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(Sneak peak of the information that will be in the upcoming Plus newsletter): If you have an older Windows 10 machine, those early machines often were
[See the full post at: 0x80070643 – ERROR_INSTALL_FAILURE with KB5034441]
Susan Bradley Patch Lady/Prudent patcher
https://www.askwoody.com/forums/topic/ready-for-the-new-patching-year/#post-2620591
Note the use of a third party patching tool was needed to resize the partition.
Susan Bradley Patch Lady/Prudent patcher
My Windows 10 Recovery Partition is the first partition. Second is EFI partition and third is C drive.
In my case it will tough to resize Recovery Partition if needed.
You can always make an image and then restore the partitions with a different size. You can even change the order of the partitions when restoring if you want to, thereby changing the partition order to what has been the order when doing a fresh installation of Windows 10 for a couple of years now.
I have done both at the same time a couple of years ago when feature updates still made an extra WinRE partition sometimes and it worked well. The order will then be (1) EFI partition, (2) System partition, (3) WinRE partition. You then probably also have to repair the boot. I did so by using Macrium Reflect’s Fix boot option. I can highly recommend Macrium Reflect (Home or Free) to do this, especially because of the Fix boot option that is available in the rescue media.
Find if Bitlocker is installed. Open Windows Explorer, right-click C-drive. Bitlocker gets a mention in the menu, if it’s available. Decision time: Show/Hide : modify WinRe etal.
I didn’t bother to move the recovery partition. I opted to create a new recovery partition, size 1 GB instead. My thinking was… forget the “hassle” of moving a 500MB recovery partition. Once i created the new 1 GB recovery partition, the install of KB5034441 worked.
I’m not Paul but here’s the answer.
fsutil volume diskfree <volumepath>
Note: <volumepath> can be either a drive letter (i.e. C:, D:, etc.) or a UNC path (i.e. \\??\\Volume{##}, \\192.168.1.1\ssd, etc.)
To display the free space of the recovery partition, use the UNC path displayed by reagentc /info like this:
It seems that users who do not have Bitlocker enabled may simply skip this patch, based on Susan’s input in her post:
Specifically with this patch, if you are not running Bitlocker, I would hide the update.
That was my same thought initially, but I noticed Susan mentions that:
Please note this issue is not as a result of untested patches – rather it’s a known issue and Microsoft expects us to deal with it.
That seems to suggest MS isn’t going to do anything to address this issue. As far as I am concerned, I’ll just hide this update and skip its installation.
I get a similar result, about 4MB less reported by fsutil?!?!?
cheers, Paul
In a consumer setting where you do not have Bitlocker and have complete physical control of your computer this vulnerability is of extremely low risk to you. WHEN I give the approval to install updates, IF KB5034441 fails to install with error code 0x80070643, my advice to you is to use one of the tools noted at http://www.blockapatch.com to prevent the installation of this update.
Let me see if I understand this IF we have an older Windows 10 device and we are NOT running Bitlocker, i.e., we do not have it turned on.. I’d like to flesh out the quote above a bit.
In summary, when the time comes (i.e, when MS-DEFCON is 3+), I’d like to see if KB5304441 installs and if not, 1) did it cause any problems to the system because it did not install? and 2) is this a warning to not turn on BitLocker in the future? 3) is this a reminder to not try to install KB5034441 at some later time (i.e., keep it hidden)? But, if it DOES install, then is this a sign that I could, if desired, turn on BitLocker in the future and be protected against the vulnerability?
Yes, but.
IMHO one should only install bitlocker after careful consideration and understanding the need for backing up recovery keys, impact to servicing and other nuances that should be considered. Deploying bitlocker should be considered in some settings. But in other settings, it causes more risk, not less.
Susan Bradley Patch Lady/Prudent patcher
A new year with a level of competence to match, just look at all those related to this mess-
Windows Update and wushowhide both use the Windows Update Service to scan for updates. If you Pause Windows Update, neither can search/see updates.
Resuming updates or running “check for updates” will result in an immediate effort to download/install by Windows Update. If you are not connected to the Internet when you do, it will cause an error, but the search/download/install will continue will continue when you reconnect. However, if you turn on Metered Connections, there is a good possibility that MS will respect the setting and not download.
So, turn on Metered connections, then initiate Resume Updates. Once the Windows Update Service is unPaused, wushowhide can also find and hide updates. Once you hide the updates, you have to clear the update queue. Repause Windows update, rub your rabbits foot, cross your fingers, take a deep breath, and Resume Updates (Metered Connections still on). This will cause Windows Update to rescan. Your hidden updates shouldn’t still be in the Windows Update queue. If this is true, and only you desired updates show in Windows Update, turn off Metered Connections and install.
Questions?
I’ve never used a patch blocker so this might be a dumb question, but I think what may confuse some people is, does the patch blocker (wushowhide or whatever) need to up and running before patching is unpaused (resumed, or ‘check for updates’) or do you unpause patching in Windows Update and then quickly open and run the patch blocker and hide updates in the patch blocker and hope you get the update blocked before it starts to install?
