XP-VISTA Ultimate upgrade UAC Problem

I have upgraded a XP machine (domain member) to Vista Ultimate (domain
member) and am having problems running system utilities that require
administrate or elevated rights. I think it is an issue with UAC / security.

With UAC enabled many programs in the c:\windows\system32 will not run and
return the "path does not exist" error that I show below when I would be
expecting the UAC prompt.

An example includes: Control Panel -> System -> (under tasks)
Remote settings, System protection, and Advanced system settings all fail
with the following error:

C:\Windows\system32\systempropertiesprotection.exe
The specified path does not exist.
Check the path, and then try again.

If I navigate to the file and double click it, same error. All of the
SystemPropertiesXXXXX exe files fail to run and give the error above.

If I right click on the file and select Run as administrator, I get the UAC
prompt and it works fine.

With UAC disabled all files run correctly.

The Device Manager Task in the System area of control panel works correctly
in all cases (UAC prompt).

Another example is changing the firewall settings: Control Panel -> Security
Center -> Windows Firewall -> Change Settings fails the same way as above
except the file is C:\Windows\system32\firewallSettings.exe

Adding the user to the local administrator's group changes the UAC behavior
as expected (prompt for consent, versus prompt for credentials), but does
not change the problem behavior.

This machine has the full Office 2007 suite installed++ (Visio, Project,
Adobe) and I really don't want to do a clean install. The system is well
behaved in all other areas. This problem is consistent.

I have unloaded the Trend AV solution, disabled the MS firewall, deleted and
recreated the user profile, all with no change in the system behavior.

This problem appears similar to the problem of running programs that require
elevated permissions from a mapped network drive, except this is my local
hard drive. Any ideas on how to fix this without a wipe of the machine?

Thanks!

 

Before you upgraded , did you find out if your system was compatible ?

 

I ran the dell and ms upgrade advisor programs before the upgrade and all
sw/hw was compatible. There was a minor issue with an audio driver, which I
upgraded with a vista driver after the upgrade.

The upgrade process was clean, no errors during the process.

 

Attempt to perform a Repair System from the Installation DVD.

Should that fail,
Attempt to turn off System Restore on all drives, then turn it back on.
(This will erase all restore points.)

Should that fail,
Attempt to turn off System Restore on all drives, run sfc/scannow from an
elevated prompt.
(You may need to have the Vista install disk inserted.)
Then, turn System Restore back on.

 

Performed all of the steps suggested with no changes in system behavior and
no errors found during either the repair and the sfc scan. I then upgraded
(from Ultimate to Ultimate) and after activating the SW everything worked!
I rebooted and the behavior returned. Appears to be associated with the
activation process. Cross posting to setup group.

Anyone have any more ideas?