Control Panel Can List Same Printer Twice (68964)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Windows 3.0
  • Microsoft Windows 3.0a
  • Microsoft Windows 3.1
  • Microsoft Windows 3.11
  • Microsoft Windows for Workgroups 3.1
  • Microsoft Windows for Workgroups 3.11
This article was previously published under Q68964

SUMMARY

You can have two different instances of a printer driver in the Control Panel of Microsoft Windows version 3.0. For example, you can have a PostScript driver configured as a NEC LC 890 on COM2 with legal size paper, and a PostScript driver configured as a QMS PS-810 on LPT2 with letter size paper.

MORE INFORMATION

You may want to have the two printers listed separately so you won't need to change all printer settings each time you want to send a print job to the other printer. You can install a second configuration of the same printer as follows:

  1. From the Main group of Program manager, choose Control Panel.
  2. From Control Panel, choose Printers.
  3. From Printers, select the Add Printer option.
  4. From the list of printers, choose the new printer desired and select the Install option.
  5. From the dialog box, choose current printer driver.
  6. Configure the new printer for the port, status, and settings desired.
The above process uses the same printer driver file for multiple printer configurations. You may prefer to have separate printer driver files for each printer configuration. To do this, create a second copy of the printer driver under a different name as follows:

  1. From the Main group of Program manager, select the MS-DOS prompt.
  2. From MS-DOS, change to the SYSTEM subdirectory where the printer drivers is located. For example, type CD\WINDOWS\SYSTEM to change to the WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory.
  3. At the MS-DOS prompt, make a copy of your printer driver. For example, COPY PSCRIPT.DRV PSCRIPT2.DRV will make a copy of the PostScript driver file named PSCRIPT2.DRV.
  4. Type EXIT to return to Windows.
  5. In Windows, use a text editor such as Notepad or SysEdit to edit your WIN.INI file as follows: 
          [PrinterPorts]
      Generic / Text Only=TTY,LPT1:,15,45
      PostScript Printer=PSCRIPT,COM1:,15,45
      Alternate Printer=PSCRIPT2,LPT2:,15,45

      [devices]
      Generic / Text Only=TTY,None
      PostScript Printer=PSCRIPT,COM1:
      Alternate Printer=PSCRIPT2,LPT2:
    Alternate Printer refers to the second copy of the printer driver.
  6. Exit Windows and restart it so Windows will reread the WIN.INI file and cause these entries to appear in Printer Setup under the Control Panel.
NOTE: Although you can add a different name for a printer driver, you may not see the expected Setup dialogue box. For example, after adding a name for a Hewlett-Packard (HP) LaserJet IIIsi PostScript driver, the Apple Laser Writer Plus Setup dialog box may appear instead of HP's.
Modification Type:MinorLast Reviewed:7/7/2005
Keywords:KB68964
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