My windows repair already registers those two files and if you run all the repairs it would also take care of any permissions problems.
So I think it might be a messed up registry key for one of the installed protocols, you know, the list the is displayed when you open the properties. It does have to go look them up and pull their info as well. So if something is wrong there you can get the error as well. (I think lol)
Some of the settings for the network adapter will be here
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E972-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}
It will be one of the sub folders, you will have to look for it.
And then the next section is here
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\Interfaces\
Those two keys focus directly on the adapter. I am still trying to find where the protocols are stored. They are normally system wide.
Shane