When I try to run the Administrative Tools in windows Vista Business from the start menu there are no items and it just shows empty. When I try and run it from the control panel I get the following error message. "C:\Program...Admin tools refers to a location that is unavailable...". These tools are are there but I cannot access them from these obvious places. Does anyone know why or have you had this problem?

Never had such a problem but you could check the folder settings to see if hidden or permissions are changed. Thats the only thing i can think of right now, besides checking in safe mode. I always go staright to safe mode and its helped me troubleshoot problems so many times.

I know that Microsoft hid these tools in XP. I don't have Vista installed in this machine, but you can do this in XP by right-clicking the task bar and clicking Properties > Start Menu > Customize > Advanced. Then scroll to the bottom of the dialog box and select System Administrative Tools > Display on the All Programs menu and Start menu. It's worth a shot to see if it still works this way.