Parallel port dongle lost-Cant install EDA software without it-Any workarounds?

[djsb]

I have a legitimate copy of Microsim PSpice with product key and installation disk. The software installs something called HASP and asks me to plug in the parallel port dongle that originally came with the software (which I can't find at the moment). I'm guessing that it writes to the parallel port and also reads back, how the pins on the port are hard-wired. I don't have a PC with a parallel port, but I can install a card if I need to. Problem is are these genuine parallel ports or emulated ones. It seems that the old laptop I've tried to install it on installs HASP fine and does not complain that there is no actual LPT port on the laptop. This is probably because the address used by the LPT port is present, but just not being used by actual hardware.
Does anyone know of any software that can intercept any signals sent to or read from the parallel port on a PC internally. I could probably write something in assembly language (or even BASIC) if I needed to. Any ideas?

PS This is just something that I'd like to do but it's not the end of the world if I cant get it to work. The software is from the late 1990's but could be useful. I'm trying to install it on windows 7 and the setup runs fine. Just refuses to install when it detects no dongle. No sign of the dongle so far. I remember that it was a centronics style plug in adaptor. I might turn up but not holding my breath.

[Psi]

I doubt it reads how the port is hard wired. More likely there is a chip in the dongle and the app queries with some random data and checks the result matches some formula.

You can get modern PCI/PCIe cards that will give the PC a proper hardware based printer port.
But you need an OS that still supports printer ports, i don't think win10 does. but i cant say i've checked
And of course you need the dongle

[brucehoult]

You can patch out either the conditional branch that says good/bad or NOP the whole function call.

Back in the 90s I made good consulting money doing this for typically pre-press companies that had a shedload of genuine paid for software and a long daisy chain of stacked ADB dongles on each workstation. The whole thing rapidly got unwieldy and unreliable.

I typically just used a standard debugger for that -- or Steve Jasik's MacNosy -- but these days Ghidra is an amazing tool.  It also helps vastly when they leave the debugging symbols in the program, and there is a function with a name like "checkDongle()".

[tooki]

Back in the 90s I made good consulting money doing this for typically pre-press companies that had a shedload of genuine paid for software and a long daisy chain of stacked ADB dongles on each workstation. The whole thing rapidly got unwieldy and unreliable.

Heh, remember when Quark shipped out iMate USB-ADB converters to Xpress customers because they still hadn’t figured out how to do a USB dongle?