LPT1 Printer Port disappeared

[Michelle]

How do I get LPT1 printer port to appear in the list of
printer ports?
Mysteriously, LPT1 disappeared one day and I could not
print. No error message appeared and the jobs just sat
in the queue until I deleted them.

I deleted the print jobs and the printer in an attempt to
reinstall. The reinstall consistantly failed. Everytime
I tried to boot the computer it would automatically
detect and try to reinstall but in the end fail... it
would say printer name invalid.

Further reasearch disclosed that my BIOS is correct: ECP
mode at address 378h.
I removed the printer port from the device manager,
rebooted and it came back as LPT1 only in the device
manager, not in the printer properties dialog. However,
the only way I could successfully install the printer is
if I change it to LPT2 in the device manager.

Simply put, how do I get LPT1 back in the list of printer
ports? Adding a local port does not work, I keep getting
the add printer wizard at restart.

 

[Jim Clark]

These are the steps that solved my problem, hope it helps.

(Thanks to Wallace Fu at Microsoft Online Partner Support)

Navigate to HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows
NT\CurrentVersion\Ports, is
there a registry value named LPT1: listed in the right
pane?

If not, please
follow the steps below to recreate it:

1). Run services.msc to open up the Services console, and
then stop the
Print Spooler service.

2). Under the HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows
NT\CurrentVersion\Ports
registry key, right click on Ports on the left and create
a new string.
Call it LTP1: . Close regedit

3). Restart the Print Spooler Service.

4). Check to see if the port is recreated.