14 DAY TRIAL // Some of the users who experienced issues caused by the recently-released Windows 10 cumulative update KB4013429 complained that not even System Restore worked and, in many cases, the Windows Reset feature failed to complete when all files were supposed to be removed.
And it turns out that System Restore not working is actually a widespread bug, with Microsoft confirming in an announcement that it’s aware of the issue and working on a fix.
Specifically, Microsoft says that in some cases System Restore fails with error 0x80070091, so the recovery process does not complete and leaves users with no solution to restore PCs.
The error message displayed on computers impacted by this issue is the following:
Details: System Restore failed while restoring the directory from the restore point. Source: AppxStaging Destination: %ProgramFiles%\WindowsApps An unspecified error occurred during System Restore. (0x80070091)
Microsoft said in a statement that “we are currently investigating the issue and will update this thread when we have more information,” providing some steps for advanced users to take if they want to try to address the problems before a fix is released.
The workaround
The workaround comes down to booting into Safe Mode, right-clicking Start and launching Command Prompt with administrator rights. Microsoft says users then need to type these commands one by one in the Command Prompt window:
cd C:\Program Files
takeown /f WindowsApps /r /d Y
icacls WindowsApps /grant “%USERDOMAIN%\%USERNAME%”:(F) /t
attrib WindowsApps -h
rename WindowsApps WindowsApps.old
After you run the last command, simply reboot back into Windows and attempt to launch System Restore once again, as the process is now supposed to complete correctly.
There’s still no ETA for a fix right now, so if you’re also experiencing issues with the latest update, you can try the workaround above to address the problem if removing the cumulative update doesn’t work.
Additionally, you can also give a try to this easy fix for Windows 10 cumulative update KB4013429 issues, as we’re getting confirmation from users that no problems occur after installing the update manually.