Security Update KB5034441 for Windows 10 Ver. 22H2 will not install.

I'm waiting to find out how many users get hacked because of the delay in getting a functional patch for this issue. Hackers will find this an opportunity to reach a lot of unprotected Windows systems. This patch is yet another example of the limited testing that Microsoft is doing these days.

Part of the cause of the recovery partition's physical location on a drive has to do with various system installers using any and all disk drives that are available at installation time. UEFI systems are vulnerable to this, but this allocation issue goes back earlier than Windows XP, definitely a pre-UEFI issue. I typically install both Windows and Linux onto separate drives if only to prevent losing both systems when a drive has partitions from other operating systems on it. I usually open up the PC and disconnect every other drive than the one I want to install to.

I'm actually doing this stuff at home but I used to do professional computer support. This is not stuff for amateurs. I really dislike the usual Microsoft debugging recommendations that include re-installing Windows since this blows away various fixes and customizations that I do.

good luck.

Art

Art,

I still am having a problem as well. This morning (1/20/24) I ran Updates and found the below.

1. Security Intelligence Update for Microsoft Defender Antivirus - KB2267602 (Version 1.403.2416.0) - Current Channel (Broad) – Says it installed – 1/20/2024
2. 2024-01 Security Update for Windows 10 Version 22H2 for x64-based Systems (KB5034441) – Says – Failed to install 1/20/2024 – (Error 0x80070643)
3. 2023-10 update for Windows 10 Version 22H2 for x64-based Systems (KB4023057) – Says Installed on 1/20/2024

I have had numerous chats online, and Microsoft has admitted this was their issue and they were working on it, but could not tell me when it might get fixed on their end. They did tell me it was safe to use my PC in the meantime. (I copied the Chats for my file), but would encourage anyone having a problem to keep after them with Chats.

Judy, did the failed install KB5034441 cause any problems on your computer? Thinking about updating to at least get the other two updates in my laptop. thanks, Marvin

No...None that I can tell...Good Luck!

Hi Judy, Hi Marv6,

I saw the failure on two different systems here (different hardware). It appeared the fix failed as soon as it "discovered" that the recovery partition was too small. No aftereffects to report. My patch to Microsoft’s fix also appears safe so far.

As far as I know, none of Microsoft's usual debugging techniques or automatic system fixes attempt to diagnose disk partition issues like this one. Mostly users only get to create new partitions, especially system managed partitions like this one, as part of an install or as part of "cleaning" a disk to remove existing partitions. diskpart is one of these tools as is "Disk Management". Even now I expect that any current, unfixed Windows 10 installer will still create a recovery partition that's too small to install this patch.

Here's what my partitions look like on one of my Windows 10 boot drives. The first unallocated partition (530MB) was the original recovery partition. The new, current recovery partition is now last because that's where I could create a 780MB partition that would fit. Enlarging the original partition in place would mean moving the other partitions out of the way.

Art