FAQ

There are many things that control a connection for Anzio Lite and AnzioWin. This includes network devices, the host application, the host operating system, user login scripts, Microsoft Windows settings and more.

Telnet and Secure Shell (SSH) connections are stateful connections and must be up and available whenever a character of any type is passed either direction. If not, the user's connection can be dropped and thus, depending on the settings in Anzio, the Anzio window may close. This type of failure usually indicates some network or server action timed out, or the network connection was not available.

This is different than how the FTP (file transfer) or HTTP (web browser) protocol behaves, these protocols simply try to reconnect since no login is necessary.

These type of dropped connections are most often seen when connecting over the Internet through an ISP (Internet Service Provider). They can also occur when a hub, router or network switch is not properly configured or when one of these devices is beginning to fail (generating errors). There are some options a user can do to try to get around the issues:

1. Contact your ISP and let them know you are doing telnet or secure shell connections and the connections are dropping (if you get the right tech person, he/she will know what is miss-set in your connection to them).
2. Check your devices in-house and see if one of them is getting errors in their log file. If they are unmanaged devices, switch ports and see if the problem moves.
3. Make sure the host system is not timing out. There should not be a "tmout" or "tout" inside your host script files (.profile or login scripts). Also make sure the host and PC network cards are not generating any network errors.
4. Try setting the "Stay Alive" parameter (available in version 15 or later). Check under the Communications menu and Network : Stay Alive. This option, when set greater than zero, will send a single empty packet over the network stating that Anzio is still alive and working (typically set this for 30 seconds). However, setting this option too low may only show the problem earlier and more often and not really hide it. Again this option is masking some other problem or misconfiguration, but it will help in about 80% of the cases.

Check out the following pages for more information:

• A Guide to Telnet
• Troubleshooting a Telnet Connection
• Connections Timing Out

Several items can cause this behavior. If Anzio should try to connect, then flash off, or you get a "runtime" error, or you get passed the login, but Anzio disappears, there are several possibilities:

• The host has a user limit in effect
• The host name or address is wrong
• The port you are trying to connect to at the host is incorrect
• The default file is corrupt
• You have selected the wrong terminal type for your host login or your host application
• A router with port forwarding is limited to a single user and already in use
• The login you used is limited to one connection and is already logged in

For any of these, check to make sure you have set up Anzio correctly for your host connection (correct port, correct host name or IP address, correct terminal type and correct login). If all else fails, you can try clearing out the default file for Anzio and reset the startup settings:

1) Look under the Windows Start menu and All Programs for the Anzio folder. Inside this folder you should see the item "AnzioWin (new connection)" or "Anzio Lite (new connection)". Run the appropriate menu item to start Anzio without a default file.

2) If Anzio was working but is not now, try renaming or deleting the file "anziowin.def" located in the same directory as the executable. By doing this you will have to re-enter all your initial values, but it should clear up the bad record.

3) You can also accomplish the same thing as above by starting AnzioWin or Anzio Lite from the Start:Run dialog by entering:

c:\anzio126\anzio32.exe none         or c:\anzio126\anzio32r.exe none

The word "none" will start Anzio without a default file. You can then save the new settings over the top of the old when you exit, thereby replacing the bad default file.

Yes, we have AnzioWin and Anzio Lite running on many terminal servers around the marketplace. The only catch, similar to running from a file server (see above), is manually setting up shortcuts and making sure default files are referenced and read-only as necessary. As for entering a serial number/activation code for each workstation, this may not be necessary. We do have a method of accessing a global license entry - call for more information. Note that AnzioWin and Anzio Lite are licensed on a per-workstation base, a single license for each node accessing it from a terminal server, not one license per server, but one license per workstation.

Yes it can. In brief, you install Anzio on the file server and then set up shortcuts on the individual PCs which are sharing the file server's disk, to point at the Anzio software.

You can set up individual default files (if you do, reference them on the shortcut command line, e.g., "N:\Program Files (x86)\Anzio17\anzio32.exe" my.def) or let Anzio use its common default file name ("anziowin.def" for both AnzioWin and Anzio Lite), by just referencing the executable.

Or you can have all the instances of Anzio share a common settings file on a network drive (e.g., "N:\Program Files (x86)\Anzio17\anzio32.exe" N:\settings\standard.def). In this last case, you may want to make standard.def a read-only file to prevent one user from changing settings.

More details on Anzio's command line parameters are in the Anzio manual, section 10.2.

Note that AnzioWin and Anzio Lite are licensed on a per-workstation basis.

