Fixing Windows update error 0x80070643 with R-Drive Image

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Fixing Windows update error 0x80070643 with R-Drive Image

Many users currently experience a failure while updating their Windows 10 and 11 systems with error 0x80070643. The main cause for this error is that there isn't enough space in the Windows Recovery partition. Once this partition is extended, this error no longer appears.

Such an extension doesn't require much space - 250MB of additional space is said to be enough to fix this problem.
A standard single-drive layout
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A standard size of the recovery partition is approx. 500MB.

When looking at a standard single-drive layout such an extension seems to be an easy task: shrinking the Windows system partition a little bit and then extending the recovery one. In practice such an operation is not always easy.

Shrinking the system partition is quite simple.

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Right-click the partition and select Shrink Volume.

Extending the recovery partition however cannot be done the same way.

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Only one item appears after right-clicking the partition: Help. You cannot use this easy-to-use graphical Computer Management utility to extend the recovery partition.

Microsoft provides its solution to this problem (KB5028997: Instructions to manually resize your partition to install the WinRE update - Microsoft Support) but it requires executing a lot of commands in the Windows console, which may be confusing for inexperienced users.

R-Drive Image, being a full-scale GUI partition manager, can solve this problem easily. All you need to do is to drag the borders of the partitions to change their size. This article will provide a detailed explanation.

1. Backup all of your important files. This is good practice for any serious disk operation. Turn off BitLocker if it is on. Download and install R-Drive Image. You don't have to purchase it immediately, you may use it with all features for free during its 1 month demo period. Backup the entire hard drive if you have enough free space on your storage devices using R-Drive Image. You'll need a startup R-Drive Image version to recover the drive if something goes wrong, so creating a USB stick with the startup version in advance will be a good idea.

2. Start R-Drive Image and click the Partition Manager button.
R-Drive Image Main panel
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3. Select the system partition

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4. Right click the selected partition and choose Modify partition on the menu.
Modifying the system partition

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5. Enter 0.5GB in the Free space after field and click the OK button.
Shrinking the system partition

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Although they say that 0.25GB is enough, specify 0.5GB on the safe side.

6. Hold and drag the left border of the recovery partition to the leftmost position.
Extending the recovery partition

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7. Verify that the new size of the recovery partition is around 1GB and click the Next button.
New partition layout

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8. Verify all of the parameters are correct and click the Start button.
Total operation list

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R-Drive Image will start performing the task and show when it's over.
Completed operations

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You may go to the Computer Management utility to verify that the Windows recovery partition has been extended.
Completed operations

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Then verify that the Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) is enabled. Start: Windows System -> Command Prompt -> Right-click -> More -> Run as administrator

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If it's disabled, enter
reagentc.exe /enable
to enable it.

You may now start updating your Windows system without this error.

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I`ve used R-Drive Image for several months now, and it`s awesome. Dependable, easy; it just plain works! I also appreciate the straightforward, reasonable and clear pricing, which is why I initially chose R-Drive Image over others.

John Reid

I am currently using R-Drive Image on a trial basis on Windows 11. Ironically enough, I had installed it and created an image prior to trying to see if a 2011 Acronis True Image disc I had would work. True Image wouldn`t completely install but then wouldn`t uninstall either. So I used the r-tools backup and restore image capabilities to recover from a backup and restore screw-up from another company. ;-)
However, what I wanted to suggest is that you create a Home version of your software that may have slightly ...

David Nelson

This help file needs to be updated. None of the names match with the current version of R-Drive Image Standalone 7.1 (Build 7110)

https://www.drive-image.com/DriveImage_Help/restorefromanimage.htm

For example, there is no ` Restore from an Image` on the GUI. Instead there is `Restore Image`. And there is no `Image File Selection` on the GUI. Instead there is `Select image file`. And so on... My suggestion is to open the app, go through a file restore, write down the steps exactly as done, and then ...

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