DOS App under XP with parallel port hardware key

[theniteowl]

Hi All,
We have an old DOS app that uses a parallel port dongle.
The company is decommissioning all the Win2K devices requiring everything to be XP Pro at a minimum.

XP does not allow the DOS app to directly access the parallel port and so when the app runs it complains that the dongle is not installed.

Anyone know of a workaround to allow the app access to the parallel port? Our desktop engineering folks say they have tried and been unable to make it work but I question how far they went.

If using COMMAND.COM is it possible for the app to access the port? Or if I wrote a VBS script that executed the app with wscript would it then have access to the hardware?

Any thoughts?

At my age I still learn something new every day, but I forget two others.

 

[BadBigBen]

Things to try:

use VMWare and install a true DOS virtual PC...

try DOS BOX,

http://www.dosbox.com/

Ben

"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."

 

[harebrain]

The company is decommissioning all the Win2K devices requiring everything to be XP Pro at a minimum.

Kind of brings into question the wisdom of the decision, doesn't it? Can't an exception be made for critical legacy software?

 

[linney]

See if this program offers any possibilities?

PortTalk 2.2

http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/System-Miscellaneous/PortTalk.shtml

http://www.google.com/search?q=PortTalk&rls=com.microsoft

http://www.google.com/search?q="parallel+port"+dos+xp+-printer&rls=com.microsoft:

 

[theniteowl]

Unfortunately, the company policies regarding external software are prohibitive. We have a replacement product coming in but it could be 6 months or more before we are able to fully implement it and work out the differences.
To bring in any other application requires going through a long justification process which would be more effort than it is worth when a solution is distant but coming.

My hope was that someone familiar with the issues of hardware addressing from DOS would know a work around.
I am searching for any VB code that does hardware remapping for the parallel port to bypass the built in XP restrictions. I know it can be done but do not yet know how complex it would be.

I had hoped that running in compatibility mode would do it but apparently that does not address direct hardware communication. Perhaps using COMMAND.COM has fewer restrictions than cmd.exe but I have not found enough information on it yet.

At my age I still learn something new every day, but I forget two others.

 

[pcrochet]

many computer came with pre-installed computer image using generic drivers. that mean the same image is deployed on many different computer model,
chipset and motherboard using generic drivers. I can make my DOS lpt dongle work on any of my 3 differents HP computers now. Here how i diagnose the
problem and found my solution... First i have backup the actual XP installation using ghost. I tried to determine if it was the bios or any other
hardware compatibility issue by installing DOS on this computer. i have install the software and start it... validation trough the dongle LPT1
work perfectly. Starting from there i know its an windows XP drivers and configuration problem... instead of using the xp image that came with
the computer when we received it.... i have install a new xp installation from scratch... an original not the cd or dvd that come with the HP
computers but a real xp cd or dvd. after the installation of xp i have install the dos application and make a try and it work! as a precaution
i did all xp update from sp1 to sp2 and i have done also another new installation from scratch and upgrade it from sp1 to sp3 via windows update
ant the dos software can still work perfectly! since there i have never used any pre-install xp that came with the new computer anymore....
those generic drivers that are use seems to cause problem!!!