Yes, under the View menu in AnzioWin and Anzio Lite, you can set the particular screen size and font according to your own preferences. Also note that you can zoom (maximize) the window, in which case Anzio uses the full screen and auto-adjusts the font size to fit to the screen resolution. If the window is NOT zoomed, you can set the font size, and the window size will follow. You can also walk through screen font changes quickly by doing an Alt-L (for "larger", to step up one size), Alt-S ("smaller", step down one size) and Alt-Z (to zoom to full screen).

Your choice of font (in View:Screen font) is critical. You will almost certainly want to choose a fixed-space font, such as Courier New, Lucida Console, or Terminal. We recommend Courier New.

You can also choose your Screen Size, which is the number of rows and columns of characters to be displayed. Note that this may have to be coordinated with the host system. And the host system may periodically send out control sequences to switch from 80-column to 132-column modes, for instance.

Anzio keeps track separately, for 80-column and 132-column modes, of your preferred settings for zoom and character size.

Colors can be manipulated through the View:Colors setting. With this option you can select how each possible attribute from the host appears on the screen, i.e. reverse, blink, underline, etc. Color codes can be translated into a color combination by selecting the code to change, followed by the color from the color table. Whenever the host sends this attribute again, the colors will change (you must repaint the screen for this to take affect).

Be sure after making any of the above changes, that you do File:Save Settings again.

The Print Wizard engine is designed to be fully functional through the use of print profiles and command-line switches.

• You can run Print Wizard through a shell execute or Exec command. With the "/q" command-line switch to prevent any dialogs from appearing and will return error codes to the hosting application.
• You can run Print Wizard from a file association by specifying a specific extension as being printed with Print Wizard (see the Print Wizard manual on setting it up as a File Association). Then you simply start the file through a shell execute or Exec command.
• You can include Print Wizard in a script that runs from your program, returning an error code if the print job should fail.
• You can run the Print Wizard DLL, calling the various methods exposed to allow Print Wizard to handle all your printing needs.
• You can run the Print Wizard ActiveX module from your program. WePO exposes a subset of the Print Wizard calls, allowing you to use it in your .NET or Windows application.

At present, Print Wizard does not support COM or DDE directly. We are working on this for the future. If you have any need let us know.

Print Wizard supports several graphics file formats, including the option to print them at true size or at full page, stretching as needed. The possible formats are TIFF, JPG, GIF, WMF or BMP.

As with mobile devices, there has not been much request for terminal emulation on Apple Macintosh operating system. Currently Anzio Lite and AnzioWin are Windows-only applications. However, we have had a fair number of users running Anzio Lite and AnzioWin under various Windows emulation products for the Mac. Check out our knowledgebase article on Running Anzio on a Mac for more information.

Anzio Lite and AnzioWin are Windows-only applications and will not run on  Windows CE, Windows Mobile, Windows Phone, or other mobile "smart" devices. These devices' small screens would make them very tedious to use for full-screen applications.

We also do not have a product for the iPad or iPhone, or for any Android device.

We have no current plans to develop for any of these devices.

You might consider, instead, a Windows based tablet. Another option is to run a remote desktop application, such as GoToMyPC or LogMeIn on the device, in order to connect to your office PC. On that PC, run Anzio.

Yes it does, but there is a little more to it than that. Within SCO, the terminal type dictates if 'mscreen' will work properly. See our document on Using Anzio with 'mscreen'.

It is not uncommon for the host to generate a beep for certain events. Anzio Lite and AnzioWin both utilize the default sound settings in Windows. But what if you do not have speakers hooked up? You can go to Advanced Options and force Anzio to use the PC Speaker, rather than whatever default Windows has set. Check out our Sound Support page for more information. In early versions of AnzioWin and Anzio Lite, we added support for sound cards in those cases where there was not a PC speaker. In order to do this, we utilize some of the Windows Theme sounds. In Windows XP and later versions of Windows 2000, a sound for a theme may no longer exist in that theme. Look in "Advanced Options" under the Edit menu and see what the "Beep Type" is set for. If it is set for "400" or "440", and you are having problems with AnzioWin / Anzio Lite freezing or hanging up, try changing selecting a different sound.

The easiest way to do this requires a USB memory device, often known as a "thumb drive". Bring up Anzio Lite or AnzioWin on a PC where it works properly. Insert the thumb drive in a USB port on that PC, and note its drive letter. In Anzio, go to the File menu, then click on "Save settings as" (or "Save defaults as").  In the File Save dialog that pops up, navigate to the thumb drive, and save it there with a ".DEF" file extension.

In the "tray notification area" in the lower right part of the Windows screen, find and use the item to "safely remove" the thumb drive. After Windows gives its OK, remove the thumb drive.

