Is there a workaround for KB5034441 install failure that doesn't require partition modification?

My recovery was 500mb and I had to increase it by 250mb.

I followed the instructions on: https://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/technology/how-to-fix-the-kb5034441-update-fail-to-install-on-windows-10/ar-BB1hYieK

Using "Option 5.1"

This isn't for the faint at heart. Even with my "knowledge and skill" I was holding my breathe. It WAS successful and the update WAS able to install after I performed those steps BUT do at YOUR OWN RISK! If you have hesitations I suggest not doing it.

Hope this helps!

I won't tell anyone not to follow those guidelines being they're from "Microsoft" but "hiding the update" seems silly other than you just don't have any notification of it, otherwise users could just ignore the update anyway. As for that long drawn-out process for resizing the "RP", again let me just propose using Windows Disk Management and downloading/installing the basic version of "Partition Wizard" which is free & can be uninstalled after using.... Even though "Partition Wizard" can be used solely, to reduce confusion this is how I did it.

Open Window's "Computer Management" then select "Disk Management."

Select the "System" drive typically C:, right click on it and select "shrink."

In the highlighted box "Enter the amount of space to shrink in MB" enter a number like 250.

Click "Shrink."

It will complete the process and display the newly "Unallocated...." space of ~250MB.

Close "Computer Management." (How simple was that....)

(After downloading/installing "Partition Wizard basic free version")

Open it and find the "Recovery Partition" listed. Right click on it and select "Extend".

You will be prompted to "Take free space from...." and it should actually preselect the "Unallocated" space you created in "Disk Management" just confirm it's the correct one.

There is a slider you must use to adjust how much of the "Unallocated" space you want to use so just MOVE IT TO THE RIGHT to select the full unallocated space of "250MB" in this case.

Once you move the slider all the way to the right, click "OK."

THEN click the "Apply" button in the lower left of the window to apply the changes, OTHERWISE your changes will NOT have taken effect. If you try to close the program before clicking "Apply", it will warn you. (There's even an "Undo" button next to it.)

It will complete the process quickly, then you can close the program and restart the computer.

You can now try reinstalling the update.

That IMO is far simpler & safer, it worked perfectly for me and avoided all of the, "not for the faint of heart - command line interface" nonsense.

Simpler, yes, but option 5.1 in the link, often particularly in MBR format primary drive Windows 10 installations, the instructions are incomplete as Diskpart does not correctly keep the Recovery partition ID or assign it correctly via the shorthand reagentc /enable command. It does not create the directory tree Recovery\WindowsRE and then copy winre.wim to it. Thus I/most have developed, for the indicated Win 10 PRO MBR format primary drive installations an expanded creation/assign/succeed Diskpart Windows Recovery implementation instruction set. [indicated reagentc /setreimage /path [path] where [path] needs to be created/setup manually after unhiding the recovery partition, etc.].

That said, If you have a GUI format primary drive [optional in Windows 10, required in Windows 11], simple partition assignment, an inadequate Recovery partition size in Windows 10/11, the indicated simple steps in 5.1 often work. https://www.tenforums.com/backup-restore/204223-recreate-recovery-partition-reagentc-exe-operation-failed-2-a.html https://www.diskpart.com/articles/unhide-recovery-partition-5740.html

Several more references:

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/manufacture/desktop/reagentc-command-line-options?view=windows-11

https://www.elevenforum.com/t/recovery-partition-reagentc-setreimage-path-to-a-recovery-partition-not-having-an-assigned-volume-letter.8158/

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/windows-update-kb5034441-error-0x80070643/3bcad8a3-385b-4cf8-8458-509a162cea64?page=23

https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Windows_10%2B_Recovery_Environment_(RE)_Notes

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/manufacture/desktop/deploy-windows-re?view=windows-11

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/manufacture/desktop/customize-windows-re?view=windows-11 https://www.windowslatest.com/2024/02/14/windows-10-kb5034441-is-still-broken-with-0x80070643-error/

I have 5 of the exact same spec computers, bought at the same time. 1 of 5 is running into this error installing the update. The Windows and Recovery partitions are all set to the same size on all machines. It installed fine on 4 of the 5.

The error does not seem to be entirely related to the recovery partition size. As a test, I also deleted all Windows Update files and reinstalled the update. It failed during install with the same error code.

It's not a bad idea to check "Event Viewer" as Al Reaud suggested since there is something "unique" about that one machine, otherwise you'd think it'd go the other way where, "All machines are the 'same' and it would NOT install on 4 but did on just 1." Have you yet tried/considered reinstalling those updates if you removed them to get the machine "back" to an equivalent state as it was previously THEN resizing the "RP" on that 1 machine, "restart" then try installing the update to confirm that THAT "RP" on that one machine isn't the "issue?"

My concern was the fact you said that as a test you "deleted all Windows Updates files." I'm not sure if you mean you literally removed prior updates, "cleaned up system files" or something else. If you decide to resize the "RP", the method I used was simple and safe and "Partition Wizard" can be utilized to "resize" the "RP" to reclaim space allocated to it if you're really concerned about reclaiming the space in the event it doesn't correct the issue on that machine.

Maybe perusing Event Viewer would help. That has been a last resort (because it's hard to use) method for me to dig into all kinds of strange windows issues over the years.

That depends on your BIOS. Usually it is in the BIOS security settings. You have to enable the TPM to be accessible by the OS. Just that, nothing else. I would recommend consulting with the BIOS documentation.