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Cannot match printer or port in control
file, how to capture in WinNT/2K
for the Cougar Mountain Accounting Software
This error is almost always caused by failure to
properly capture a printer port for a networked printer
in Windows.
Win9x tree (95, 98, Me):
Go to Start, Settings, Printers. Right-click the printer
you wish to use from CMS, select Properties. Go to
the Details tab. Click the button that says Capture
Port, and select an unused LPT port (usually LPT2).
You will be asked what path to use, this is the path
to the printer in UNC format (\\hostname\devicename).
Make sure to check the box that says Reconnect at
Logon. If there are spaces in the host or device name,
Win9x WILL be be able to capture the port successfully.
WinNT tree (NT, 2k):
Ports cannot be captured in printer properties. Open
a DOS prompt, and type this to capture printer hp1200
on a computer named foo at LPT2:
net use lpt2: \\foo\hp1200 /persistent:yes
The persistent flag tells the system to reconnect
to this resource at login. If there is a space in
the hostname or devicename, the UNC path will need
to be enclosed in double quotes, as in the case of
hp1200 on a computer named foo bar, like this:
net use lpt2: "\\foo bar\hp1200" /persistent:yes
No printers installed or no default
printer
for the Cougar Mountain Accounting Software
More and more CMS customers are using a Windows 2000
machine as the server for Cougar Mountain database
files. While smaller offices tend to set up a CMS
network using a Windows 2000 Professional as the server,
medium to large organizations are using the Windows
2000 SERVER platform to run CMS products. Although
the core operating systems are similar, the key differences
between the "Server" and "Professional"
versions of Windows 2000 are that the Server Operating
System supports more installed memory and more than
2 CPUs running on the server hardware. This translates
into the ability to serve a larger number of client
machines more quickly than Windows 2000 Pro. Additionally,
this Operating System is configured out of the box
for maximum performance as a dedicated server.
With the trend toward CMS installs on the Windows
2000 Server O/S, there is a minor issue with Printing
CMS reports when CMS is run at the Windows 2000 Server
machine. Even though a network or local print device
has been properly installed, every time printing is
attempted from the CMS Server, this error message
is received:
Cougar Report Writer:
"No printers installed or no default printer"
This error message can occur whether the customer
is trying to print to an actual printer or simply
printing the report to the screen.
The cause of this problem is one of the default configuration
settings that Windows 2000 Server sets up when it
is installed. It is assumed that a machine running
2000 Server will not typically be used to run any
actual applications, and because of this, the Windows
Print Spooler service is disabled by default. The
result of this service being turned of is that no
printing is allowed whatsoever when applications are
run directly on the Server machine.
To correct this problem, simply go to START, PROGRAMS,
ADMINISTRATIVE TOOLS and select SERVICES. The Windows
2000 Services Applet will show the installed Services;
simply scroll down until you can see the Service called
"Print Spooler", right-click on it and select
"Properties". When the Properties form appears,
look for the field called "Startup Type"
and change it from disabled to Automatic, then click
on "Apply" at the bottom of the form, then
click on the "Start" button in the "Service
Status" section of the form. After doing this,
the Service Status on the form should report that
the Print Spooler has been Started.
Note: This issue only arises when running on the
Windows 2000 Server (or Advanced Server) and will
also occur on any Windows XP Server operating system
when XP Server is released. It does NOT affect servers
using the Windows 2000 Professional O/S.
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