Recovery partition free space needed to install the WinRE security update

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[n0ads]

Numerous posters have asked the question, “How much free space must the recovery partition have for the WinRE security update to install successfully?”

Well, I found the answer to this question on the KB5034441: Windows Recovery Environment update for Windows 10, version 21H2 and 22H2: January 9, 2024 support page.

IMPORTANT

This update requires 250 MB of free space in the recovery partition to install successfully. If the recovery partition does not have sufficient free space, this update will fail. In this case, you will receive the following error message:

0x80070643 – ERROR_INSTALL_FAILURE

I checked, and the support pages for KB5034440 (Windows 11 21H2) and KB5034439 (Windows Server 2022) contain the same quote.

So the “official” answer from Microsoft is; you need at least 250 MB of free space in the recovery partition.

BTW, see my post #2627553 for info on how to determine exactly how much free space your particular recovery partition has.

• This topic was modified 1 year, 4 months ago by n0ads.

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NaNoNyMouse

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Microsoft could use 250MB of free space in order to patch Recovery partition.
The update doesn’t add 250MB to the partition. I think the added code is 26MB.

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Alex5723 wrote:

I think the added code is 26MB.

Actually, it seems to vary a bit depending on the exact configuration of the particular PC it’s installed on.

On my Desktop, it was +29 MB, on my Laptop PC only +27 MB.

See my Real-World info from installing KB5034441 on Windows 10 topic for details.

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Alex5723

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hi, I have 530 MB free space recovery partition but windows recovery partition security update failed, would you tell me please, how this is possible?

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The update found another problem / your recovery partition is not correct / we don’t know. Take your pick.

Wait until MS fix the problem, hopefully next month and then try again. Susan will let us know, so keep an eye on the AskWoody Home page.

cheers, Paul

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alex wrote:

I have 530 MB free space recovery partition

Where do you see that free space ? Disk management doesn’t show free space correctly.
To see the real free space you should use a tool like free MiniTool Partition Wizard.

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alex wrote:

hi, I have 530 MB free space recovery partition but windows recovery partition security update failed, would you tell me please, how this is possible?

If you used Windows built-in disk management utility to view the recovery partition, the value displayed is the “total space” allocated to the recovery partition not the free space.

See my post #2627553 for an easy way to find out how much free space the recovery partition actually has without needing to use a 3rd part app.

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Actually, it is quite possible for KB5034441 to fail for other than not enough free space. See post at https://www.askwoody.com/forums/topic/kb5034441-more-than-just-partition-size/

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I have 547MB (100%) free and KB5037768 tells me “Error encountered” and I can search for help with 0x80070643. I have plenty of free recovery space. I have rebooted repeatedly and retried the update repeatedly, always with the same result. Meanwhile, on my Surface Pro in another room, a different KB update hangs continuously at 74% and will not proceed or give me an error message. That one has even more recovery partition free space (probably not related). I have rebooted and retried many times on that one, also. Troubleshooting says it is unnecessary and will not run on either. Isn’t Microsoft fun?

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KB5037768 has nothing to do with the WinRE recovery partition.

KB5034441 is the update that requires extra recovery partition space to properly install.

BTW, a 100% free recovery partition indicates you don’t have a WinRE recovery partition. If it existed, your recovery partition would show about 556 MB of used space.

Without an existing WinRE recovery partition, the WinRE update (KB5034441) will always fail – because there’s nothing there for it to update!

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n0ads wrote:

BTW, a 100% free recovery partition indicates you don’t have a WinRE recovery partition. If it existed, your recovery partition would show about 556 MB of used space.

If you’re looking at Disk Management it does not report Recovery Partitions correctly:

However, other Partition software will, for example NIUBI Partition Editor:

May the Forces of good computing be with you!

RG

PowerShell & VBA Rule!
Computer Specs

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PL1, satrow, Volume Z

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I have found all machines that I work on if you upgraded from Windows 7 to Windows 10, you may have two recovery partitions. The best way to check this is through disk management. If that is the case I had to add 250 meg to the second recovery partition at the end. This has fixed every machine I worked on.  Hope this helps . I used partition manager software from Easeus

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SueW

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Without an existing WinRE recovery partition, the WinRE update (KB5034441) will always fail – because there’s nothing there for it to update!

Without an existing recovery partition Windows RE may be enabled on the Windows partition and KB5034441 may succeed.

The reason KB5034441 always will fail for is Windows RE disabled.

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