Hello Rafeds,
I don't, currently, know how to fix your issue. I do, however, have some options for you (and their Pros and Cons). But first some background on the issue.
We are seeing more of the "The Software Licensing Service has stopped (and won't restart)" issue recently. Although the Software Licensing Service, itself, is part of the WGA sub-system, the process for starting and stopping services is a Core Vista system and would normally be supported by Vista Support. However this issue is affecting the Genuine status of our users, I would be nice to get to the bottom of why this is happening.
We have found that we can categorize this into sub-issues by the error message the user gets when he/she tries to restart the Service. We currently know the reason (and the fix) for the "System Error 3" and "System Error 2" types, but we do not have much information on your "System Error 5" type.
This brings me to the options I mentioned.
1) You can create a (no cost) Service Request (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=52029), and work (by email) with a WGA Support Engineer to troubleshoot the issue. The goals of this option would be to first, find out as much information on this variation of the issue, and then, try to fix the issue on your computer.
Pro: You would be helping us understand and develop a fix for this issue.
Con: It will, most likely, take longer to finally resolve you issue, then the other options.
2) You can go to http://support.microsoft.com and contact Vista support for assistance. The goal of this option would be solely to resolve your issue.
Pro: Probably faster resolution then option 1). Hopefully resolution would not involve reinstalling Vista.
Con: Since you are using a Retail copy of Vista, you may still be under the Free Suport period, but if the no-cost support period has expired, any support they provided would, most likely, be paid support.
3) You could reinstall Vista. The goal of this option is to get you resolved as quickly as possible.
Pro: Fastest resolution
Con: Having to backup all your importent files, reinstalling all your applications, resetting all your setting back to the way you want them and so on.
If you decide on Option 1, thank you for helping us get a handle on this issue.
If you decide on one of the other options, good luck and please accept my apologies for me not being able to resolve the issue for you.
Thank you,
Darin MS
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