After some strange issues regarding the Network Connection and Sharing Center not working properly I figured out that adding both the Local Server and Network Service accounts to the local administrator group fixed the issue.
Then I encountered a problem with the firewall not working. Searching led to this post on Microsoft: http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/w7security/thread/754bba1e-d100-45b2-8a2e-91ed41af61e3?prof=required
Where http://support.microsoft.com/kb/943996/en-us was suggested as a possible solution, still the same problem kept on.
Trying to start the “Base Filtering Engine” resulted in more Access is Denied errors.
Using SysInternals ProcMon.exe I discovered that HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\BFE\Parameters\Policy\Persistent and HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\BFE\Parameters\Policy\BootTime\Filter where the cause of the Access Denied messages.
Strange thing is that the NT AUTHORITY\System is given Full Access to both entries. Adding the “NT Service\MpsSvc” group with Full Control seems to provide a fix for me.