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Microsoft: We are working on KB5034441/KB5034440 "0x80070643 - ERROR_INSTALL_FAILURE" fix by Sayan Sen Microsoft released the first Windows 10 and 11 Patch Tuesday updates of 2024, last week, with the January updates KB5034122 and KB5034123 respectively. The updates are meant to address security issues within Windows. The one for 11 also fixes the recent Wi-Fi troubles that led to networks not connecting or the Wi-Fi icon not showing. In a separate article, the company has also detailed a fix for a WinRE (Windows Recovery Environment) security vulnerability that can lead to BitLocker encryption bypass. The issue is being tracked under ID "CVE-2024-20666". Microsoft said that the security flaw could allow attackers to bypass BitLocker encryption if they are able to get physical access to an unpatched PC. However, this is not one of those WinRE updates that is seamlessly installing on PCs. Users report that the update is failing to install with the error message "0x80070643 - ERROR_INSTALL_FAILURE" which indicates insufficient WinRE partition size. The solution is to resize the partition manually. You can do so by following this dedicated guide here. Neowin forum supervisor / mod and ESET's Distinguished Researcher Aryeh Goretsky (X account) also experienced the issue which they were able to fix by increasing the recovery partition. Goretsky writes: Hello, I can confirm that the KB5034441 hotfix failed on a Windows 10 VM with a Windows Recovery partition that was 511MB in size. I decided to increase it to 1024MB in size, just in case more space was needed in the future. The hotfix installed normally afterwards. Regards, Aryeh Goretsky Microsoft of course has been aware of this problem almost from the start which is why it has been recommending the manual resize workaround as soon as it published the WinRE updates. Yesterday, on its Windows health dashboard, the company has added the issue and notes that a fix is coming via a future update. Microsoft says: Devices attempting to install the January 2024 Windows Recovery Environment update ( KB5034441/KB5034440) might display an error related to the size of the Recovery Environment's partition. Resulting from this error, the following message might be displayed. "0x80070643 - ERROR_INSTALL_FAILURE" 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. Guidance to change the WinRE partition size can 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. Aside from this BitLocker encryption vulnerability, Microsoft has recently updated its Microsoft Printer Metadata Troubleshooter Tool to patch against a Remote Code Execution (RCE) security flaw.

Microsoft issues KB5034440, KB5034441 Windows updates for BitLocker Secure Boot flaw by Sayan Sen Update: Microsoft has confirmed a true fix is coming so users don't have to manually work around the problem. Microsoft released the first Windows 10 and 11 Patch Tuesday updates of 2024 earlier yesterday with the January updates KB5034122 and KB5034123 respectively. The updates are meant to address security issues within Windows. The one for 11 also fixes the recent Wi-Fi troubles that led to networks not connecting or the Wi-Fi icon not showing. In a separate article, the company has also detailed another security fix for a BitLocker Secure Boot bypass vulnerability that is being tracked under ID "CVE-2024-20666". Microsoft says that the security flaw could allow attackers to bypass BitLocker encryption if they are able to get physical access to an unpatched PC. The issue has been addressed by KB5034441 (on Windows 10) and KB5034440 (on Windows 11) which is a WinRE (Windows Recovery Environment) update. Microsoft in its bulletins explains: KB5034440: Windows Recovery Environment update for Windows 11, version 21H2: January 9, 2024 Summary This update addresses a security vulnerability that could allow attackers to bypass BitLocker encryption by using Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE). ... KB5034441: Windows Recovery Environment update for Windows 10, version 21H2 and 22H2: January 9, 2024 Summary This update addresses a security vulnerability that could allow attackers to bypass BitLocker encryption by using Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE). You cannot manually download this update from the Microsoft Update Catalog website as it will automatically be downloaded whilst you are connected to the internet alongside the Patch Tuesday update. The patch is being rolled out to both Windows 10 versions, 22H2 and 21H2. Alongside this, Microsoft has also cautioned about inadequate space on the recovery partition which can lead to a "0x80070643 - ERROR_INSTALL_FAILURE" error message. It writes: Some computers might not have a recovery partition that is large enough to complete this update. Because of this, the update for WinRE might fail. In this case, you will receive the following error message: Windows Recovery Environment servicing failed. (CBS_E_INSUFFICIENT_DISK_SPACE) Known issue Because of an issue in the error code handling routine, you might receive the following error message instead of the expected error message when there is insufficient disk space: 0x80070643 - ERROR_INSTALL_FAILURE You can fix this issue by allocating an additional 250 MB of storage space to the recovery partition. Details on how to do that can be found in this dedicated article. Aside from this, the company has also addressed an RCE vulnerability for the recently released Printer metadata fixer tool.