Windows Print-to-File

Clearly, it wasn't clear. In fact it was so opaque that even I don't understand it now.:confused:
I sometimes realise this just before hitting 'Post', at which point I delete the whole thing and go do something else :(
 
Me:
I wish to print to the WiFi-connected ET-4550 from the Win7/64 command line, bypassing the print queue. The printer port is identified as "EP78163A:", the printer appears on the network as "EPSON78163A", and the IP address is "192.168.1.66". I have tried the following (with the results shown)

D:\My Documents\Newsletter>copy /b Newsletter.prn EP78163A:
"EP78163A:" is not a recognized device.
The system cannot find the file specified.

D:\My Documents\Newsletter>copy /b Newsletter.prn \\EPSON78163A
The specified path is invalid.
0 file(s) copied.

D:\My Documents\Newsletter>copy /b Newsletter.prn \\192.168.1.66
The specified path is invalid.
0 file(s) copied.

D:\My Documents\Newsletter>copy /b Newsletter.prn \\192.168.1.66\printer
The network name cannot be found.
0 file(s) copied.

Epson:
In response to your email, this is not a standard method of printing and is not something that we are able to support, this is not to say that it will not work how ever it will be at your own discretion.

Are you experiencing issues with regular printing via the printer spooler? If so please confirm this in more detail so that we can assist you further.

If you require further assistance please do not hesitate to contact the EPSON Customer Inter@ction Centre and we will endeavour to resolve any further queries you may have.

Me:
Thank you for your reply. Addressing your specific points:

> In response to your email, this is not a standard method of printing and is not something that we are able to support, this is not to say that it will not work how ever it will be at your own discretion.

In which case, please explain what the "print to file" option in the printer settings is for. Having created a .prn file, what use is it if it cannot be sent to the printer subsequently.

> Are you experiencing issues with regular printing via the printer spooler?

No. What I am trying to do is print multiple copies of the same job without having to generate the print each time from the original application. Print once to file, then send the file to the printer as many times as necessary (when required).

I believe all that is needed is the correct way to identify the printer's print service on the network.

This works:

lpr -S 192.168.1.66 -P raw newsletter.prn

Where, obviously, 192.168.1.66 is the IP address of the printer as reported by the router, but I would like to use the network identification string for the printer so it is independent of the allocated IP address.
 
Me:
...I believe all that is needed is the correct way to identify the printer's print service on the network.
This works:
lpr -S 192.168.1.66 -P raw newsletter.prn
Where, obviously, 192.168.1.66 is the IP address of the printer as reported by the router, but I would like to use the network identification string for the printer so it is independent of the allocated IP address.
You really are trying to make life difficult for yourself!

I've just noticed you haven't said whether you have tried
lpr -S EPSON78163A -P raw newsletter.prn
It might work if the printer passes the name to the router and it gets associated with the IP address.:unsure:

Can you discover whether your router has a name associated with 192.168.1.66?
You could try "ping" as I mentioned above or, from a command window - nslookup 192.168.1.66.
I suspect this will not work.:cry:
If you really want to have a name in place of the IP address it is likely that you need to assign a static IP address in the router (which may allow a name to be added) and possibly edit your "hosts" file to give the IP address a name. http://helpdeskgeek.com/windows-7/windows-7-hosts-file/
 
If you really want to have a name in place of the IP address it is likely that you need to assign a static IP address in the router (which may allow a name to be added)
That technique seems to work on my netgear router. I can't remember exactly how it is set up, but it's deffo not obvious.
 
You really are trying to make life difficult for yourself!
That message exchange is for the purpose of trying to get information out of Epson.

I've just noticed you haven't said whether you have tried
lpr -S EPSON78163A -P raw newsletter.prn
It might work if the printer passes the name to the router and it gets associated with the IP address.:unsure:
I think I did, no go.

Can you discover whether your router has a name associated with 192.168.1.66?
It's one of the strings I have already mentioned.

If you really want to have a name in place of the IP address it is likely that you need to assign a static IP address in the router (which may allow a name to be added) and possibly edit your "hosts" file to give the IP address a name. http://helpdeskgeek.com/windows-7/windows-7-hosts-file/
No point - the only value in having a name is if it makes the command independent of assigned IP address,
 
I've just noticed you haven't said whether you have tried
lpr -S EPSON78163A -P raw newsletter.prn

Nor the

copy /b

solution either!
 
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No point - the only value in having a name is if it makes the command independent of assigned IP address,
OK if this is want you really want to do.
I'm still not sure that you have tried lpr -S name -P raw newsletter.prn where name is one of the strings (probably DOpus) but without \\ or : prepended/appended. I am sure that you did try copy /b.
 
See post 19!
Ta, looks like I have more experimenting to do (in the absence of anything useful from Epson - I wish support people would admit when they are in over their heads), but I may have misunderstood "shares" as meaning shared services in a multi-user environment and therefore no use to me unless I specifically create shared services.

OK if this is want you really want to do.
I'm still not sure that you have tried lpr -S name -P raw newsletter.prn where name is one of the strings (probably DOpus) but without \\ or : prepended/appended. I am sure that you did try copy /b.
There are only so many combinations one is prepared to try unless one has some idea they could lead to success. I may not have tried enough, but a clue to the correct format helps.

Something else I have a clue to is the possibility of simply dumping the .prn file into the spooler folder.
 
If you are resonably happy with the lpr method then we need to see if we can find a name for the allocated IP address.
If you want to go down the copy/b method you will probably have to look at network shares etc.
Something else I have a clue to is the possibility of simply dumping the .prn file into the spooler folder.
Never heard of this one. If it works at all it will probably use the printer driver to print (see above).

