Windows update (KB5034441) Error (0x80070643)

3 months without MS mentioning it would appear to prove you correct that they don't intend to have SECURITY UPDATES for WIN 10 for 99.999% of users ANYMORE! As this is 2024-01 Security Update!!! And only 0.001% of users would make the manual changes or take the risk of infecting their system running scripts and tools they know nothing about.

I saw that article too and ran reagentc /info - the Win RE status is disabled which means I don't need the update. So it shouldn't even try to install int. Instead, it keeps trying and continues to show as a failed update. I don't know if it will block other updates since I don't have any pending yet.

I read this method online and it seemed to make sense . This guy recommended reinstalling Windows 10 using the Media Creation Tool . It worked for him and it worked for me . Essentially you will reinstall the latest version of Windows 10 which , for me , made room for all the updates that come with the new version installation . It took me 5 hours but all updates downloaded successfully after the reinstall. You go to https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10  and you want Create Windows 10 installation Media and then Download Now . I DID NOT DO A CLEAN INSTALL . I opted to keep my files and apps (but backed up everything before I tried this not knowing the outcome ) . I went to the control panel to verify that (KB5034441) had indeed downloaded . Success! My logic for trying this was that Microsoft would ,in the latest version , anticipate the amount of space needed for existing updates , including the problem child , (KB5034441).

I saw that article too and ran reagentc /info - the Win RE status is disabled which means I don't need the update.

That is not correct. Disabled is a state you can't draw any conclusion from, apart from the update can't install.

Make the the effort of enabling Windows RE which may be all it takes.

I would concur with the above, as, in my attempts to resolve this problem for myself, I found that once the path to the WinRE image was removed, the state set itself to Disabled anyway.

To update on my previous post with what I've attempted:

I had a Recovery partition of 500Mb, it was to the "left" of the Windows partition on the same disk. I had tried deleting the partition in the hope it would move to the "right" of the Windows partition, but it didn't.

I was able to download some free software (EaseUS Partition Master) and it provided enough functionality in the free version to move the unallocated partition space to the right of the Windows partition.

I then tried the instructions that have been mentioned in this thread, however, for me, setting the path to the WinRE image didn't work, because I didn't have the image (or at least, so I believed).

I went through the process of downloading/extracting the Install.wim to get to the WinRe.wim image, and put that in the C:\Windows\System32\Recovery directory.

I then went through the above process again and, again, it didn't work. By "didn't work" I mean, the update would fail to install. I was able to set the path to the image, however, what I noticed was the WinRE.wim image file kinda disappeared. It was hard to tell/understand what had actually happened, e.g. had it moved it to my Recovery partition, or, did it leave it at C:\Windows\System32\Recovery but set it to hidden? I wasn't really able to tell, there storage space on the Recovery parition hadn't changed.

I assumed that, because the WinRE image was about 3Gb, that perhaps I needed a larger recovery partition. I, apprehensively, shrunk the main Windows partition and again deleted the Recovery partition so that in total I had 4Gb of unallocated space.

I then repeated the instructions again. The same outcome occurred. No errors/issues when setting the recovery image path, it stated it was "enabled", the file again magically disappeared without trace - but - the update would still not apply.

At this point, it feels like a waste of time trying anything else for me personally, so I've chosen to not both, and, invariably will probably upgrade to Windows 11 in due course and hope that the update kinda feks off. I will hold fire for a little while longer though, on the off chance some other resolution presents itself as I dont really want to have to reinstall all my software again for Windows 11.

Not sure anything in the above will help anyone, but, if nothing else, our experience (read: misery) is shared. You are not alone. :)