Charles Owens
1998-Jan-07 16:23 UTC
SOLUTION: Win "...device does not exist..." error when mounting printer
If this is old news, sorry... I don't follow the list closely. For some time my users and myself have been annoyed by this pesky "The device does not exist on the network" error that often occurs when redirecting Windows LPT ports to printer shares via the "net use" command (typically invoked from domain logon scripts). I've been looking for a solution to this for quite some time and today stumbled across an answer in, of all places, the Microsoft online support database. See this URL http://premium.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q154/4/95.asp This is a Windows 95 specific solution, and from what I can tell, it does indeed make the stop the problem! I'm not sure what the analogous fix for Windows for Workgroups is, where I've also seen this problem. Here is an excerpt: RESOLUTION To resolve this issue, use the appropriate method to disable the Spool MS-DOS Print Jobs option. Individual Printer To disable the Spool MS-DOS Print Jobs option for an individual printer, follow these steps: 1.Click the Start button, point to Settings, and then click Printers. 2.Use the right mouse button to click the printer, and then click Properties on the menu that appears. 3.Click the Details tab, and then click Port Settings. 4.Click the Spool MS-DOS Print Jobs check box to clear it. Multiple Printers WARNING: Using Registry Editor incorrectly can cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall Windows 95. Microsoft cannot guarantee that problems resulting from the incorrect use of Registry Editor can be solved. Use Registry Editor at your own risk. NOTE: For information about how to edit the registry, view the Changing Keys And Values online Help topic in Registry Editor (Regedit.exe). Note that you should make a backup copy of the registry files (System.dat and User.dat) before you edit the registry. To disable the Spool MS-DOS Print Jobs option for all printers on a Windows 95 workstation, add the two DWORD values DOSSpoolMask PrintersMask to the following registry key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\control\Print\Printers Set the value of the two new DWORD values to 0. After you add these values, restart your computer. Hope its useful... --- ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Charles N. Owens Email: owensc@enc.edu http://www.enc.edu/~owensc Network & Systems Administrator Information Technology Services "Outside of a dog, a book is a man's Eastern Nazarene College best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read." - Groucho Marx -------------------------------------------------------------------------