Update KB5034441 fails to install

While looking for reasons why this does not install,I found this note from Microsoft that may help a lot of you.

Checking my system I do not have a recovery partition and this update can be ignored.

Status	Originating update	History
Mitigated	N/A <br>KB5034441 <br>2024-01-09	Last updated: 2024-02-09, 17:04 PT <br>Opened: 2024-01-12, 14:10 PT

Devices attempting to install the January 2024 Windows Recovery Environment update (KB5034441) might display an error related to the size of the Recovery Environment's partition. The Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) is used to repair or recover from issues affecting Windows.

Resulting from this error, the following message might be displayed.

• ​"0x80070643 - ERROR_INSTALL_FAILURE"

Important: If your Windows device does not have a recovery environment configured, you do not need this update (KB5034441). In this case, the error can be ignored.

To determine whether your device has a recovery environment configured, inspect the WinRE status by following these steps:

1. ​Open a Command Prompt window (cmd) as admin.
2. ​To check the WinRE status, run reagentc /info. If the WinRE is configured, a "Windows RE status" field will appear in the output, with value "Enabled". If WinRE is not configured, this field will have the value "Disabled".

**Workaround:**It might be necessary to increase the size of the WinRE partition in order to avoid this issue and complete the installation. Note that 250 megabytes of free space is required in the recovery partition. Devices which do not have sufficient free space in the recovery partition can use a script to extend the partition size. A sample script has been provided in the documentation for adding an update package to WinRE, Extend the Windows RE Partition. Guidance to manually change the WinRE partition size can additionally be found in KB5028997: Instructions to manually resize your partition to install the WinRE update.

**Next steps:**We are working on a resolution and will provide an update in an upcoming release.

Affected platforms:

• ​Client: Windows 11, version 21H2; Windows 10, version 22H2; Windows 10, version 21H2
• ​Server: Windows Server 2022

This is old news; it has been there since the first day. Most people don’t need it, but they were lazy, and instead of checking and offering it only to people that needed it, they pushed it on everyone.

• Only people using BitLocker need it, so no one with Windows Home, only Pro, has BitLocker.
• If you use Pro but don’t use BitLocker, you don’t need it either.
• If you use Pro and BitLocker, as the article says, the vulnerability uses the WinRE partition; some people don’t even have it, so those don’t need it either; there is nothing to hack.

And even if all those cases are covered, it is not that dangerous. Is not like, if a hacker in a faraway country is going to take over your device online, it needs physical access to your PC.

So the only ones I feel would need to worry are corps with lots of PCs with W10 Pro using BitLocker and distrust of people having access to their PCs.

Some people here have tried to ignore it, but they say it causes some conflicts.

There is a tool to hide it; it works for most people (including me), but some say it causes them conflicts too.

I feel many are just doing unnecessary, weird, wishy-washy experiments, downloading 3^rd^ party tools, messing with their partitions, etc. all that more dangerous than the supposed vulnerability it fixes.

While looking for reasons why this does not install,I found this note from Microsoft that may help a lot of you.

Checking my system I do not have a recovery partition and this update can be ignored.

Devices attempting to install the January 2024 Windows Recovery Environment update (KB5034441) might display an error related to the size of the Recovery Environment's partition. The Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) is used to repair or recover from issues affecting Windows.

Resulting from this error, the following message might be displayed.

• ​"0x80070643 - ERROR_INSTALL_FAILURE"

Important: If your Windows device does not have a recovery environment configured, you do not need this update (KB5034441). In this case, the error can be ignored.

To determine whether your device has a recovery environment configured, inspect the WinRE status by following these steps:

1. ​Open a Command Prompt window (cmd) as admin.
2. ​To check the WinRE status, run reagentc /info. If the WinRE is configured, a "Windows RE status" field will appear in the output, with value "Enabled". If WinRE is not configured, this field will have the value "Disabled".

**Workaround:**It might be necessary to increase the size of the WinRE partition in order to avoid this issue and complete the installation. Note that 250 megabytes of free space is required in the recovery partition. Devices which do not have sufficient free space in the recovery partition can use a script to extend the partition size. A sample script has been provided in the documentation for adding an update package to WinRE, Extend the Windows RE Partition. Guidance to manually change the WinRE partition size can additionally be found in KB5028997: Instructions to manually resize your partition to install the WinRE update.

**Next steps:**We are working on a resolution and will provide an update in an upcoming release.

Affected platforms:

• ​Client: Windows 11, version 21H2; Windows 10, version 22H2; Windows 10, version 21H2
• ​Server: Windows Server 2022

Just had this problem last week, nothing that i did can fix it even tried to recover to previous recovery point. This update not just failed but also creating more problem to my system, all icons are broken (the ones on desktop gone blank while the ones on taskbar turning zombies, i cannot delete any files, my right click for explorer properties, my disk management not working (still have 150GB free space on my C but when tried to follow steps to decrease the C and increase the recovery partition, it said C drive are 100 % full, i cannot even attached screenshot into this page.

badly need some help.

If you're talking about space I have 6.39GB of free space on my recovery partition. Not sure which drivers you're talking about. What drivers?