Sysprep fails with error "Windows could not finish configuring the system. To attempt to resume configuration, restart the computer."

This other day, I was working with a customer who was trying to deploy a full-VM pool, using Sysprep. The guest OS was Windows 7.
The VMs were provisioned fine, but the sysprep itself was not proceeding. Checking the console of the VM, we saw the below error.


Restarting the computer led to the same error and it was stuck in a loop.

VMware has this KB 1034618, but it recommends an hotfix which was already included in Windows SP1.
I then discovered that the user had installed Kaspersky AntiVirus software. This was the culprit. Apparently there is a setting in Kaspersky that causes the Sysprep to fail.
If a Kaspersky Lab 2012/2010/2011 product is installed on your computer, then in some cases after launching System Preparation Tool (Sysprep), with the values sysprep /oobe /generalise /reboot, and your computer reboots, the above error may appear on the screen.

In order to eliminate the problem, disable your Kaspersky Lab 2012/2010/2011 product's Self-Defence before launching System Preparation Tool (Sysprep).

More information available in the below Kaspersky document.
How to eliminate Sysprep launch error on a computer with a Kaspersky Lab 2010/2011/2012 product installed?

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