Virtual LPT1 (Parallel) Port

[Raymond Burns]

Is there any way that I can pass through a parallel port that doesn't exist? My host server does not have any parallel ports, but I need to use a parallel port and spool to my network printer in order to print from a very intricate and important DOS program.
I tried

qm set 123 -parallel /dev/null

Of course that didn't work because that would have been too easy.
Any assistance is appreciated... remember, I have no /dev/parport*

 

[mir]

Maybe this can be used: http://pyserial.sourceforge.net/pyparallel.html

 

[Raymond Burns]

Must this be installed on the Host or the Guest?
Is there any way to set it to a port that I will never use, such as serial? Again, I will not passthrough any real information, but I need Windows to see a physical port in order to spool LPT1 to Network Printer

 

[Raymond Burns]

This issue is Xen Citrix Server does it automatically, even when a parallel port is not present. We are migrating away from XEN, and now are presented with an issue since our Windows VM's cannot print from the DOS program

 

[mir]

Since this is a virtual device it could be installed either on the host or in the VM. For simplicity I would choose the VM to avoid messing with pass-through. Also installing it in the VM means you will be able to live migrate the VM.

 

[Raymond Burns]

I'm not really sure what to do with that. It seems to need to be compiled in Windows???