The dreaded KB5034441 - what actually worked for me

Normally I don't talk much about fixing Windows problems as the tech blogs are a dime a dozen.  However, I have yet to find one that fixes the "0x80070643 - ERROR_INSTALL_FAILURE" with KB5034441. They seem all point to the WinRE partition wasn't sized sufficiently and each of them parroting the same stuff.  

I have resize the partition, but it still fails the update.  I have tried the PatchWinREScript_2004plus.ps1 from Microsoft, but it returned with a bunch of errors.  Obviously isn't fool proof enough for the end users.  I even ask Microsoft Copilot AI for a detail step by step instructions and it still isn't enough as there were errors in some of the steps.

I tried a whole bunch of things unsuccessfully and my WinRe was disabled.  I went through the usual long list of instructions trying to restore it manually e.g. extracting install.wim etc, but given up before I would do more damages. It is like a never ending quest like 50+ hours RPG with each quest requiring completing additional subtasks and no one have any up to date info.

What actually worked for me was to simply reinstall Windows. Obviously this is with the increased WinRe partition to 800MB and the install option of preserving the data and apps. This is the one with the least user interaction required, but no one else suggested this.

I let it install all the updates again and finally the dreaded KB installed properly. Whatever prerequisites that was broken along the way is now back to what they expect.  Don't forget to do a disk clean up for the old windows install and change back all your preferences that Windows like to muck with.

When in doubt, reinstall Windows.  :P