Go to the new PC (or the one having problems). Insert the thumb drive. Bring up Anzio Lite or AnzioWin. Click on the File menu, then "Import settings". Navigate to the thumb drive, find the settings file, and click "Open". Anzio will read those settings into memory, and prompt you to restart Anzio. Say "Yes". You'll be prompted to save your settings on the hard disk of the PC -- do so. That should take care of it, although you may want to check your Printer Setup settings.

(If your File menu doesn't contain "Import settings", you are probably due for an update to Anzio.)

AnzioWin and Anzio Lite work well with terminal servers and in running them from file servers. However, do remember that AnzioWin and Anzio Lite licenses are on a per PC user. On a file server or terminal server this refers to the number of nodes that will have access to the server.

In order to set AnzioWin or Anzio Lite up to run from the server, install the product on the server and permit access to the users. That's it! Well almost. Two things that may be a headache:

1. Anzio looks for its default file, called AnzioWin.def, within the Anzio program's home directory. You can set every user up to use this default file by simply saving it as you'd like and then marking the file as "read-only" so not everyone can change it and affect others. OR you can set up individual anziowin.def files in user directories and when you create the shortcut, include the file name (see 3 below).
2. Anzio requires a registration/activation license code in order to run. You can purchase individual licenses for each user, one quantity license to share among each user, or you can install the license on the server (saving from having to enter it for each user). If you wish to do this last option, give us a call and we can let you know how to do set it up for a server.
3. You do need to create the shortcuts on each users desktop. With most server software, you can do this easily. If you need to give each user access to their own default file, it may take a little more work. A shortcut can point to individual default files by doing

<executable name>  <default file name>

  such as

f:\anzio126\anzio32r.exe $UserHomeDir\anziowin.def

Anzio, and telnet in general, is a connection oriented protocol, requiring the connection remain up during a session's duration. However, network devices, traffic, auto-disconnects, etc., can cause the connection to be lost. Neither Anzio nor Windows has an auto-disconnect feature, but are dependent on the network staying active.

Sometimes you can fine tune the TCP/IP parameters to not respond quite so quickly or to retry more often before determining a connection as severed.

With the latest versions of Anzio Lite and AnzioWin (version 12.5 or later), you can also set an option that will occasionally send a single keep-alive packet to the host. In most cases this will work fine in keeping a connection open, especially over the Internet. However, remember that in doing this you are actually hiding some other issue that may cause problems down the road.

This option can be set in version 12.5 by doing a hexpatch command to the default file:

f                                                  (to get to the Function line) HEXPATCH 18c2 05

To use this feature in version 12.6 or later, go to Communicate:Network:Stay Alive, and enter an interval in seconds.

The simplest way is to lay out your print document and print to a PCL 5 or earlier printer driver. When you do this, go into the printer driver and select "Print to file". It should ask you for a file name that can then be saved off for future use.

Even if you do not have a PCL printer, you can install a PCL printer driver to generate print files from. Do an "Add printer" and select an H/P printer that supports the level of PCL you want. Then set the "Print to file" flag and use it to print through. The PCL file can then be used for subsequent printing, for overlays or for other reasons.

The Print Wizard engine allows you to convert any printable file into a PDF file by simply printing it with the appropriate switch settings:

Printwiz.exe /pdf /fFilename.pdf myfilename Printwiz.exe /fpdf:// myfilename Printwiz.exe /fpdf://myfilename myfilename

You can also generate PDF files through the user interface menu items.

This is not as easy as creating a PCL file. A SPL file is created when a print job spools out what is called EMF files to the printer spooler.

First locate the spool directory, usually "\windows\system32\spool\printers". Under Windows NT, it may instead be "\winnt\system32\spool\printers" or "\winnt\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print\Printers". On some versions you can configure Windows to use a different directory for all printers, or for a specific printer.

To find your PC's general spool directory:

• Go to the Control Panel
• Click on "Printers" or "Printers and Faxes"
• In the File menu, click on "Server Properties"
• Click on "Advanced"
• Note what is in "Spool folder".

If in the steps below you fail to find a particular spool file, you may want to check the Windows Registry, under one of the following areas:

• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Print\Printers\DefaultSpoolDirectory
• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print\Printers\specific printer name\SpoolDirectory

Now capture the SPL file.

• Open the Control Panel's "Printers" or "Printers and Faxes" applet.
• Double-click the icon for the printer in question. Ideally, there will be no print jobs showing.
• From the Printer menu, choose "Pause printing".
• Print the document you want to capture, on the chosen printer, using whatever Windows software is appropriate. You should see the print job show up in the printer window on your screen.
• Look in the spooler directory as identified previously. You should find a file with a ".SPL" extension (hopefully only one). Copy this file to some other location on your computer.
• In the printer's window, cancel the print job.

