PC Hardware in a Nutshell, 3rd Edition

Configuring parallel ports under Windows 9X

Windows 9X must be configured manually to use ECP, but supports ECP devices in any of the following five configurations:

Basic Configuration 0

Standard I/O ranges for LPT ports only

Basic Configuration 1

Standard I/O ranges for LPT ports and any IRQ

Basic Configuration 2

Standard I/O ranges for LPT ports, IRQ, and any DMA

Basic Configuration 3

Any I/O ranges for LPT ports only

Basic Configuration 4

Any I/O ranges for LPT ports and IRQ

To enable ECP support in Windows 9X, first use the system documentation, BIOS Setup, or a diagnostic utility to verify the IRQ and DMA settings assigned to the port you want to configure. In the Device Manager, expand the Ports (COM and LPT) item and display the Properties dialog for the port to be configured. On the Resources page, the Resource Settings pane shows the I/O port that was detected automatically and assigned to the device. Clear the Use automatic settings checkbox and use the Setting based on drop-down list to choose the appropriate Basic Configuration, according to whether the ECP port uses standard or custom settings. Change the Input/Output Range, IRQ, and/or DMA settings as needed to correspond to the port hardware configuration, save the changes, and restart Windows.