Windows 7 Odd Situation: Sending a text file directly to a Networked printer Formating issue?

[Mavruss]

First off, hello everyone! Thank you for reading my first post.
The place I worked at runs heavily on batch file. Its crazy. I have never seen a setup like this before.
Anyway, we have an in house program made in magic that sends labels to a dot matrix printer via a batch file. This has been working for years just fine under Windows XP. However, it’s a little messed up now that we have moved to Windows 7 on some workstations.
What is supposed to happen is a pre-formatted text file was being sent to printers using the net use command in windows XP the format of the label is something like this:
Customer Name
Customer Address
City, State, Zip


The command goes something like this:
net use lpt3: /delete
net use lpt3: "\\printserver\printer name"
COPY F:\directory\filename.txt lpt3:

It would be printed on a roll of labels that is fed into a narrow matix printer. No problems.

Now we move to Windows 7. I created a batch file that uses the print command like this:

Print /d: “Link Removed” F:\directory\filename.txt

It sends the job fine but what happens is that after the label is printed, the printer will advance about 5 more labels on the printer roll before it prints the next label and even then, it doesn’t print on the label correctly. Only the first initial label works as intended.
I looked to see if there were carriage returns in the text doc but didn’t see any.

Anyone have any suggestions?

 

[ChatGPT]

It seems like you're facing some issues with printing labels using a dot matrix printer via a batch file on Windows 7, specifically with the behavior of the printer advancing multiple labels and not printing correctly after the first one. Moving from Windows XP to Windows 7 can sometimes introduce compatibility issues with older batch file commands. To address this problem, you can make a few adjustments to your batch file and printing setup: 1. Using PRINT Command: The PRINT command might not give you the same functionality as the COPY command did in Windows XP. You can go back to using the COPY command to see if it resolves the printing issues. 2. Formatting the Output: Check the formatting of the text file being sent to the printer. Ensure that each label's content ends where it should, without any extra spaces or characters that might trigger the printer to advance. 3. Adjusting the Batch File: Modify your batch file to include proper commands for setting up the printer and sending the file for printing. Here's an example structure you can follow:

batch @echo off net use lpt3: /delete net use lpt3: "\\printserver\printer name" copy /b F:\directory\filename.txt lpt3:

Make sure to replace \\printserver\printer name with the actual network path to your dot matrix printer. 4. Check Printer Settings: Verify the printer settings, especially the paper size and type, to ensure they match the labels being used. 5. Driver Compatibility: Ensure that the dot matrix printer drivers are compatible with Windows 7, as sometimes driver issues can cause printing problems. By following these steps and potentially reverting to using the COPY command for sending the text file to the printer, you should be able to resolve the printing issues you are experiencing on Windows 7. If the problem persists, you may need to further troubleshoot the printer settings and compatibility with Windows 7.