I have generally been happy with 3.1.0.
However, today I have discovered the loss of a mission-critical function. I need to be able to print from the XP VM via USB. The reason for this is that it is the only way certain drivers can be used with an old DOS application so that the printer codes get interpreted properly. This issue has been the subject of several threads on this board and has been discussed in great detail. I took me an extremely long time to figure out how to get the function working in the first place.
Today when I first tried to connect the USB printer, I got a message suggesting that I should use shared printing. This of course will not work in this application. I clicked to connect to the USB printer. After this apparently did not work, I went in to the USB devices again in the VMWare Virtual Machine and the USB device is no longer listed.
This effectively kills a mission-critical application.
I am willing to bet fifty cents that the first three responses would be "don't use USB printing, just use the much better, much easier, blah, blah, blah standard printing. PLEASE do not respond in such as way. It WILL NOT WORK, because while it works to connect the printer, the device drivers needed will not work, and the printing comes out wrong. The only way I have been able to get the DOS app to print with its device driver is via the following kluge:
where XP-IE8 is the name of the VM
and BrotherM is the share name of the printer connected to the USB port
So if you are going to suggest using the standard printing methods, it will have to accommodate both printing from a DOS app, and sending printer codes.
The above has worked very reliably for quite a long time, and I am unhappy that this method has apparently been taken away.
Before opening a support ticket, I am posting this here to see if anyone has any suggestions.
