No, it's not, because sethc.exe resides in %systemroot%\system32 - an area that is protected by ACLs, only allowing regular users read access. Going into startu

No, it's not, because sethc.exe resides in %systemroot%\system32 - an area that is protected by ACLs, only allowing regular users read access. Going into startup repair mode grants system-level access to files there. Without repair mode, users cannot swap these files.