Knowledge Base

How to Print Windows NT 4.0 EMF Spool Files

Article ID: 179774

Article Last Modified on 2/23/2007

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This article was previously published under Q179774

SUMMARY

When troubleshooting printing problems with Windows NT 4.0 or Windows 2000, it may become necessary to capture the .spl file from a particular print job for later examination and test printing. When you to copy this file to a Windows NT 4.0 or Windows 2000 print queue, the output from the printer may come out as a mixture of text and printable and nonprintable extended ASCII codes. This is most likely because the file was spooled in the EMF format.

MORE INFORMATION

To force Windows NT or Windows 2000 to print a .spl file using EMF, follow these steps:

  1. Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Printers.
  2. Right-click the printer in question and then click Properties.
  3. On the General tab (the Advanced tab in Windows 2000), click Print Processor.
  4. If the option for Always Spool RAW Datatype is selected, click to clear the check box (Windows NT 4.0 only).
  5. Change the Default Datatype to NT EMF 1.003, 1.006, 1.007, or 1.008.
After the print processor is switched to EMF, use the following steps to print the .spl file:

  1. Click Start, point to Programs, and then click MS-DOS Command Prompt.
  2. Change to the folder where the .spl file is located.
  3. Use the following command to copy the spool file to the printer in question:

    copy 00002.spl \\<server_name>\<print_queue_name>
  4. After the SPL file is printed, switch the Default Datatype back to the original value. The default value is RAW.
When printing from one computer running Windows NT 4.0 to another, Windows NT will still negotiate an EMF file even if the Default Datatype option is set to RAW. This will only happen if the receiving workstation or server can support EMF 1.003 and if the printing application has the ability to use EMF. The reason that this is done is so that the operating system can return control to the application that requested the print faster.

To override the negotiation of an EMF file and always printing using RAW format, use the following steps:

  1. Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Printers.
  2. Right-click the print queue in question, and then click Properties.
  3. Click the General tab, and then click Print Processor.
  4. Select the Always Spool RAW Datatype option.
For more information about the enhanced metafile formatting of spool files in Windows NT 4.0, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

ARTICLE-ID: 155676
TITLE : Enhanced Metafile Spooling Architecture in Windows NT 4.0


Additional query words: 4SPL Meta File format print architecture

Keywords: kbhowto kbprint KB179774


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