A PRN file is a type of file that can be read by printers. It’s basically a generic output file that printers can understand. Sometimes you will end up with one of these files and need to print it.
You used to be able to print these files to your local printer by using the command COPY /B C:\FILENAME.PRN LPT1:. These days, printers are not attached to LPT1 anymore. USB cables are used instead. So you have to use the network method in order to print the file. Here’s how to do this in Windows.
Option 1 – Using Software
If you need to print the PRN file to Windows Printer or other formats, such as PDF, EPS, PS, XPS, PCL, EMF, etc. formats, you can use following two software to finish this work,
1. You can use VeryPDF SPL to PDF Converter Command Line to convert from PRN files to PDF files first,
https://www.verypdf.com/app/hookprinter/spool-spl-to-pdf-converter.html
spl2pdf.exe D:\test.prn D:\out.pdf
spl2pdf.exe D:\test.spl D:\out.pdf
2. You can use VeryPDF PDFPrint Command Line to print PDF files to Windows Printer,
https://www.verypdf.com/app/pdf-print-cmd/try-and-buy.html
pdfprint.exe D:\test.pdf
pdfprint.exe -printtofile C:\out.pcl -printer "HP PCL Printer" C:\input.pdf
Print XPS file to PDF, PCL, XPS and other formats:
pdfprint.exe D:\VeryPDF.xps
pdfprint.exe -printtofile D:\downloads\out.spl D:\VeryPDF.xps
pdfprint.exe -printer "VeryPDF Postscript Writer" -printtofile D:\downloads\out.ps D:\VeryPDF.xps
pdfprint.exe -printer "Adobe PDF" -printtofile D:\downloads\out.pdf D:\VeryPDF.xps
pdfprint.exe -printer "VeryPDF PCL Writer" -printtofile D:\downloads\out.pcl D:\VeryPDF.xps
pdfprint.exe -printer "Microsoft XPS Document Writer" -printtofile D:\downloads\out.xps D:\VeryPDF.xps
pdfprint.exe -printer "docPrint" -printtofile D:\downloads\out.emf D:\VeryPDF.xps
Print XPS file to PDF file:
pdfprint.exe -printer "PDFcamp Printer" -printtofile D:\downloads\out.pdf D:\VeryPDF.xps
Print PDF file to XPS file:
pdfprint.exe -printer "Microsoft XPS Document Writer" -printtofile D:\downloads\out.xps D:\VeryPDF.pdf
With above two products, you can print PRN, SPL, PDF, EPS, PS, Image, etc. formats to Windows Printer and other formats easily.
Option 2 – Using Commands in Windows
1. Share the printer on the network. If the printer you are using is already on a network such as your company network, skip this step.
2. Now we have to find the network path to your printer. If the printer you wish to print to is a company shared network printer that is not attached to your computer, it should have the server name and printer name under your list of Printers. It will say something like printername on PrintServer or LaserJet on PrintServer. So the path to these printers would be \\PrintServer\printername and \\PrintServer\LaserJet respectively.
3. If the printer is attached to your PC, the path will be the computer name and then the name of the printer. You can find your computer name by right-clicking My Computer and selecting Properties under the Computer Name tab. The name of the printer can be found under Printers in Windows by right clicking on the printer and selecting Properties. The printername is in the top field. So if my computer name is TP123 and the printer name is LaserJet, the path would be \\TP123\LaserJet.
4. Armed with this information, we can then go to Start > Run and use this command to copy the file to the printer. This command assumes the PRN file is located on the root of the C drive:
COPY /B C:\FILENAME.PRN \\TP123\LaserJet
The printer should then print out the contents of the PRN file.