Since you changed the rights of the owner account (the one you created when the system was new), then the rights enjoyed by said account no longer apply since the resources (like printers) were set up with your account in mind. You essentially locked yourself out.
Now, since you changed your "owner" account back, everything works fine.
Administering a system is not trivial (I started in 1985 with NetWare), and I did not mean to imply that it was, nor was I going to be able to explain it to you in the confines of the thread.
I'm sorry for your temporary troubles but you did very well in creating a user with admin rights. You created a "back door"!
The basic premise of my threads was to get you to think about, and RESEARCH, for yourself, the ins and outs of a multi-user system and the security of said system. And whether or not multiple users use your particular system (individually or at the same time), or it's just you, it is still a multi-user system and the ACl still applies.
In XP and below (don't ask me about Vista) you have, via the control panel applet "Users & Groups" to create users AND groups. You can create any damn groups you want to and add any or all users to said group(s). And you can then tell the various resources on your system (files, directories, printers etc.,) that certain users and or groups have the right to use, read, write, delete, modify, control... whatever said resource.
So take one of your newly created accounts, make it a restricted account, and then find your printer in control panel and right click on it and go into properties and look for "sharing". In there you will be able to select users and or groups that can access said resource, and to what degree. You can also do that with your home directory or sub-directories therein. Windows, Documents and settings (if memory serves) In linux it's /home; NetWare \USERS
So find your current account directory and right click on a directory or "Folder" and goto properties and find "sharing" Give the restricted account rights said directory (or file or whatever), then log in as that account and access the resource you gave it permission to access.
Se what happens. Play around with it. I would also suggest looking into either online or at Borders, a book or tutorial on basic Windows system administration for a multi-user system.
The lessons/concepts you learn there will carry over to just about any and all systems you are likely to encounter. The specifics of how its done may differ from system to system, but the concepts are pretty much universal.
And they're "Best Practices"!
So great job on thinking about it, trying it, and then reporting back on how it didn't work. You're now way further along than the vast majority of Windows users.
Once you've researched and played around with it more, you will come to understand why us old SysAdmins get our knickers in a twist over this issue with the uninitiated.
What I didn't add in my post was that I deleted the printer and reinstalled it in the new administrator account, AND made it a share. Oops! It still wouldn't work in my original account. I'd print something (as restricted user) to it while the print queue window was open. The file to print would appear and begin spooling, then it would suddenly disappear. That's when I finally gave up and went back to square one.
In XP and below (don't ask me about Vista) you have, via the control panel applet "Users & Groups" to create users AND groups. You can create any damn groups you want to and add any or all users to said group(s).
Nope. When I go to Control Panel the only related option is User Accounts. I even went and ran Control Userpasswords2. When I'd click on a user then try to change group membership from "Restricted" to "Standard" I'd get an error message saying no such group name exists. I can find nowhere where I'm allowed to add/edit/delete groups. Nowhere. I even tried Tweak UI under "Logon". Nothing there to help. I then went to add/remove Windows Components. I searched to see if my installation was short something. Nope. Nothing that jumped out as contributing to this. So no, I can't do all this stuff.
So find your current account directory and right click on a directory or "Folder" and goto properties and find "sharing" Give the restricted account rights said directory (or file or whatever), then log in as that account and access the resource you gave it permission to access.
Nope. As stated above it doesn't work. As for giving rights to users, there's nothing available on the tabs to do that. Oh, I've seen that alright in Windows 2000. I've done it often there. But not here. Sorry.
I have two PC's networked with shared directories and printers. No problem over the network at all. I can print & share files between my Windows XP laptop to my Windows 2000 tower and vice versa. Each has a shared printer attached and each works flawlessly over the network. But the printer attached to this laptop with Windows XP will NOT work in a restricted account. No way no how.
Thanks for the advice, but I've been ahead of what you've told me. I may not have your credentials but I'm not a flake nor a newbie by any means.