Michael Paul | @micoolpaul

Veeam, VMware & Microsoft Blog

Michael Paul | @MicoolPaul

Data Protection Consultant, focusing on Veeam, VMware & Microsoft Productivity and Infrastructure stacks.

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Workaround: KB5005043 / Security Update August 2021 Won’t Install on Windows Server 2016

I’ve found a lot of clients are having the same issue with their Windows Server 2016 servers and getting KB5005043 to install. It seems that Microsoft might not be identifying this patch correctly as it doesn’t show within Windows Update for most and then downloading the patch manually from the Microsoft Catalog results in the very unhelpful error “This update is not applicable to your computer”.

“This update is not applicable to your computer”. Never a welcome message!

Don’t fret however as this appears to just be an issue with the installation bundle, and it’s easy enough to work around. Just follow the instructions below.

  1. Download the update from the Microsoft catalog via this link.
  2. Run the following command:
expand -f:* "C:\PathToFile\windows10.0-kb5005043-x64_6e39252b88646ca55582da59e6f86a021d8b6ddd.msu" C:\PathToExtractTo
  1. Run the following command:
dism /online /add-package /packagepath:"C:\PathToExtractedFiles\Windows10.0-KB5005043-x64.cab"
  1. Make a drink, this is not a quick update to install… It sat on 1% for me for about half hour.
  2. Reboot (you’ll be asked when the install is complete if you wish to restart now).
  3. Check Control Panel > Programs and Features > View Installed Updates. Make sure you see KB5005043 installed.
Congratulations, this server is now slightly less vulnerable!
After the reboot we see the update is successfully installed.

Hopefully this has helped at least one person!

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16 responses to “Workaround: KB5005043 / Security Update August 2021 Won’t Install on Windows Server 2016”

  1. wattsroy Avatar
    wattsroy

    Hi, after doing this, my Windows Server 2016 reported “We couldn’t complete the updates. Undoing changes. Don’t turn off your computer”

    Like

    Reply
    1. micoolpaul Avatar
      micoolpaul

      Hi, sounds like an issue with the server itself, it could be worth going through the usual suspects:
      – Restart Machine
      – Ensure you’ve got sufficient resources such as free disc space on your boot drive
      – Clearing Windows Update Cache
      -Review Logs to see if any errors have been captured.

      Like

      Reply
      1. wattsroy Avatar
        wattsroy

        Yes, I found your article because for the past two weeks this Windows 2016 Server crashes once or twice a day. There is nothing in the event log and all of our problems have been due, historically, to windows updates. It seems like it has been crashing since this update came out. I watched this one closely, but upon reboot it would not finish the update. Back to the drawing board! lol

        Like

      2. micoolpaul Avatar
        micoolpaul

        I’m sorry to hear! Try uninstalling the update and see if stability returns?

        Like

  2. Rahul Sharma Avatar
    Rahul Sharma

    Hello,
    Thank you so much, I had 2 servers on which patch was not getting installed. I followed the steps on 1 server it worked perfectly fine. On other server it did not work on the first attempt but second time, it did work.
    I also had to clean up on C drive to make more space available.

    I had the same issue last week, where the patch KB5004238 would get installed but after reboot it would start rolling back.
    I had to run
    SFC /SCANNOW and then
    DISM.EXE /Online /Cleanup-Image /HealthRestore

    Thanks a Lot!!!!!!

    Like

    Reply
    1. micoolpaul Avatar
      micoolpaul

      Hi Rahul, thanks for the feedback, I’m glad it helped!

      Like

      Reply
  3. GaryF Avatar
    GaryF

    Thank you so much for blogging this solution, Michael. After struggling for an entire day to get this update installed, your advice was spot on. Having the TiWorker.exe process consuming all CPU resource the whole while just made it 10x slower. Whew, so relieved. How come you provide much better advice than Microsoft? LOL! Thank you.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    1. micoolpaul Avatar
      micoolpaul

      Hi Gary, thank you for the kind feedback, makes this blogging worth it! Glad you’ve got yourself sorted. Out of curiosity, was the update missing from Windows Update entirely or just not installing?

      Like

      Reply
  4. nxg33k Avatar
    nxg33k

    This was very helpful. I appreciate the time you took for documenting this process!

    Like

    Reply
  5. nxg33k Avatar
    nxg33k

    Great information, I appreciate the thoroughness, very easy to follow and fixed my issue!

    Like

    Reply
  6. Hacki Avatar
    Hacki

    Hi folks,

    unfortunately we are still having trouble installing this f***ing update. For us it seems like disc space is low. Can anybody say how much free space on C: is needed? 14GB seem to be not enough. The file itself is almost hugh but while unpacking it (you can follow the status when installing manually via command line), the disc space runs against zero any time I try.

    Thanks in advance
    Hacki

    Like

    Reply
    1. micoolpaul Avatar
      micoolpaul

      I’d be extremely surprised if it needed that much space and I’m sure I’ve installed the update with less space available.

      I’ve seen this behaviour with two scenarios:
      1. Good old AV/File locks, disable AV and reboot the server, then install.
      2. Something else triggering Windows Update to install and it getting caught in a loop with itself.

      Hopefully that helps.

      Like

      Reply
  7. Simon James Gardiner Avatar
    Simon James Gardiner

    UG…. Still getting the Error: 0x800f081e The specified package is not applicable to this image. Its almost like server 2016 doesnt think its server 2016 anymore. Cant install .NET Frameworks either with manual or online installs

    Like

    Reply
    1. micoolpaul Avatar
      micoolpaul

      What package are you trying to install now?

      Like

      Reply
  8. Herzel Cohen Avatar
    Herzel Cohen

    Hi. thanks for your help.
    i installed like you said. the installation finished successfully, but not ask me to reboot.
    i rebooted the server and now i don’t see this kb5005043 update in installed update list.
    any idea?

    Like

    Reply
    1. micoolpaul Avatar
      micoolpaul

      Are you still trying to install KB5005043? As that’s a few months old and all the updates are cumulative, so you should be installing a newer one now

      Like

      Reply

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