If you get “System error 2 has occurred” when starting WAS (Windows Activation Services) and you also cannot start W3SVC (World Wide Web Publishing Service), try the following:
- Open Regedit.msc
- Go into HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\WAS\Parameters
- Locate the NanoSetup DWORD
- Delete the NanoSetup DWORD
- Open an elevated command prompt and run “net start was” and “net start W3SVC”