Windows 7 and Net Use syntax

Topic

New Reply

We’re running an old but critical DOS application on a Windows XP network. There is a label printer connected to the server that is accessed by networked computers. In order to do this, we’ve been using the following in a batch file: c:windowssystem32net use lpt1 \ServerLabel /y (The server is named Server and the printer is named Label).
We’ve now got a new Windows 7 machine that needs to access this printer, and apparently Net Use doesn’t work the way it used to. I’m a complete Win7 noob, but I understand that it’s possible. Does anyone have a clue what the syntax might be?

Reply | Quote

Replies

I don’t think the net use command is the issue. Do you have a PHYSICAL lpt1 port on this machine? if so you may have to disable it in device manager. As a test, does net use lpt2 or lpt3 work?

see the following thread

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/w7itpronetworking/thread/b33638c8-1032-4775-82e2-21f457cd0b70

Reply | Quote

The syntax looks pretty similar apart from the /y directive.

If you type in “net use /help” without quotes at a command prompt it will show you the syntax for the command.

Reply | Quote

What OS is “Server” running? How many active connections to Server?

Joe

--Joe

Reply | Quote

The server is running Windows Server 2003. Currently there’s only about 8 active connections. That shouldn’t be a problem anyway, because the Windows 7 machine is a direct swap for the XP box we took out.
Based on the link mercyh posted, I’ve revised the batch file to this: c:windowssystem32net use lpt1 \Serverlabel password /USER:workgroupusername
I’m getting a ‘System error 5 access denied’ message. Hey, that’s progress, right?
By the way, I can’t disable LPT1. There’s a necessary local printer there. This whole schmear used to work fine with the XP computer. Dang.

Reply | Quote

Can you test the syntax by using LPT2 ? This would ensure that the used LPT1 is not part of the problem.

Any special characters in that password? sometimes special characters are not passed correctly from the command line.

also I think the syntax is:

Code:

net use lpt1 \Serverlabel /USER:workgroupusername "password" 

instead of

Code:

net use lpt1 \Serverlabel password /USER:workgroupusername

Reply | Quote

If you just do:

net use lpt1 \Serverlabel /USER:workgroupusername

does it prompt for your password? and does it work when you input the password manually?

Be aware that if you get it to work once it will not work the second time until you disconnect it as you will already have a share mapped from that workstation to the server with that account.

Reply | Quote

Okay. I tried LPT2. That wouldn’t work. It couldn’t find the network connection.The
I tried it without the password and it DID prompt for the password. Strangely, it wouldn’t let me type anything in. At all. I finally hit ENTER and got an invalid password msg. The password is a 5-digit number – nothing fancy.
?????

Reply | Quote

Just type the password and press Enter – it’s not meant to show any characters for security reasons.

cheers, Paul

Reply | Quote

Thanks, Paul. Duh. Shoulda seen that. Even so, I still get a system error 5 – access denied. It IS the right name and password for that guy. Not sure what else to try, now. I hate to spend Friday this way.

Reply | Quote

Did you look into the third post on the link I gave above?

Reply | Quote

Thanks for getting back to me late on a Friday. I just got home so I don’t have access to the Win7 machine until Monday. I’ll try that first thing. You may have hit something. Thanks again. Have a great WE.

Reply | Quote

It sounds like you are almost there, but I suspect the sharing violation is due to the local lpt1 port – it is in use for the local printer.

To test that, try disabling the lpt1 port temporarily in the bios, or change it to lpt2. If that solves the problem then configure the local printer to lpt2.

If all else fails, implement XP mode on the Win 7 machine and install your legacy app there. Do the net use in the XP machine and publish the app to the Win7 desktop.

Jock

Reply | Quote

AHA! I believe I’ve at least isolated the problem. Typing NET USER at a command prompt shows that this ONE guy has a two word user name (Joe Smith). Everyone else is just Mary or Tom. I can’t make two names in the batch file work, but without them, the user is not recognized. Is there a way to fix this – either at the server or in the batch file?

Reply | Quote

AHA! I believe I’ve at least isolated the problem. Typing NET USER at a command prompt shows that this ONE guy has a two word user name (Joe Smith). Everyone else is just Mary or Tom. I can’t make two names in the batch file work, but without them, the user is not recognized. Is there a way to fix this – either at the server or in the batch file?

Did you try “Joe Smith” including the parentheses?

Reply | Quote

That would be including the quotation marks around the name not parenthises.

Joe

--Joe

Reply | Quote

That would be including the quotation marks around the name not parenthises.

Joe

Sorry, my bad English, quotation marks, of course.

Reply | Quote

to test if this is really the problem, try mapping it with Mary or Tom. I can think of two workarounds if the Parenthesis quotation trick doesn’t work.

1> change his user name to be a single word. (may have profile issues on the machine)
2> create a new user just for mapping this printer and use the new user’s creds. (may be a problem 2 years down the road when you change something and don’t remember what you did to get it working.)

Reply | Quote

Ripley – thanks. I should have mentioned that I tried the quotes. I get “The user context supplied is invalid”, even though it works fine with the NET USER command at the DOS prompt.

Mercyh – First, I did try that third suggestion that you mentioned on Friday. No go. As to the name change, When I check it on the Server, the Login Name is just the first name. Yet, the NET USER command only recognizes the full name in quotes. ??? I’m not familiar enough with Server 2003 to know what to change to accomplish what I need to (with the least amount of damage).

Reply | Quote

I am about out of tricks…….

sorry

Reply | Quote

Mercyh – Well, at least I’m pretty sure I know what the problem IS now, anyway – the server not accepting the login name. I’ll figure it out. You helped me get through the syntax and to eliminate some things it wasn’t. That’s huge. Thanks for sticking with this. Thanks to everyone who replied.

Reply | Quote