Most printing-related registry settings reside in the subkeys of HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print. If an administrator uses the Registry Editor to give you read-only access to this subkey, you will not be able to install or configure printers, because when you run Print Manager you will not be allowed to change these subkeys.
Also, Windows-based applications expect to find information about available printers in the registry at
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\PrinterPorts.
If you do not have permission to write to this subkey, then Windows-based applications will not recognize newly added printers, and may still try to access printers that have been deleted.