KB5033560: Update for Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE): November 30, 2023

Applies To
Windows 11 Enterprise Multi-Session, version 21H2 Windows 11 Enterprise and Education, version 21H2 Windows 11 IoT Enterprise, version 21H2

This article applies to the following editions:

  • Windows 11 Enterprise, version 21H2
  • Windows 11 Education, version 21H2
  • Windows 11 Enterprise multi-session, version 21H2
  • Windows 11 Enterprise N, version 21H2
  • Windows 11 Enterprise Evaluation, version 21H2
  • Windows 11 Education N, version 21H2
  • Windows 11 LoT Enterprise, version 21H2

Summary

This update addresses an issue in which the Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) may not be accessible after installing the October 10, 2023 – KB5031358 (OS Build 22000.2538) or a later Windows update. This issue might occur when you use Windows Update on a computer that is running Windows 11, version 21H1.

IMPORTANT

Some computers might not have a recovery partition that is large enough to complete this update. Because of this, the update for WinRE might fail. In this case, you will receive the following error message:

  • Windows Recovery Environment servicing failed.
    (CBS_E_INSUFFICIENT_DISK_SPACE)
To help you recover from this failure, please follow Instructions to manually resize your partition to install the WinRE update.

Known issue Because of an issue in the error code handling routine, you might receive the following error message instead of the expected error message when there is insufficient disk space:
  • 0x80070643 - ERROR_INSTALL_FAILURE

How to get this update

To resolve the issue in which the Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) may not be accessible, apply the following update.

Release Channel Available Next Step
Windows Update and Microsoft Update Yes None. This update will be downloaded and installed automatically from Windows Update.
Microsoft Update Catalog No See the Windows Update channel.
Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) and Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager No See the Windows Update channel.

Prerequisites

There are no prerequisites to install this update.

Restart information

You do not need to restart your device after applying this update.

Removal information

This update cannot be removed once it is applied to a Windows image.

Update replacement information

This update does not replace any previously released update.

File information

The English (United States) version of this software update installs files that have the attributes that are listed in the following table.

For all supported x64-based versions
File name File size Date Time
AppLogic.xml 1,188 20-Nov-2023 14:55
WinREUpdateInstaller_2311D_amd64.exe 19,417,064 17-Nov-2023 0:56

References

Learn about the standard terminology that is used to describe Microsoft software updates.