Mapping printers using Group Policy Preferences; works on Windows XP, not on Windows 7 x64

OK I managed to get this working.

For Vista there is a Group Policy setting (more info here):

• User Configuration/Policies/Admin Templates/Control Panel/Printers

Configuring the "Point and Print Restrictions" policy setting to "Disabled" will allow for silent printer driver installation, and thus allow the printer to be mapped successfully.

After struggling for the better part of this morning trying to figure out why this didn't work on Windows 7, I eventually discovered that Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2 ignore this policy setting. There is an equivalent setting under:

• Computer Configuration/Policies/Admin Templates/Printers

This is honoured by Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2 See TechNet for more info.