When you use the System Preparation (Sysprep) tool on a Windows Vista-based computer, you may receive the following error message:

A fatal error occurred while trying to sysprep the machine.

Additionally, an error message that resembles the following is logged in the Setuperr.log file:

Date Time, Error [0x0f0073] SYSPRP RunExternalDlls:Not running DLLs; either the machine is in an invalid state or we couldn’t update the recorded state, dwRet = 31