To allow the regular domain users to install the printers in Windows 7 without having admin privileges on a 2k3 domain you will need to add a couple of keys in the registry on the users workstations.

Import this in the registry:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows NT\Printers\PointAndPrint]
"Restricted"=dword:00000001
"TrustedServers"=dword:00000001
"ServerList"="FullyQualifiedPrintServerName1;FullyQualifiedPrintServerName2"
"InForest"=dword:00000000
"NoWarningNoElevationOnInstall"=dword:00000001
"UpdatePromptSettings"=dword:00000002





http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/el-GR/w7itpronetworking/thread/532e101e-424d-45c8-b984-1adf33d9744d


To allow the regular domain users to install the printers in Windows 7 without having admin privileges on a 2k3 domain you will need to add a couple of keys in the registry on the users workstations. We do this on a 300+ machine domain using Group Policy > Computer Configuration >Windows Settings >Scripts>Startup We have a batch file that picks up various machine level fixes and patches that we want to push out.

Here is the important pieces for the Windows 7 printer issue i am giving two examples one .Reg file and the other a .VBS file

Start of Reg file

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\DriverInstall\Restrictions]
"AllowUserDeviceClasses"=dword:00000001

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\DriverInstall\Restrictions\AllowUserDeviceClasses]
"1"="{6BDD1FC6-810F-11D0-BEC7-08002BE2092F}"
"2"="{48721B56-6795-11D2-B1A8-0080C72E74A2}"
"3"="{49CE6AC8-6F86-11D2-B1E5-0080C72E74A2}"
"4"="{4658EE7E-F050-11D1-B6BD-00C04FA372A7}"
"5"="{4D36E971-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}"
"6"="{4D36E979-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}"

End of Reg file

1 is Imaging devices Device Class GUID

2 is IEEE 1284.4 devices Device Class GUID

3 is IEEE 1284.4 compatible printer Device Class GUID

4 is IEEE 1394 and SCSI printers Device Class GUID

5 is Multifunction adapters Device Class GUID

6 is Printers Device Class GUID

If you search the registry for the GUID's above you will see that they correspond with what I have listed.

Here is the same thing under VBS Script.

Start VBS file

Option Explicit

Dim Shell, WshShell
Set WshShell = CreateObject( "WScript.Shell" )

WshShell.RegWrite "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\DriverInstall\Restrictions\AllowUserDeviceClasses", "00000001","REG_DWORD"
WshShell.RegWrite "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\DriverInstall\Restrictions\AllowUserDeviceClasses\1", "{6BDD1FC6-810F-11D0-BEC7-08002BE2092F}","REG_SZ"
WshShell.RegWrite "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\DriverInstall\Restrictions\AllowUserDeviceClasses\2", "{48721B56-6795-11D2-B1A8-0080C72E74A2}","REG_SZ"
WshShell.RegWrite "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\DriverInstall\Restrictions\AllowUserDeviceClasses\3", "{49CE6AC8-6F86-11D2-B1E5-0080C72E74A2}","REG_SZ"
WshShell.RegWrite "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\DriverInstall\Restrictions\AllowUserDeviceClasses\4", "{4658EE7E-F050-11D1-B6BD-00C04FA372A7}","REG_SZ"
WshShell.RegWrite "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\DriverInstall\Restrictions\AllowUserDeviceClasses\5", "{4D36E971-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}","REG_SZ"
WshShell.RegWrite "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\DriverInstall\Restrictions\AllowUserDeviceClasses\6", "{4D36E979-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}","REG_SZ"

End VBS File