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Microsoft confirms 0x80070643 error during Windows update installation

Martin Brinkmann
Jan 15, 2024
Updated • Jan 16, 2024
Windows Updates
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15

Some Windows users who tried to install the January 2024 security updates for their devices received the error 0x80070643 Error Install Failure during the process.

Microsoft provided background information and a workaround for affected users. According to Microsoft, the issue is caused by a lack of Windows Recovery Environment partition disk space. The solution that Microsoft offers at the time is to run several commands to increase the size of the partition.

Not all users affected by the issue want to delete and recreate partitions on their devices. Things may go wrong and this can lead to a system that can not be booted anymore. Our advice is to try a reboot of the system first to see if the update installs fine afterwards. If that is not the case, you should create a full system backup of the computer's main hard drive before attempting Microsoft's solution.

Another option is to wait for Microsoft to release a working fix that does not require partition operations.

Microsoft has confirmed the issue officially now. It added The January 2024 Windows RE update might fail to install to the list of known issues for Windows 10 version 22H2. The issue affects Windows 11 version 21H2 installations and Windows Server 2022 installations as well.

Newer versions of Windows 11, particularly Windows 11 version 22H2 and 23H2, are not listed by Microsoft as affected. Windows 11 version 21H2 is no longer supported on Home devices.

Microsoft writes on the Windows 10 version 22H2 release health dashboard: "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""

The only workaround at the time of writing is to resize the partition manually. Microsoft says that the recovery partition needs to increase in size by at least 250 megabytes. Some users reported that they ran into the issue with larger recovery partitions. They increased the size further to resolve the error.

Microsoft is working on a resolution and promises to release a fix in an upcoming release.

Affected users have two options: resize the recovery partition to resolve the issue or wait for Microsoft to release a fix in a coming update.

Now You: did you run into the error when installing the update? (via Neowin)

Summary
Article Name
Microsoft confirms 0x80070643 error during Windows update installation
Description
Microsoft confirmed the Windows update error 0x80070643 officially for Windows 10 version 22H2 and Windows 11 version 21H2 devices.
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Ghacks Technology News
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Comments

  1. Anonymous said on January 17, 2024 at 7:55 am
    Reply

    Third option, ignore this update if you don’t use BitLocker.

  2. Tachy said on January 17, 2024 at 5:57 am
    Reply

    I just had to do a clean install of the latest windows 10 home. I deleted all the partitions on the C: drive during installation.

    After installing and fully updating, (updating after booting up not during the offline setup with local account only) the recovery partition is 546mb.

    /DogHeadTilt

    PS I had to do a clean install because I was unable to fix the errors windows update had caused :(

  3. GatesFoundation said on January 15, 2024 at 8:32 pm
    Reply

    This is the result of bad low-skilled workers, poor leadership, and a lack of quality assurance. Windows is a genuinely awful product under Satya Nadella. They should release Windows to the general public if they are no longer interested in it. It would be a far better operating system if it was open source.

    1. AD2024 said on January 26, 2024 at 10:54 am
      Reply

      I agree that it would be much better OS when open sourced, but that will never happen. Windows is one of the primary ways for US gov agencies to spy on the people worldwide.
      Microsoft is way too deep in this rabbit hole to change anything, even if they wanted. Which they don’t. Government money are great.

  4. cdr said on January 15, 2024 at 8:07 pm
    Reply

    This is bizarre, I do not have a WRE and would delete it for additional space if I did. I have a backup strategy that doesn’t need a WRE. Why would Microsoft assume everyone has one?

    Perhaps whoever designed the ‘fix’ is someone who thinks an approved Microsoft answer is the correct one to fix a real life problem. I have repeatedly found Microsoft to be the worst place to find a fix as some bozo always runs through the ‘approved replies’ for a situation rather than something that may work.

  5. Cassette said on January 15, 2024 at 7:11 pm
    Reply

    My recovery partitions are over 500MB and I’m getting the error so 250MB is obviously nowhere near big enough to avoid the issue. On my three Windows 10 installs of various ages, one recovery partition is 509MB, another is 529MB, and the newest install is 546MB. On the newest install I was able to install the update by restarting first, but that trick didn’t work on either of the others. Based on that the the actual required size is somewhere above 529MB. I won’t be jumping through any partition resizing hoops or any others to get a botched update from Microsoft to install, though.

  6. Tachy said on January 15, 2024 at 5:57 pm
    Reply

    Error.

    “needs to be increased by 250 MB” not “needs to have a size of at least 250 mb.

    Both mine were 506 MB by default and had this error. Increasing them 250 MB to 756 MB fixed the error.

    I don’t even use bitlocker but I didn’t want Windows trying to install the update over and over ad naseum.

  7. Don said on January 15, 2024 at 4:55 pm
    Reply

    Microsoft’s KB5028997 actually says that the update needs 250MB free space. It recommends that you increase the current recovery partition size by 250MB.

  8. Alex Kamp said on January 15, 2024 at 11:25 am
    Reply

    MiniTool Partion wizard (free) promisses to enlarge WinRE partion by consuming free space of the neighbour Windows partion.. A screenshot is available.
    I didn’t try it. Did someone ?

  9. Amelia said on January 15, 2024 at 11:00 am
    Reply

    I jave this error in all my 2 pc with window 10 22

  10. Anonymous said on January 15, 2024 at 10:24 am
    Reply

    They released a PowerShell script to address this. You do have to temperately allow the execution of this party scripts to run it and you need to know how too use the command line a tiny bit but I can’t imagine any ghacks reader struggling with it, Microsoft gives you the exact flags you need to run it with.
    You have to use the wushowhide tool to disable the update too but after that it’s smooth sailing.

    1. plusminus_ said on January 16, 2024 at 9:32 pm
      Reply

      Thank you! Still not the simplest fix but definitely easier than resizing partitions lmao

    2. TelV said on January 15, 2024 at 11:06 am
      Reply

      Can you write all that again in English please?

      Perhaps you’re not a native English speaker in which case write it in your own native language and then use deepl.com to translate it into English.

      1. bruh said on January 15, 2024 at 3:49 pm
        Reply

        @TelV no need to be a douche:

        Wow, so unreadable…

        “They released a Powershell script to address this. You do have to temporarily allow the execution of third party scripts to run it, and you need to know how to use the command line a little bit, but I can’t imagine any ghacks reader struggling with it, Microsoft gives you the exact flags you need to run it with.

        You have to use the wushowhide tool to disable the update too but after that it’s smooth sailing.”

        If you struggled to read and “interpolate” their typos/mistakes, then I question whether english is your native language, as well. Because it wasn’t that hard.

        I’m all for being a grammar nazi but sending someone to google translate when they’ve almost done a good job by hand is a bit mean.

      2. Anonymous said on January 15, 2024 at 1:16 pm
        Reply

        Basically this
        I’m sorry for my shitty English
        There is a PowerShell script here which you can use to apply the WinRE patch (the patch that is failing). You don’t need to resize partitions.
        https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/kb5034957-updating-the-winre-partition-on-deployed-devices-to-address-security-vulnerabilities-in-cve-2024-20666-0190331b-1ca3-42d8-8a55-7fc406910c10

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