Saturday, 29 June 2019

Windows XP Generic Text Driver and Printer Name Bug


I am using a Windows XP machine and I'm printing to a Zebra Printer using the "Generic / Text Only" driver.


I have a printer setup, in the Windows, Printers and Faxes area. It is called "Generic / Text Only", and is driven by the generic text driver. All the settings are set to default, except for the port. I have it set to a Standard TCP/IP Port with the IP of the printer.


I'm able to ping and print to the printer just fine. Unless, I change the name of the printer in anyway. If I change the name and then try to print, the formatting gets thrown off. It will either insert random blank spaces within the text or only prints within a 1 inch area. Printing characters over top of each other.


I have 3 different Zebra printers I would like to setup on my PC and have each named accordingly for ease of selection. Instead of having to go in and updated the IP each time. I even tried setting up a new printer and just using the default name supplied by the Print Wizard, "Generic / Text only (Copy 1)", and I still got the incorrect format.


Has this been seen by anyone else? Is it a driver bug that has been resolved and can be fixed with an update? Any suggestions?



Answer



The generic text driver adds line feeds and other control characters into the stream. OTisler has the right idea to use the Zebra driver. Use that driver with the WritePrinter API. That API will send the data unchanged to the printer.


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