Update KB5068164 won't apply

I've gotten to the bottom of this today with a little help from co-pilot. A bit of a pain. The update can't patch the winre.wim file, because it is in the recovery partition and protected. To apply the update, we need to copy the existing winre.wim file, into a temporary location on your hard drive, point the reagentc to the temporary file - do the windows update, then move everything back. Here's the instructions as from co-pilot (it's what worked on my system so bear in mind that partition locations etc may be different on your system)

KB5042320 installs with no issues at the same time as KB5068164

Fix for KB5068164 WinRE Update Failure (0x80070643)

Steps:

Mount the recovery partition with DiskPart

diskpart
list disk
select disk 0
list partition
select partition <number of recovery partition>
assign letter=R
exit

Create a temporary folder

mkdir C:\TempWinRE

Copy WinRE image to temp folder

robocopy R:\Recovery\WindowsRE C:\TempWinRE Winre.wim

Register WinRE to temp folder

reagentc /disable
reagentc /setreimage /path C:\TempWinRE
reagentc /enable

Run Windows Update
Install KB5068164 — it should now succeed.

Confirm WinRE version

dism /Get-WimInfo /WimFile:C:\Recovery\WindowsRE\Winre.wim /Index:1

Expect ServicePack Build 6455 (or newer).

Copy updated image back to recovery partition

robocopy C:\Recovery\WindowsRE R:\Recovery\WindowsRE Winre.wim

Re‑register WinRE to recovery partition

reagentc /disable
reagentc /setreimage /path R:\Recovery\WindowsRE
reagentc /enable

Remove temporary drive letter

diskpart
select volume R
remove letter=R
exit

Clean up temp folder

rmdir C:\TempWinRE

Result:

• WinRE status: Enabled
• Location: Recovery partition (GLOBALROOT device path)
• Version: ServicePack Build 6455
• KB5068164 installs successfully, no further failures.

I know why it wasn't in the catalog. None (or al least most) of the WinRE updates have not been there. That's not what I asked. I asked how to address the problem of that update not installing.

Update KB5068164 was not in the Microsoft Update Catalog because it was a standalone security update released for Windows 10 on October 14, 2025, the same day support for Windows 10 ended, and users are encouraged to upgrade to Windows 11. Also, it's a Windows Recovery Environment update that may have been intentionally excluded from the catalog for certain configurations.

I've done all that. Yes, KB5042320 is installed. You've given me nothing more than what anyone can find on the Internet. You've parroted data anyone can find without adding any value.

For KB5068164 with Error 0x80070643

Check the Recovery Partition Space space. Free up space if necessary.

Run Windows Update Troubleshooter: Go to Settings > Update & Security > Troubleshoot > Windows Update.

Reset Windows Update Components: Run these in Admin Command Prompt:

net stop wuauserv

net stop bits

ren C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution SoftwareDistribution.old

ren C:\Windows\System32\catroot2 Catroot2.old

net start wuauserv

net start bits

Fix System Corruption: Run:

sfc /scannow

DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

Manual Install: Download the update directly from the Microsoft Update Catalog

and install it.

For KB5042320 Reinstalling:

Follow the steps above to reset Windows Update components.

Hide the Update: Use the Show or Hide Updates Tool from Microsoft to hide the update.

Check Update History: Ensure KB5042320 is correctly installed under View update history.