From a quick scan of the user manual, I see the printer can print a "Network Status Sheet". Do you have the results from such a print?
I see that there is a Web Config Utility that you can access from your web broswer. http://192.168.1.66 maybe? A quick way of checking whether any of the names will work would be to enter something like http://EPSON78163A into your browser and see if this connects. If http://ABCDEFG connects
then I would expect lpr -S ABCDEFG -P raw newsletter.prn to work. If this doesn't work, I'm out of ideas.
 
Never heard of this one. If it works at all it will probably use the printer driver to print (see above).
I suspect not. I imagine what happens is that without "print to file" selected, the identical file is created in the spooler where a Windows daemon sends it to the appropriate destination (according to which spooler it's in), then deletes it.
 
Okay, I've had a little play in C:\Windows\System32\spool\PRINTERS and discovered that when you print normally it creates a .SPL file with the data for the printer and a .SHD with the same name that appears to be a properties file (I guess declaring the destination printer and any printer settings). The name is (in my case) "FPxxxxx" where xxxxx is a leading-zeros padded job number.

Setting the "print to file" option still creates this spooler file, as far as I can tell identical, but once created it then gets transferred to the target folder specified in the print-to-file dialogue and creates a much larger (factor of 10) .prn file. I speculate that the .SPL is some kind of compressed version; I tried changing the file type to .zip but it wasn't recognised as valid (I pulled a copy out of the spooler).

Meanwhile, the .SPL / .SHD files create an entry in the queue for the specific printer. Selecting the entry and clicking "cancel" removes the entry from the queue and deletes the .SPL / .SHD files - which leads me to conclude they are one and the same thing.

They're in for a surprise!
In fact they're half right. The print to file option appears in the Options tab for the Windows print settings, rather than the printer settings on the General tab > Properties...

From a quick scan of the user manual, I see the printer can print a "Network Status Sheet". Do you have the results from such a print?
Yes; it doesn't help beyond what we already know (IP address, printer name).

I see that there is a Web Config Utility that you can access from your web broswer. http://192.168.1.66 maybe?
Oooo, didn't know about that. The manual says:
You can select your product's network settings and confirm its operating status using a web browser. You do this by accessing your product's built-in Web Config utility from a computer or other device that is connected to the same network as your product.
  1. Print a network status sheet.
  2. Locate the IP address for your product that is listed on the network status sheet.
  3. On a computer or other device connected to the same network as your product, open a web browser.
  4. Enter your product's IP address into the address bar.
You see the available Web Config utility options.
The printer is now on ...104*

This looks interesting:

upload_2017-1-9_0-8-6.png

...but still no symbolic string. It suggests some suffixes though.

A quick way of checking whether any of the names will work would be to enter something like http://EPSON78163A into your browser and see if this connects.
It did, to the Web Config Utility.

If http://ABCDEFG connects then I would expect lpr -S ABCDEFG -P raw newsletter.prn to work. If this doesn't work, I'm out of ideas.
Sh*t. "lpr -S EPSON78163A -P raw PrinterTest.prn" just worked. After all that grief! I feel sure I tried it before, but maybe I didn't :oops: or maybe it works sometimes and not others (time will tell). Given that I have been searching for a symbolic method to address the printer, don't you think that's exactly what I would have tried first time I tried out the lpr command? It's gone from my short-term memory.

Thanks for tolerating me!

* Footnote:
The router was rebooted because it hung, and I have not yet found a way to fix the IP address in the printer settings - and it's a BT Hub 4 so there's not a lot of configuration options there either (maximum lease time 21 days, and that's no help against reboots anyway). I want to look into putting my own router on the BT line... is it possible?
 
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I want to look into putting my own router on the BT line... is it possible?
Dr. Google says:
To get your internet working, you then just need to do the following.
  1. Connect your VDSL modem into your phone line, via a filter of course.
  2. Connect your router to your modem using an ethernet cable.
  3. Jump onto your router's admin page. Enable PPPoE, and set your username to “bthomehub@btbroadband.com”
  4. Browse the internet!
Don't know whether that's valid for ADSL though. Just try it an see. There are lots of peeps that seem to have done it OK.
Do you mean there is no way of setting static IP's for a device on the router?
 
I use my own router into BT ADSL service, and have done for years.
It is set to use PPPoA.
Note, it won't generate a BT OpenZone hotspot unless you set the router to do so (assuming the router can support multi zones). This should not be a problem to you, unless you want a OpenZone anyway.
I don't personally run one.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
Dr. Google says:
To get your internet working, you then just need to do the following.
  1. Connect your VDSL modem into your phone line, via a filter of course.
  2. Connect your router to your modem using an ethernet cable.
  3. Jump onto your router's admin page. Enable PPPoE, and set your username to “bthomehub@btbroadband.com”
  4. Browse the internet!
Don't know whether that's valid for ADSL though. Just try it an see. There are lots of peeps that seem to have done it OK.
It was a remark I have yet to look into, but I understand it's a lot more complicated than that to establish the connection credentials - or is that what "PPPoE" does? I suspect I will be in trouble trying to choose a new router!

Do you mean there is no way of setting static IP's for a device on the router?
There is an "always use this address" button in the specific device listing, but it objects if you try to configure an IP address outside the DHCP pool - so there is a risk the router might allocate that address to something else if the original device is off-line at the time (although one hopes it won't). Stupid. I have my Humii set static outside the DHCP pool, but I have not found a way to fix the IP address in the printer's settings (not that I need to now).

Despite this, I still want to replace the Home Hub. It offers the world a public WiFi point, and is not sufficiently configurable (and it has to be rebooted from time to time).

Posted before I saw HarveyB's post
 
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