See our document on Using Anzio to Connect to Multiple Host Systems. This will describe how to set Anzio up for multiple host connections.

Printer errors, especially those in the 5000 range, usually indicate that we are sending data to the printer that the printer cannot understand. A good example would be sending PCL codes to a non-PCL printer or sending Okidata escape sequences to an H/P Laserjet, or sending raw data to a Windows-only-printer.

By default, the Print Wizard engine will determine if the file contains printer-specific escape sequences and then try to send the data in either spooler or raw print level. Many Windows-only printers cannot accept raw data and this will cause a printer error.

Likewise, if Print Wizard determines the file has Okidata escape sequences in the data stream, and you try to print it on an H/P Laserjet, the printer driver will generate an error.

You can contact us to look up and send you your license information. We will need the company name it was purchased under. If you have the serial number, please provide that. If you know you purchased through a reseller, please provide that information.

However, we would encourage you, in this situation, to purchase an update to the current version. For Anzio Lite, one copy is only $20. In fact, if you have moved to a Vista or Windows 7or 8 PC and you had a license earlier than 16, we will require you to update, as earlier versions of Anzio are not supported on these later versions of Windows.

You can order updates online. Be sure to indicate that they are updates.

Anzio uses a settings file that typically has a ".def" extension. The default name of the settings file is "anziowin.def" (even if you're using Anzio Lite). If you have reason to believe that your settings file has been overwritten or otherwise changed, the easiest way to resolve that problem is to rebuild the settings file.

From the Start button or desktop, select "Anzio... (new connection)". When prompted to import a settings file, answer "No". Answer the configuration questions as they are asked. Complete your connection. Exit from the host connection and quit Anzio. When prompted to save settings, do so.

Note: the company that provides or supports the host application (that Anzio connects to) might have told you what you should select for various settings, especially "Terminal type" and "Host name or IP address". We recommend you follow their instructions.

There are several files that get installed and uninstalled through the AnzioWin and Anzio Lite setup program.

As long as you are working in English and under a standard Windows code page, the only file really necessary to run AnzioWin or Anzio Lite, is the executable file.

See "How to remove a corrupt file"

"bang" commands are commands that can be included in a data stream that will change the behavior of Print Wizard in printing a portion of a file. Bang commands are discussed in detail in the Print Wizard manual.

You can split your data into multiple sections to be processed separate from other sections by including bang commands directly in the data stream. As an example, if I wanted to create a PDF of part of a file, fax another part of a file and email another part of a file, I could do this within one print job with bang commands.

Print Wizard version 3.0 introduced a new concept of 'print profiles'. Print profiles are settings that will be applied for each subsequent print job that includes that profile as a parameter.

Print profiles include information such as the printer to use, the various printer settings, number of copies to print, whether to print it, fax it, email it, etc. These can all be set up in the user interface by settings things the way you want and then saving your current settings, or by creating a profile from default settings and saving it.

Services are programs that run in the background and "watch" for events to happen. In the case of Print Wizard, this involves watching either for a print job to show up in a specific directory (despooling), or watching for a job to arrive over a network port.

Print Wizard supports two types of services, Foreground Services (previously known as Print Wizard Services) and Windows Services.

• Foreground Services are those that are run by a specific user, when logged in, watching for print jobs to appear. This does require the user to log in and start the Print Wizard Service. Alternately you could add the service to the Windows Startup folder and it would run in the background whenever the user logged in.
• Windows Services for Print Wizard are run from the Windows registry whenever the machine is actually booted up (you do not need to log a user in). These services are available for all users and will receive remote print jobs even if there is no user logged in. They normally run as a "Local System" user with very little permissions.

Both services are managed through the Print Wizard user interface. Refer to the Print Wizard manual for more information.

See "How to get rid of a corrupt file"

Print Wizard Personal Edition includes the basic of the user interface, the Print Wizard engine and the Print Wizard DLL. It does not support any remote or despool Print Wizard or Windows services.

The Service Edition is designed for those PCs that will be receiving print jobs from remote locations or despooling print jobs from a specific remote or local directory. Print Wizard Service Edition supports the Despool, FTPDespool, Listen and LPD protocols.

The demo version of Print Wizard includes all capabilities. If you have been working with the demo version and are ready to order, and you're wondering which version you need, the test is simple: if you're running a service, you need Service Edition.