I think the solution to this conundrum is to use either Pause or a patch blocker, not both. Using a patch blocker is a lot easier and you make the decision on the spot as to when to update. You don’t have to plan ahead, as you do with Pause.
I use WUSHOWHIDE and it shows what’s in the WU queue. I just make sure it’s empty before I unhide anything. If it’s empty, I unhide. And then, I do WUSHOWHIDE again, just to make sure the only update(s) in the queue is the one(s) I have released. If it’s the only one(s), I click on ‘Check for Updates’
If Windows Defender happens to be in the queue, I go to Update & Security > Windows Security > Virus & threat protection > Virus & threat protection updates > check for updates to make Windows Defender install and disappear from the queue. Afterwards, I use WUSHOWHIDE again to make sure the queue is empty before I do any unhiding. For checking the queue and for unhiding, you have to open WUSHOWHIDE each time, but that’s OK with me, because it’s one step at a time and easy to follow.
If there’s something in the queue that I don’t want to be there, I hide it and wait until WU refreshes the queue, making sure to not select “Check for Updates”. (There’s a date for when WU last checked the queue so that way you can tell when it has refreshed.) After WU has refreshed the queue, I use WUSHOWHIDE to be sure the unwanted update has been hidden and that there’s nothing in the queue (as I said earlier, this requires opening WUSHOWHIDE twice in a row).
I believe I’ve used a paid partition manager program to rearrange. I couldn’t expand something and had to move a small partition out of the way. It was not free and you have to boot under the operating system to make the final move. It is not without risk.
Susan Bradley Patch Lady/Prudent patcher
Powershell script now posted. (still not acceptable in my book)
Susan Bradley Patch Lady/Prudent patcher
Hey Y’all,
This is my experience with a 2015 vintage Dell laptop.
Windows: 10 22H2
Build: 19045.3930
TPM: Not present
Bit Locker is NOT activated:
Update Status, update run several times.
Disk Partitions on this single SSD system:
What surprised me was the fact that the Recovery Partition which is BEFORE the C: drive partition is 750MB! I don’t know how it got that big but there it is, curious…
For those who for one reason or another DON’T have a recovery partition on your machine you DON’T need KB5034441, per MS’s own admission. It came in the form of a “Known Issues” entry in the bulletin for KB5034441, as shown in the image inserted below:
I just noticed it today, so I thought I’d post it to remove any doubt from the minds of those who don’t have a recovery partition on your machines.
BUT, what MS doesn’t say is if you’ll need it in the future in case you at some point do wind up with a recovery partition for one reason or another.
IF you’re using a Windows-based machine (or a machine with any OS for that matter) in a line-of-business scenario, and it doesn’t have a recovery partition, you may have bigger things to worry about than whether or not you need this patch installed.
IF you’re using a Windows-based machine (or a machine with any OS for that matter) in a line-of-business scenario, and it doesn’t have a recovery partition, you may have bigger things to worry about than whether or not you need this patch installed.
If you create image backups regularly you don’t need recovery partition.
The main purpose of recovery partition is to restore PCs to original manufacture’s state. Who wants that ?
The main purpose of recovery partition is to restore PCs to original manufacture’s state.
Not entirely! Once you boot into the recovery environment, there are tools to help you recover your system to a known good state or to further troubleshoot why it’s having problems. Recovering it to the original mfr.’s state is one of those options if the OEM has set up the Recovery Environment with that option, based upon images I’ve seen of the initial screen that can be presented at that login.
I’ve been fortunate enough to NEVER have needed to explore the Recovery Environment option, so I have no firsthand knowledge of just what a typical one might look like. I also don’t feel like tempting fate in order to “just take a quick look to see what it looks like”. I’ve been happy to see screenshots on MS’s websites the last several days of what it looks like according to them.
The main purpose of recovery partition is to restore PCs to original manufacture’s state.
Not true!
The main purpose of the Recovery Partition is to run Windows Recovery Mode.
Restoring a system to it’s default OOBE (Out of Box Experience) state is only one of the many different options available when using it.
If you delete it, you’ll no longer be able to enter Recovery Mode directly from the OS but must use a Windows Recovery Disk/Install Disk instead; and neither of those provide all the same options available from a real recovery partition.
I’m not Paul but here’s the answer.
fsutil volume diskfree <volumepath>
Note: <volumepath> can be either a drive letter (i.e. C:, D:, etc.) or a UNC path (i.e. \\??\\Volume{##}, \\192.168.1.1\ssd, etc.)To display the free space of the recovery partition, use the UNC path displayed by reagentc /info like this:
How do I copy and paste the UNC path ?
Right click the top bar of the DOS window, select properties, select the options tab, then check the box for “quick edit mode” and any other options you want.
Right click the top bar of the DOS window, select properties, select the options tab, then check the box for “quick edit mode” and any other options you want.
After that, right-click on title bar, select Edit, then select Mark, then drag the cursor across what you want to copy, then CTL-C, then CTL-V when you are ready to copy.
If it is not exactly the same patch/code, in other words, if MS has changed the metadata, it will appear as a new patch (even if it has the same KB number) and supersede the old one. This is not something you will SEE, but the computer will know the difference.
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