Can’t install updates KB5063523 & KB5042320 after manually enabling WinRE

JoMcKen-9333 80 Reputation points
2025-08-26T08:11:50.6266667+00:00

A few weeks ago I was forced to reimage my system drive using Acronis True Image, which fixed the issues I was having. However, the reimaging process somehow disabled my system’s Windows Recovery Environment. A few days ago, I looked up how to manually re-enable WinRE and, after some troubleshooting (I got the “image was not found” error, so I had to extract the Winre.wim image file from my Win10 v22H2 ISO and save it to Windows\System32\Recovery before “reagentc /enable” finally worked), I finally got WinRE working again.

Since then, Windows Update has been showing me two available updates, KB5063523 and KB5042320, both of which are apparently WinRE updates. However, whenever I try to install either update, I get an “internal error” message, and nothing installs.

I’ve tried deleting the SoftwareDistribution and catroot2 folders, which didn’t help.

To save some time, here’s the info that was requested of someone else with a similar problem in another thread:

Disk Management screenshot:

User's image

Command Prompt WinRE & Windows version info:

User's image

And finally, a ZIP of my C:\Windows\Logs\WinREAgent folder (original post suggests OneDrive or GoFile.io, neither of which I use, so I hope Dropbox is okay):

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/rnkpl4qppq3c3fewu7ot9/WinREAgent.zip?rlkey=ropuils9oxzzdb5gzddad0bbp&e=1&dl=0

Please let me know if any further info is needed.

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Windows update
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Answer accepted by question author
Ramesh Srinivasan 90,210 Reputation points Independent Advisor
2025-08-27T12:22:55.4666667+00:00

That's it. Now, please run this command:

reg add "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion" /v "WinREVersion" /d "10.0.19041.6094" /f

Restart Windows and check for updates. Hopefully the July 2025 WinRE update shouldn't appear.

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  1. Ramesh Srinivasan 90,210 Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2025-08-26T11:31:19.33+00:00

    Stale mount entry pointing to C:$WinREAgent\Scratch\Mount removed

    Great. The "/Cleanup-Wim" command seems to have worked and the corrupt image in C:\$WinREAgent has been removed successfully.

    See if you can install the WinRE update now.

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  2. Ramesh Srinivasan 90,210 Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2025-08-26T11:07:50.0033333+00:00

    You may backup the files from the D drive and delete the partition. As it's located between the OS partition and the Recovery partition, the Windows Setup won't be able to resize the recovery partition when you install a Feature Update. The reserve partition can be created later if you need it.

    Please run these commands:

    Dism /Get-ImageInfo /ImageFile:C:\Recovery\WindowsRE\winre.wim /index:1

Dism /Cleanup-Wim

Dism /Get-MountedImageInfo

Dism /Cleanup-Wim

dism /unmount-Wim /MountDir:C:\$WinREAgent\Scratch\Mount /discard

rd /s /q C:\$WinREAgent

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  3. Ramesh Srinivasan 90,210 Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2025-08-26T10:41:03.7866667+00:00

    Hi Joé,

    Please open admin Command Prompt and run these commands:

    Dism /Get-MountedImageInfo

rd /s /q C:\$WinREAgent

Dism /Get-ImageInfo /ImageFile:\\?\GLOBALROOT\device\harddisk2\partition3\Recovery\WindowsRE\winre.wim

    Post the output.

    The "Reserve" partition (drive letter D) can be deleted after checking the drive's contents once. It has files that occupy 20 MB.

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