From what information you have give, I would suspect that you have a Group Policy issue. You didn't mention whether you were connected to a network or whether you had any admin privileges (on the local machine or domain). So, some further info foryou and a couple different routes to take:
I found 4 different Group Policy settings that could affect your ability to add a printer. If your are connected to network domain, there are 4 different levels at which each of these settings can be applied (policies can be applied at the local computer, site, domain, and organizational unit (OU)level and are applied in that order. Thus a policy applied at a lower level can be over-ridden at a higher level).If you don't have admin privileges on at least the local computer, you won't be able affect any of these settings without the help of someone who does.
So as as not to totally leave you hanging without an answer to your question, I'm going to assume you have a stand alone computer and you have admin privilieges (i.e. you know the administrator password) on that computer.
1. Go to Control Panel | Administrative Tools | Local Security Policy.
2. Open Local Policies | User Rights Assignment
3. About half way down on the right you will see a policy lableld "Load and unload device drivers". If i'm not mistaken this defaults to Administrator. This setting determines who can load any drive (printer, video, sound card, modem, etc.). Also you will notice 2 columns labeled "Local Setting" and "Effective Setting." If these differ (ad you are connected to a network), it probably means this policy has been applied at a higher level and you won't be able to change it.
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