Quote: Ok I give up, where do you enter:
Net Use LPT1 \\MachineName\870Cse /Persistent:yes
Go to a Command Prompt.
If you type NET VIEW you will be able to see what resources are available. You will be able to see the MachineName and the Computer Description. It will be prefaced with two backslashes like: "\\MachineName . Computer Description."
If you then type NET VIEW \\MachineName then you will see a listing of the shared resources on that machine. Look under the column labeled "Type" for "Print" to identify the correct name for the printer to be captured.
Now you have the information you need to type
Net Use LPT1 \\MachineName\PrinterName /Persistent:yes
Once it has been entered, you should not need to do that again. You can see what the current settings are at any time by going to the Command Prompt and typing NET USE.
XP does not have Capture like you may know from WIN9x. Doing the NET USE will do the Capture for you. Remember that Q&A has LPT1,LPT2, LPT3, COM1, and COM2 as ports. If you are using any of these then you must enter a separate NET USE line for each of them.
It may also be helpful to modify the displayed Name (Not the Shared Name) of the Computer to show the port it captures. Example: "870Cse" becomes "870Cse (LPT1)"
You can also "pipe" the NET USE results to a file and parse the file to make decisions about commands and/or change the network settings on the fly. But that is another discussion all its own. Not for here today.