The partitions are separate- you can have all the drivers installed on your XP partition, this won't make a difference to your DOS partition.
Additionally, I might add that there is really no such thing as a "Dos printer" driver- each application, Word for DOS, Works, WordStar, etc, uses it's own Printer Drivers. If there are no printer drivers for the Printer for the application you have to settle for some generic printer model (or in some cases an earlier version).
For most DOS programs Printers are selected during SETUP, and there are a number of ways of adding them afterward, which would require the installation disks- (or possibly an alternate download of the appropriate drivers).
Thanks for your contribution BC.
Well the riddle to be solved is that these programs have functioned in the Compaq for 5+ years and were installed from the original disks... so the drivers MUST be there somewhere! During the installation [and in an attempt to solve the problem] I have re-selected the HP lllP printer in WS and WsWin and this is displayed when I attempt to print. AND I have managed to print from these programs in the Dell GX280... ONCE! ... therefore they are residing in the programs BUT CANNOT ACCESS THE DRIVERS. So [in my ignorance] I am assuming that there may be something in the HP lllP that is blocking access.
btw: The Foxbase program was obtained from a 'friendly' programmer and just consists of a copy... and I have had this for some 20+ years. And 'setup' is just to make a Directory 'Fox' and copy these files into that Directory and modify the Autoexec.bat file by setting it in the Path... And WHY am I getting a similar message from Foxbase?
And these messages are also coming from the Compaq...
13:06 GMT - PROGRESS REPORTLoaded Dos partition, turned on printer and entered the "dir c:\> prn" command at C:\
The lights on the printer turned on at ONLINE and FORM FEED but nothing printed out.
Then went into Foxbase and printed a .dbf file... the printer activated and BOTH reports printed on a single sheet!
Then went into WS and Voila! a txt file also printed.
Then loaded WsWin... and when attempted to print a sheet got a message:
"The printer on LPT1 is out of paper or is not connected to your computer. Check the printer cable or network connection to make sure the printer is connected, or refresh the paper supply. Then resume the print queue."
Looked into Print Manager : " The HP LaserJet lllP on LPT1 (Local) is STALLED."
Exited WsWin and printed a couple of documents in WS and Foxbase... again attempted to print in WsWin and this time No Message... However the HP printer went Off Line and attempt to get it working by pressing Menu, Enter etc got a message in the printer window 'LOAD Paper'... So turned off the printer and on again to reset settings....
Exited Dos and went into XP and here also got a similar message when attempting to print a document as I got in WsWin... Looked into the Print Manager and saw some half a dozen documents in the queue... Deleted the documents... turned printer off and on and was then able to print documents normally.
So any guesses as to what is the problem? In WsWin or the HP lllP? Perhaps a new parallel cable for the printer?