Redirecting the Results of Pressing the PRINT SCREEN Key (32038)



The information in this article applies to:
    Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 1.x
    Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 2.11
    Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 3.1
    Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 3.2
    Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 3.21
    Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 3.3
    Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 3.3a
    Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 4.0
    Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 5.0
    Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 5.0a
    Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 6.0
    Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 6.2
    Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 6.21
    Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 6.22

This article was previously published under Q32038

SUMMARY

When the PRINT SCREEN key is pressed, an interrupt occurs that dumps the contents of the screen to the printer. This interrupt (INT 05h) is not an MS-DOS interrupt; it is a ROM-BIOS interrupt.

The MS-DOS MODE command can redirect the MS-DOS file handle and FCB output sent to the LPT1: device to a serial device (that is, COM1 or COM2).

However, MS-DOS has no way to redirect the output generated by pressing the PRINT SCREEN key, which by default goes to the device referred to as LPT1:. The only way to redirect the output to another serial or parallel port is to use a public-domain utility designed for this purpose. Public- domain utilities are available that redirect printer output (including output generated by pressing the PRINT SCREEN key) to a file and to another parallel port.

Modification Type: Major Last Reviewed: 5/12/2003
Keywords: KB32038