Update KB5068164 won't apply

Question

Update KB5068164 won't apply

Brian Tillman [Outlook MVP 2007-2019] 25,935

The KBs that are meant to install the WinRE update on my Windows 10 22H2 always seem to fail with the error 0x80070643. This is true for the latest, KB5068164, as well. I have a recovery partition of size 15.1GB with free space of 7.07 GB on the boot drive. I've read a lot of articles online about this and still haven't been able to solve it. Any suggestions? Additionally, KB5042320 shows that it has been successfully nstalled, yet Windows keeps trying to reinstall it. What do I do about that?

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5 answers

Your answer

Answer 1

Restee Miranda 14,140 Independent Advisor

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.

Brian Tillman [Outlook MVP 2007-2019] 25,935 Reputation points

2025-10-24T18:00:56.15+00:00

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

If you knew anything about this update, you'd know it's not available in the update catalog.
M R 15 Reputation points

2025-10-27T15:29:13+00:00

I went through the troubleshooting tool and not to my surprise, it found nothing wrong albeit still having issues with the download and install. I then followed the set of Command Prompt instructions. Unfortunately, with the (ren C:\Windows\System32\catroot2 Catroot2.old), there was an error message "Access Denied". I di perform the Command Prompt as Run as Administrator, as well.

I ignored it, as what else is a user supposed to do and continued with the remaining instructions.

I performed the Fix System Corruption: Run:

sfc /scannow

I received the following.

Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files and successfully repaired them.

For online repairs, details are included in the CBS log file located at

windir\Logs\CBS\CBS.log. For example C:\Windows\Logs\CBS\CBS.log. For offline

repairs, details are included in the log file provided by the /OFFLOGFILE flag.

I then performed DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

This is the result:

Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool

Version: 10.0.19041.3636

Image Version: 10.0.19045.6456

It would be helpful to provide the link for the Microsoft Update Catalog instead of performing endless Web searches within Microsoft's website. Here is the link, https://www.catalog.update.microsoft.com/Search.aspx?q=KB5068164

Unfortunately, this is another dead end with another error message.

We did not find any results for "KB5068164"

We did not find any results for "KB5068164"

This is such a waste of user time.
Montclair 5 Reputation points

2025-11-13T18:06:03.2266667+00:00

M R - for sure, a complete waste of time.
Brian Tillman [Outlook MVP 2007-2019] 25,935 Reputation points

2025-11-22T23:18:50.18+00:00

This also did not help. I have plenty of free space in the WinRE partition.

Answer 2

Brian Tillman [Outlook MVP 2007-2019] 25,935

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.

M R 15 Reputation points

2025-10-27T15:30:06.9433333+00:00

See my reply. Very frustrating as a client and user.

Answer 3

Restee Miranda 14,140 Independent Advisor

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.

M R 15 Reputation points

2025-10-27T21:37:53.4366667+00:00

Rez, thank you for the very quick response. I appreciate the fact that this update was made available prior to the end of Microsoft's support to its Windows 10 users however, I am enrolled in the ESU program for approximately another year's support. I also have a "Pending Install" KB5042320.

Truly confused that Microsoft is attempting to install updates that are intended for its users to migrate to Windows 11. Unfortunately, my PC doesn't have the hardware to upgrade to Windows 11 although working perfectly. The ESU gave me the opportunity to delay purchasing a Windows 11 PC.

As an added note, the most recent successful install was on October 14, KB5066791.
Montclair 5 Reputation points

2025-11-13T18:02:04.0633333+00:00

I have exactly the same problem with the same two KB updates, but it turns out that I have no recovery partition, which is apparently the cause of the failure. I have a recovery directory on my main drive, not a partition, and apparently these updates fail when that's the case. Just for the sake of clarity, I confirmed with "reagentc /info" that my recovery stuff is in a directory, and not in it's own partition. I know that's not what the OP has going on though, but just putting the info out there. So, at this point, my system just keeps wanting to install these two updates over and over, tells me it's up to date, then if I check for updates, it tries installing them again.

Answer 4

Brian Tillman [Outlook MVP 2007-2019] 25,935

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.

Montclair 5 Reputation points

2025-11-13T18:04:23.23+00:00

Has this been solved yet? It doesn't appear to have been unless I missed it in this thread. I have the same issue!

Answer 5

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.

Montclair 5 Reputation points

2025-11-26T18:30:35.01+00:00

I have no clue how that can possibly work for the oddball case like mine where I have a recovery directory on my main drive , not a partition. Just for the sake of clarity, I confirmed with "reagentc /info" that my recovery stuff is in c:\Recovery\WindowsRE, and not in it's own partition. So, at this point, my system just keeps wanting to install these two updates over and over, tells me it's up to date, then if I check for updates, it tries installing them again.
AdrianBroderick-8732 0 Reputation points

2025-11-26T18:59:24.7333333+00:00

I am fairly confident this issue is caused by the update not being able to update this particular file..... and permissions is my best guess at the reason for this. (Though co-pilot also suggested a corrupt winre.wim file would cause the same issues so you might want to explore that avenue also.)