Update: Microsoft has finally "retired" the update and replaced it with new ones.
Microsoft earlier this week released July 2024 Patch Tuesday updates for Windows 10 (KB5040427 / KB5040430 / KB5040434 / KB5040448), Windows 11 21H2/ 22H2 / 23H2 (KB5040442 / KB5040431) and Windows 11 24H2 (KB5040435). The one for Windows 11 fixes a broken Taskbar.
Besides those, Microsoft also quietly made an update to a major issue that has been plaguing Windows 10 and 11 users for a long while. The company had issued Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) updates KB5034441 (on Windows 10) and KB5034440 (on Windows 11) to address a Secure Boot bypass vulnerability CVE-2024-20666. These are different from the WinRE update Microsoft published earlier this week for Windows 11 24H2 under KB5041137.
However, it would lead to "0x80070643 - ERROR_INSTALL_FAILURE" error message and from time to time, the company has updated it. In March, it released a tweaked PowerShell script and added that users without a WinRE partition do not need the update.
In May, Microsoft acknowledged that an automatic fix was not possible for this and users would need to manually update it.
The company has now updated it again and has published a detailed step-by-step guide on how to determine whether a user needs the update.
KB5034440: Windows Recovery Environment update for Windows 11, version 21H2
IMPORTANT This update is not needed and will not be offered if your Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) meets any of the following conditions:
- If the WinRE recovery partition does not have sufficient free space.
- If the WinRE recovery partition was manually updated by using the procedure in Add an update package to Windows RE and is already up to date.
- If the WinRE image has a version greater than or equal to version 10.0.22000.2710. To determine the version of your WinRE image, check the WinREVersion registry value at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion.
- If your running PC does not have a WinRE recovery partition. To verify if you have WinRE enabled, run the following command in an elevated command prompt: reagentc /info. If WinRE is enabled, you will see Windows RE status in the output with a value of Enabled. In this scenario, this update might be needed.
KB5034441: Windows Recovery Environment update for Windows 10, version 21H2 and 22H2
IMPORTANT This update is not needed and will not be offered if your Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) meets any of the following conditions:
- If the WinRE recovery partition does not have sufficient free space.
- If the WinRE recovery partition was manually updated by using the procedure in Add an update package to Windows RE and is already up to date.
- If the WinRE image has a version greater than or equal to version 10.0.19041.3920. To determine the version of your WinRE image, check the WinREVersion registry value at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion.
- If your running PC does not have a WinRE recovery partition. To verify if you have WinRE enabled, run the following command in an elevated command prompt: reagentc /info. If WinRE is enabled, you will see Windows RE status in the output with a value of Enabled. In this scenario, this update might be needed.
A separate note has also been added talking about increasing the free space size of the recovery partition by 250 MB that is necessary for installing the update:
NOTE This update requires 250 MB of free space in the recovery partition to install successfully.
If you would like to make sure your device is offered this update, please follow the Instructions to manually resize your partition or use a sample script to increase the size of the WinRE recovery partition.
Once your partition has sufficient disk space, click Start > Settings > Windows Update > Check for updates to have the update offered to you and then install it.
You may find more details on Microsoft"s official support documents linked down at the source below.