Found this in the View Administration Guide as well (sorry, this has sparked my interest now 
)
The View Composer QuickPrep tool implements the activation through these steps:
1 Invokes a script to remove the existing license status on the linked-clone virtual machine
2 Restarts the guest operating system
3 Invokes a script that uses KMS licensing to activate the operating system on the clone.
Each time QuickPrep runs on a linked clone, the activation takes place.
For KMS licensing, View Composer uses the KMS server that is configured to activate the parent virtual
machine. The KMS server treats an activated linked clone as a computer with a newly issued license
However, it sounds like your recompose if failing before it even gets to activation. When I spoke to VMware support earlier this week on a different issue, he stated that using sysprep was one of the main reasons he sees why recompose operations to fail. That plus the other two things I mentioned above. Hope that helps in some aspect and that you get it fixed soon
Have a Happy Thanksgiving.