 0

   (The printer number can be determined in NetWare Administrator or PCONSOLE utilities.)

2. Place this line in AUTOEXEC.BAT following your network login command for automatic execution.

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   NOTE: NPRINTER.EXE can be executed without logging in if you copy all necessary NPRINTER files to a local workstation drive.

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Unloading port drivers from the command line

You must unload port drivers one at a time, beginning with the one most recently loaded. To unload a port driver, type:

NPRINTER /U