Anyone know how to change the protected registry entries within Vista? If you don't realize what I am talking about, try to change the %systemroot% registry type settings from c:\windows... to something else inside Vista. Even with UAP/UAC disabled the changes don't stick. My attempts with local registry editors (with administrative privileges) and remote registry editors have been unsuccessful.

yes there ARE protected areas of the registry, what are you tring to do, and why then may will be able to help you

I am trying to get a working Vista build in a systemroot other than c:\windows. I expect this isn't a supported configuration today, but my network and administrative tools have been built around using a different %systemroot% parameter in all previous windows versions, among other reasons. I realize that the best way to do this would be with the WAIK and BDD XImage tools, before installing. But I have run into trouble there so I thought that since I have a copy of the systemroot folder in the place I want it already, I might be able to get a working WIM by simply search and replacing the systemroot references in the protected registry locations. I am happy to access the registry from PE or another partition install, but I can't change them all by hand.