Update KB5034441 fails to install

Question

So the other topic about this was lokced for who knows what reason, why lock a topic / problem that has not been resolved yet?

I keep getting notification every day about this update and as you know we cannot install it because of some problem. What I read in the other locked topic is that the update is something for bitlocker, I dont use bitlocker so do I need it? Also is there a way to set windows to ignore this update and stop reminding me about it ?

MS needs to fix this and not have people doing all kinds of risky steps in order to fix it. Most people wont know what to do when they see that the update can't be installed, many are not that good with technical windows stuff. So if anyone can tell me a way to tell windows to ignore this update thx.

EDIT: I just saw a video where they explained how to hide it using a tool from MS called WUShowHide, isnt there a way to hide it directly in windows without the need of downloading this tool?

Answer 1

Hi Salvida,

From Windows 10, version 22H2 | Microsoft Learn

Issue details January 2024

The January 2024 Windows RE update might fail to install

Status Originating update History

Resolved N/A

KB5034441

2024-01-09 Resolved: 2024-04-30, 14:07 PT

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:

Open a Command Prompt window (cmd) as admin.

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".

Resolution: Automatic resolution of this issue won't be available in a future Windows update. Manual steps are necessary to complete the installation of this update on devices which are experiencing this error.

The WinRE partition requires 250 megabytes of free space. Devices which do not have sufficient free space will need to increase the size of the partition via manual action. For guidance on making this change, review the following resources:

A code script can be used to extend the partition size. A sample script has been provided in the documentation for adding an update package to WinRE. See 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.

Completion of these manual steps will allow the installation of this update to succeed.

Affected platforms:

Client: Windows 11, version 21H2; Windows 10, version 22H2; Windows 10, version 21H2

Server: Windows Server 2022

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If you don't have WinRE enabled and don't plan to use it, you may simply hide the KB5034441 update using the WUShowHide.diagcab tool.

The tool can be downloaded from the following link:

https://download.microsoft.com/download/f/2/2/f22d5fdb-59cd-4275-8c95-1be17bf70b21/wushowhide.diagcab

Select the KB5034441 update and hide it.

Answer 2

I am sorry to inform you that this update DOES NOT WORK. I have increased the partition sizes to, 250MB, 300MB, 500MB and finally 1GB, all to watch the update fail with error 0x80070643. Yes, I have followed all of the ways to increase the partition according to the ways of Microsoft. All to no avail.

This update is corrupted and will not install without the above error. It even fails on machines I've built from a native 22H2 Windows 10 ISO.

The big question is: WHEN will MS be sending out a viable update to replace this one. We use Bitlocker here, and we do not wish to have this vulnerability on our systems. This Microsoft update failure is in quite poor form.

Answer 3

I have two devices (laptops) that both are not able to install this KB5034441 update. I am not going to go digging around in the Command Prompt with this long list of commands and ''look fors" that the suggested KB5028997 Instructions shows. I'm NOT a computer tech and shouldn't have to go thru this kind of hassle (and probably end up making matters worse) to get a update. Microsoft needs to fix this failed update soon !

Answer 4

Okay, great! Thank you so much, Microsoft! I'll let my 90 year old mother know what she needs to do. And she even has a choice: she can download a tool to hide the update, or she can resize her partition. She will feel so free!

First, though, I will have to write a year-long curriculum for her, starting with: What is a download? What is a browser? What is a tool? How to use a tool? What is a hyperlink? What is a command prompt? What is run? How does one use Google? What's a version?

I'll then email the curriculum to her, along with instructions for how to download and open a pdf from an email. Fun times fun times.

Answer 5

Ramesh, your volunteering is much appreciated, but you didn't answer Salvida's question, which was very specific. So I'll ask again -- if we use the WUShowHide.diagcab tool to hide KB5034441, will there come a time when we will have to explicitly unhide it? If you don't know the answer, please just say so. Thank you.