Windows 10 KB5048239 causes 0x80070643 error but Microsoft already has an official fix

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This past week, alongside the Patch Tuesday updates for November 2024, the company released its corresponding Setup and Recovery dynamic updates for Windows 11. However, it is also one of those rare times when Dynamic updates for Windows 10 have also been released, and there are several.

However, one of the Recovery updates, KB5048239, is also leading to installation failures with the "0x80070643" error.

For example, Sebastian94 on the Windows 10 Forums writes, "KB5048239: Another poor update of WinRE?"

Another user, dritzTX, on the Microsoft forum, has published the same query headlined "Security Update for Windows 10, 2024-11, KB5048239 getting error 0x80070643 when installing". The user goes on to write:

I have exactly the same problem as this (reported earlier this year), but with the new KB5048239 update. I get the 0x80070643 error when it tries to install. Retried several times, but same issue. I'm pretty sure this is the same problem that I had back in January, too. All security updates have worked fine since then, till now.

At that time I was told that this was a general problem with the update and a fix was being made by Microsoft. I did wait and eventually that previous update went away. Now here we are again...

The user has stated correctly that a similar issue popped up earlier wherein a Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) updates KB5034440 / KB5034441led to the "0x80070643 - ERROR_INSTALL_FAILURE" error message, and Microsoft had to eventually pull them and replace them with KB5042321 / KB5042320.

The failures are a result of insufficient Windows Recovery partition space, as it requires a minimum of 250 MB, and Microsoft is well aware of this. It writes:

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.

We have already covered these workarounds in the past. You can find them here: Instructions for manual Recovery drive resize guide (dated: July 21, 2024) || PowerShell script.