Printing a .prn file

[Guest]

Hello,

Due to a network printer outage last week, I had to use the "print to file" option in Internet Explorer. Now I don't know how to use it. Our help desk tells me to associate it with notepad or Word, but that doesn't work since it wasn't a document from those applications in the first place. Associating it with Internet Explorer doesn't work either, not surprisingly.

I know back in the DOS days, there was a way to direct a .prn file directly to a printer but have no idea what to do with it now. Is this file lost to me?

 

[Vance Green]

Try this-
From the Command Prompt window:

copy (your .PRN filename)>(network printer name)

Note that the data contained in the .PRN file was
generated for whatever printer you would have printed
to, and is specific to that printer. If you try to print it
on another printer, you'll get pages and pages of garbage.

Hello,

Due to a network printer outage last week, I had to use the "print to

file" option in Internet Explorer. Now I don't know how to use it. Our
help desk tells me to associate it with notepad or Word, but that doesn't
work since it wasn't a document from those applications in the first place.
Associating it with Internet Explorer doesn't work either, not surprisingly.

I know back in the DOS days, there was a way to direct a .prn file

directly to a printer but have no idea what to do with it now. Is this file
lost to me?

 

[Vance Green]

I don't think this will work...

Remember a .PRN file is nothing but binary data
formatted for the printer, it is NOT text or
anything close to it unless you created a .PRN file
for the "Generic/Text Only" printer.

Assume your file is located in c:\Penquin.prn

At the Cmd prompt, follow the two steps:

1. c:\ Ren Penquin.prn Penquin.txt (to rename file format to text)
or
c:\ Ren Penquin.prn Penquin.rtf (to rename file format to rich text
format)

2. c:\ Start Penquin.txt [enter] (will launch NotePad)
or
c:\ Start Penquin.rtf [enter] (will launch Word or WordPad)

- - -- - - - - - - - - - - -

Hello,

Due to a network printer outage last week, I had to use the "print to
file" option in Internet Explorer. Now I don't know how to use it. Our
help desk tells me to associate it with notepad or Word, but that doesn't
work since it wasn't a document from those applications in the first place.
Associating it with Internet Explorer doesn't work either, not surprisingly.

I know back in the DOS days, there was a way to direct a .prn file
directly to a printer but have no idea what to do with it now. Is this file
lost to me?

 

[Jisha]

My memory just reported that the syntax might require a ">"...

ie... from the examples below:

copy /b myfile.prn > lpt3

copy /b myfile.prn > scbo0024_02