Dont think there was ever an option during the install for printer port, if there was i dont recall seing it. Maybe what you are thinking of is if you upgrade a version and you have for example modbus enabled, when you fiirst start Mach again you will be asked if you want to run in a few different modes, one being parallel port.
Make sure you have the correct address set for the parallel port, if you swapped over your xml file from the laptop there is a chance it used a different address for the port.
Hood