You can just run
winmgmt /resetrepository
to reset wmeb settings to factory condition.
However I recommend you run "winmgmt /backup somefile" before you run the reset command so in case anything goes wrong you can restore it.
Also you can create a Vista Live CD (its called Vista WinPE) which helps in recovery and maintenance task. I rather trust Vista bits than other OSes to muck with NTFS. |