How to make a Windows Vista boot / recovery cd from a running system without using an original CD / DVD

I have just repaired a friends computer (replaced motherboard) and now I am trying to repair the Windows (Windows Vista) partitions.

Unfortunately, probably due to the fact that he tried to start it several times after the old motherboard had stopped working (no signal on video) now the partition table or the file systems (or both?) appear to be damaged.

I managed to boot Windows a couple of times but could not complete the boot. I tried to repair the partition table and file systems using Linux RIP (booting from USB stick) but the Linux utilities say that the file system is damaged and I should run chkdsk /f from Windows.

So I now need a Windows boot CD from which I can boot and run chkdsk or any other Windows utilities that can repair the file system.

Is there an easy way to create such a CD? Or can I download it for free somewhere? All the links to Windows Vista boot / repair CD's I have found on the internet refer to non-free stuff. Any hint?

EDIT

I have a working laptop with Windows Vista installed. So one solution would be to make a bootable CD or USB from it so that I can boot the desktop and run the repair utilities. However, I do not have the Windows Vista installation DVD, because both computers were bought with Windows pre-installed.

If you need a repair disk, and not an installation disk, you are still in luck.

From your running system, open the Start Menu, and search for "Backup and Restore". In the Control Panel applet that appears, one option on the left or bottom of the screen is to create a Recovery Disk. This disk that it makes will boot the recovery tools for Vista or Windows 7 that you can use on any other Vista or Windows 7 system (depends on which version you create though). You can then boot the CD and access the same Recovery tools as the standard Windows disk would allow you to use.