‘Ne#’ USB Printer Port Settings (XP Home)

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I posted this over at the Win2000 forum and am not getting any response. Since this issue is handled the same in Windows XP I thought I’d post here as well and see if anyone knows about these “Ne01 etc.” port settings.

Each printer on a USB port is assigned an “Ne#” addresss, such as “Ne01”, “Ne02” etc. This does not seem to relate directly to the USB port number, such as “USB001”, “USB002” etc. These “Ne#’s” can be seen if you created an Excel macro to print to a USB printer and then edit the macro.

My problem is that if I add another item to a USB port all these “Ne#”s” change. I have numerous Excel macros that automatically print to my various printers (4 are on the system) and all these macros have to be edited if the “Ne#’s” change….and they do if I add another USB device to the system.

Does anyone know of a way to adjust the “Ne#’s” …… hopefully similar to changing a printer port assignment under CONTROL PANEL, PRINTERS. If so, then I could edit the “Ne#’s” instead of all my macros each time this occurs.

Thank you,
BH DAvis

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I looked on TechNet and there’s only one, irrelevant, reference to NE01 and one, ditto, to USB001. Even Google Groups (microsoft.public.win2000.printing) seems only to have the same question as you:

Can someone tell me how the numbers ‘NE01:’, ‘NE02:’ etc.
are allocated to printers? Is it to do with the sequence
in which they were installed? That is, the first
installed printer is NE01, second is NE02 etc. or is it
something far more interesting?

Many thanks
Debbie

(You’re not called “Debbie”, are you?!)

So unless someone else has worked in this area OR there’s a website which answers the question, I don’t think you’ll get very far…

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Nope, not Debbie………..!!!!

Thanks for doing that search….I’ve done it myself.

BH Davis

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Are you looking for a solution specifically for use within Excel?

(I’ll lock your W2K post to stop diverging threads.)

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Yes, the solution would be to use specifically in Excel. A general unerstanding of the Ne# system would be nice though.

Thanks,
BH Davis

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I can’t help you with the ‘general understanding’ bit but I think this thread may be better off in the Excel forum now.

A quick search of my own archives throws up this example code from pieterse on 27-Jan-03 – it may give you some pointers:

Option Explicit

Sub GetPrinterList()
 Dim sPrinters() As String
 Dim lPrinterCount As Long
 Dim lCount As Long
 Dim sCurPrinter As String
 Dim sTemp As String
 Dim sMsg As String
 ReDim sPrinters(1)
 lPrinterCount = 0
 sCurPrinter = Application.ActivePrinter
 Do
 sPrinters(lPrinterCount) = sTemp
 lPrinterCount = lPrinterCount + 1
 SendKeys "^p^{home}{down " & lPrinterCount - 1 & "}~"
 Application.Dialogs(xlDialogPrinterSetup).Show
 sTemp = Application.ActivePrinter
 ReDim Preserve sPrinters(lPrinterCount)
 Loop Until sTemp = sPrinters(lPrinterCount - 1)
 For lCount = 1 To lPrinterCount
 sMsg = sMsg & sPrinters(lCount) & vbNewLine
 Next
 MsgBox sMsg
 Application.ActivePrinter = sCurPrinter
End Sub

I’m guessing you may be able to find a method of predetermining which printer is which by the name you use for it – e.g. “HP DeskJet 1220C Printer on Ne01:”

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I found this…….
“The ulpt driver provides support for USB printers that follow the printer bi- or uni-directional protocol. The bits in the minor number select various features of the driver.” here and a general explanation of the USB port assignment process here.

Hope this helps or provides some direction. I’m hopelessly out of my depth in this area !!

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Thanks to all for trying to help solve this riddle. Unfortunately, I’m still at a total loss on understanding the Ne# settings.

Thanks again,
BH Davis

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I, too, am out of my element but want to offer this idea. I suspect that there may be either an OS, CMOS, or H/W setting(s) where you can choose between static or dynamic ne#’s. Obviously, the OS is able to distinguish between printers regardless of the NE# so this ability must be available to the developer/user. Then, again, I could be (am probably) wrong.

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I, too, am out of my element but want to offer this idea. I suspect that there may be either an OS, CMOS, or H/W setting(s) where you can choose between static or dynamic ne#’s. Obviously, the OS is able to distinguish between printers regardless of the NE# so this ability must be available to the developer/user. Then, again, I could be (am probably) wrong.

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