Does ne1 know if there is such a thing as a recovery application that can access System Restore from outside Windows (XP or Vista)?

I ask because we recently bought some HP Vista pc's for work and one of them hung up after applying some updates. It wouldn't boot at all even in safe mode, so we couldn't access the System Restore function.

However these HP pc's come with an extra option on the F8 menu which runs a recovery application that enables you to access System Restore and choose a Restore Point.

This worked so well (I was about to do a reinstall untill I found it) that I was wondering if there was a similar application that could be booted from a cd to fix other pc's that arn't lucky enough to have this feature. Or is there another way of rolling back to a previous Restore Point when you can't get into Windows.

If it's HP and the same model, all you have to do is clone one HDD and install it on the one that has failed.
If you have one that has not been booted yet, that's even better.
It'll work on a similar model and only for HP, since the O/S will find all the H/W it expects to find. You have to erase the failed disk completely though and not use the Operating System on it-that's illegal, you'll be using software that you have no license for.
It's like you make a backup-you can make a backup of your system and restore it on the same disk

The F8 option will work if the recovery partition is intact. Even if it is erased, the F8 option will still appear on boot time
Erd commander from SysInternals gave the option on their boot CD to access restore points, but I do not know if it's working with Vista

This is for Vista....

If your PC won't boot, then boot off the installation disk, select 'Repair your Computer' on the bottom left, click next, then choose 'System Restore'

If you do not have the installation/repair disk then you can make one from within Vista..... when Service Pack 1 comes out! Until then, Neosmart have created their own Vista Repair Disk which you can download here Windows Vista Recovery Disc Download — The NeoSmart Files

Hope that helps.

Thanks guys. I have been checking out Winternals ERD Commander and it worked great on Windows XP. I haven't had a look at Mattblacks Vista option yet but if it works as he says then I have options for repairing both systems if they won't boot. :-)