Windows update (KB5034441) Error (0x80070643)

I realize that, and the 2 laptops I've had this issue with, have a Windows RE partition. I think I'm more in shock that a Windows update is attempting to touch it, without notifying the users or admins of the machines. The two happen to be OEM, Alienware's from Dell, and they both more than met the RE partition size requirement (we have them set to 2gig). They were both fresh re-installs (direct from Media Creation Kit via USB).

Oddly enough, running a sfc /scannow found something, and upon reboot, the update went through without any hiccups. sfc is almost always my last ditch effort because it doesn't really tell us what went wrong in most cases and just takes bloody forever 😉. (If someone knows of a logfile, I'd love the info. I've never located one short of the SR tags in the cbs.log. and they aren't exactly forthcoming, just that a problem was detected and repaired)

If anyone else happens to see this down the line, and run into the same issue with an OEM Dell Alienware (ours are R5), give the sfc a shot after you resize.

By the sounds of all the complaints seeming to come from OEM installs of windows, I'm betting it might have something to do with it. I have a couple of Dell Alienware R5's I was having issues with, and directly after reinitializing the WinRE partition from scratch, rebooting and having the update fail again, I tried a sfc /scannow. Believe it or not, it found ((something)), and after another reboot, the update actually went though.

obviously, plenty of people have tried plenty of things, and if you followed the list- you likely have already tried this. Or maybe you're like me, and just hate having to babysit a system file checker for a clean install, and thought it futile to try.

FYI...I chatted directly with Microsoft on Tuesday. They told me no need to do anything right now to fix the update issue. Their engineers are aware of the issue and are working to resolve it through an update. They didn't give me a timeframe when it will be fixed, but told me to hold off any trying to fix it myself.

LEWCARVER, I don't know if enough people thank you for all the hard work you put in trying to help people, but ... thank you. Your instructions might not have always been a direct fix to some quirky problem of mine, but even when they weren't, your answers have always led me down closely related and interesting paths less traveled, where I've always picked up bits and bobs of knowledge; and in the end, ultimately found the root of the problem. This is at least the third time I've run into your help, and I want you to know, people appreciate you.