SQL Server Reporting Services and IIS: Failed to access IIS metabase - Guaranteed Fix

I spent ages trying to get SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services working, and kept getting the error "Failed to access IIS metabase" from IIS.

After spending ages trawling through documentation, Microsoft KB articles, messing about with security settings and adding Windows and domain users to the IIS metabase, I found the answer in this post which worked perfectly and took less than a minute. If you're having a similar problem, this will solve it:

My MCP: Failed to access IIS metabase.

To summarise his post, you run this command:

%windir%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\aspnet_regiis.exe -i

What's the lesson? Ignore Microsoft and listen to the blogosphere.

Also: if you're just getting started with Reporting Services, this installation tutorial is the business, and this one is superb for showing you how to build and deploy reports.