VPN WAN Miniport PPTP error in Vista

Hi!

Problem:
VPN PPTP stopped working on one single computer. Operating System Vista Business 32 bit. It gives error 720 which I have researched thoroughly.

What I've tried:
netsh winsock reset
Downloaded devcon.exe from download.microsoft.com
devcon install c:\windows\inf\netrasa.inf Ms_PptpMiniport
*Creates the PPTP miniport adapter as an unknown device and reports "Devcon failed." No further indormation.

Tried this huge recipie that I found here on EE:

***START***
To resolve this issue, remove the WAN Miniport IP and the WAN Miniport PPTP device, and then reinstall both Miniports.

1.      Delete the VPN/dial-up connection
2.      Click Start, click Run, type regedit in the Open box, and then click OK.
3.      Locate the following registry subkey: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E972-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}
4.      On the File menu, click Export& choose a destination and give it a name, and then click Save.
5.      Click each of the registry subkeys under this key, and then view the Data column of the DriverDesc value to determine which of the subkeys corresponds to WAN Miniport (IP). And the one that corresponds with WAN Miniport (PPTP). For example, the 0005 and 0008 subkeys.
6.      Right-click the subkey whose DriverDesc value data is WAN Miniport (IP) (for example, right-click 0005), and then click Delete. Click Yes to confirm that you want to delete the key. Then do the same for the subkey whose DriverDesc value data is WAN Miniport (PPTP).
7.      Close Registry Editor
8.      Right-click My Computer, and then click Properties.
9.      Click the Hardware tab, and then click Device Manager.
10.      On the View menu, click Show hidden devices.
11.      Under Network adapters, right-click WAN Miniport (IP) and then click Uninstall. Click OK to confirm that you want to remove this device. Repeat this step for WAN Miniport (PPTP) as well.
12.      Reboot the PC
13.      Find netrasa.inf in C:\Windows\inf, Open and place a semicolon in front of the line that starts "Excludefromselect=\" and end with "MS_NdisWanNbfIn,MS_NdisWanNbfOut" under the [ControlFlags] section. (all lines between)
14.      Click Start then Control Panel.
15.      Go to Add Hardware.
16.      Click Next, then select Yes I have already connected the hardware, then click Next.
17.      Scroll down and select Add a new Hardware device, click Next.
18.      Select Install the Hardware that I manually select from a list (Advanced), click Next then select Network Adapter in the list and select Next.
19.      Select Microsoft in the left column and then select WAN Miniport (PPTP) and click Next
20.      Select Continue Anyway, Click Finish and close out of everything. Now do the same thing for  WAN Miniport (IP).
21.      Uninstall, then Reinstall network adapters.
22.      Click Start, Run, type in netsh int ip reset resetlog.txt and click ok
23.      Reboot the PC.
24.      Uninstall and reinstall the VPN/dial-up connection and this should fix the issue.

Some times I have to repeat steps 22 and 23 a 2nd time for it to work. Let me know if this was any help or any other errors that occured after attempting the steps above.

rakoczy
04.03.2009 at 10:48AM CEST, ID: 24057804
On my Vista computer the netrasa.inf file is locked and cannot be edited. If this is the case, right click it. Select properties. Clck the security tab, click the advanced button, select the owner tab, click the edit button (in vista), select administrators, click take ownership. Ignore the warnings if they appear.

You may now edit the file and insert the semicolon.

***END***

If you don't succeed in inserting the ; in netrasa.inf, you wont have the WAN Miniport PPTP adapter available when you try to add new hardware as specified above.

I'm on number 20. in the list above, and the driver installation fails with the following error message "The system cannot find the file specified".

I think this error came after I installed the terrible software SecuRemote from the always disappointing company Checkpoint. It is a horrible VPN client that for the past 7 years has continued to produce blue screens and random errors on computers. Well anyhow, after uninstalling this program, my computer went into bluescreen and the PPTP VPN connections broke.

I will be impressed if someone has a solution to this question.

Waiting in antisipation :)