Print Wizard supports several overlay files. The possible formats are a PWML file, a SPL file, an EMF file, a PCL file or a graphics file (TIFF, JPG, GIF, WMF or BMP).

AnzioWin and Anzio Lite will run on Windows XP and later. However, we no longer provide support for running any version of Anzio on Windows XP. To run on Vista or Windows 7, 8, 10, or 11, or equivalent versions of Windows Server, we support version 16.3m or later.

Both AnzioWin and Anzio Lite are 32-bit Windows programs, but run fine on either 32-bit or 64-bit versions of the above Windows platforms.

Print Wizard version 4 is supported on Windows Vista and later, including Server 2003 through 2012, Vista, Windows 7, 8, 8.1, 10, and Windows 11.

Print Wizard version 3 through 3.3 is supported on Windows XP and later. However, for Server 2008 through 2012, Vista, Windows 7, 8, and Windows 10 we require you to be on the latest release of 3.3.

Print Wizard is a 32-bit program. It will run fine on either 32-bit or 64-bit versions of the above platforms.

The first prompt ask for terminal type. The terminal type refers to the type of terminal the host is expecting you to be. Most UNIX hosts support vt220 and this is a good choice if you are unsure. However, certain applications may also expect you to be using a particular terminal type and will issue various escape sequences in anticipation of your session handling it correctly. If things do not look correct on the screen, or the screen does not clear as it should, it is probably the terminal type.

You then see a Communications Settings dialog box. This is asking you how you want to connect to the host computer. Choose one of the circles down the left side, and set the parameters next to it. If you are connecting over TCP/IP, then a host name is asked for. The host name is either the IP address of the host you wish to connect to, i.e. 213.213.213.232, or it is the actual name, i.e. library.linfield.edu. If you need to specify a non-standard port number, follow the name or IP address with a colon (":") and then the port number.

FAILURE TO CONNECT ANZIO TO RECENT LINUX VERSIONS
May 26, 2023

There are two known issues with recent versions of Anzio Lite and AnzioWin failing to connect via SSH to recent versions of different distributions of Linux. Both issues involve the host side system's SSH program (sshd) requiring a later, more secure version of a security protocol than we have built in to Anzio so far. Following are our known mitigation strategies.

THE FOLLOWING PROCEDURES ASSUME THAT ANZIO LITE OR ANZIOWIN IS AT LEAST VERSION 17.3.

We recommend trying solution 1) and then, if that doesn't work, solution 2).

1) SYSTEM-WIDE CRYPTOGRAPHIC POLICIES (SWCP)

Recent versions of RedHat and other Linuxes have added a layer of "System-wide cryptographic policies" (SWCP) that can place additional restrictions on SSH and other security protocols. The latest versions (17.3) of Anzio Lite and AnzioWin do not qualify for SWCP's DEFAULT mode restrictions, but DO qualify for LEGACY mode.

We advise searching for "update-crypto-policies" on your Linux distro's support forum. For example, we found this page on RedHat:
   https://www.redhat.com/en/blog/how-customize-crypto-policies-rhel-82

If your Linux supports SWCP, the following apparently works, according to our users. In a shell session with root privileges do:
      update-crypto-policies --set LEGACY

2) RSA HOST KEY ALGORITHM

In this case the host's default behavior is to disallow use of the RSA protocol in determining the host key algorithm. The problem is that Anzio does not yet support any later protocols of this kind.

To fix this:

Tell the host end of SSH, that is, sshd, that it should support ssh-rsa as a host key algorithm, as follows:

* Get to a Linux shell with root permissions.

* Identify which file controls the behavior of the SSH daemon. This is usually /etc/ssh/sshd_config .

* Make a backup copy of that file, in case something goes wrong.

* Add the one line:

   HostkeyAlgorithms +ssh-rsa

to the config file (such as at the very end of the file), then save the file.

* To make sshd adopt those changes, you can

a) reboot the server

OR

b) do the command
   service ssh reload

OR

c) find the first-level sshd process-ID (PID) using ps, and do

   kill -1 <PID>

where "<PID>" is the process-ID for the initial instance of sshd.

The sshd should now accept a connection from Anzio 17.3. If it does not, please send a copy of the contents of Diagnose:Debug Comunication.
 

NOTE: We do not plan on making further enhancements to Anzio or its security protocols.

Ordinarily, Anzio will ask this question whenever any settings have been changed.

If you have moved, resized, zoomed, or unzoomed the Anzio window, this will also constitute a change, if View:Track Window Position is checked. You can uncheck this item (and save your settings one more time), and then moving the window will not trigger this message.

You can also change how Anzio behaves in Edit:Advanced Options:Security, under "Prompt to save parameters".