Setting up PC Access for Windows to Print over a Network from Windows 95

All versions of PC Access for Windows up to and including Build 93 contain a bug that may prevent PC Access from printing properly over a network when PC Access is running under Windows 95. The symptoms of this problem include:

• Strange error messages, including "Pure virtual function called ... comlink.cpp"
• Inability to print either while online or from the Test Printer window

If you get the above symptoms while trying to print from PC Access over a network on a computer running Windows 95, you should download an update to PC Access. If the update does not let you print over the network, follow this procedure:

1. Click the Setup Menu button on the PC Access for Windows Main Menu window.
2. Click the Advanced button on the Setup Assistant window.
3. Click the Printer(s) button on the Advanced Setup Menu window.
4. On the Printer Setup window, highlight the printer you are using to print over the network (your network printer) and click the Edit button. This opens the Edit Printer window. (Remember how you got here; you'll need to return later.)
5. Examine the Printer: field on the Edit Printer window. Is this field blank?
   • If the field is not blank, you should temporarily stop now and send us a print-trace file. This will give us some important information about what PC Access may be doing incorrectly on your computer. After you upload your print-trace file, you may continue with the following steps.
   • If the field is blank, continue with the following steps.
6. Click Start | Settings | Printers.
7. Right click on your network printer.
8. Select Properties.
9. Click on the Details tab.
10. Click on the Capture Printer Port button.
11. In the Device box select an unused LPT port.
12. In the Path box enter the network path for the printer.
13. Check the Reconnect at logon box.
14. Click the OK button.
15. Back on the Printer Properties window in the Print to the following port: box select the LPT port you selected in step (13).
16. Click the OK button.
17. Go back to PC Access for Windows.
18. Go back to the Edit Printer window for your network printer.
19. In the Printer: box select the printer / LPT port combination you specified in step (17).
20. Click the OK button.

About The PC Access for Windows Network Printing Bug under Windows 95

Windows 3.1x maps a network printer to a local printer port with a short name (like LPT3:). Windows 95 lets you print directly to the network printer by using the much longer network resource name as the port (for example: \\SERVER\NET_PRINTER). Since MFM wrote PC Access for Windows to run under Windows 3.1x, our program expects the port name to be something like LPT3:.

MFM has fixed this in Build 94. The workaround in Windows 95 is to "capture a port" for the network printer. (This unfortunate phrase used by Windows 95 means "map the network printer to a local printer port.")