Worked for me. 16GB flash drive, formatted to FAT. Copied Media Creation Tool (MCT) from laptop Downloads folder to Flash drive then ran MCT from the Flash drive copy. Worked. Now I Have my Win10 backup. Thanks much.
Windows 10 Media Creation Tool Error: 0x80042405 - 0xA001A
![](data:image/svg+xml, %3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' height='64' class='font-weight-bold' style='font: 600 30.11764705882353px "SegoeUI", Arial' width='64'%3E%3Ccircle fill='hsl(128, 8%, 22%)' cx='32' cy='32' r='32' /%3E%3Ctext x='50%25' y='55%25' dominant-baseline='middle' text-anchor='middle' fill='%23FFF' %3EA%3C/text%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Anonymous
Greetings,
Recently, I have seen many people inquiring about this error regarding the Media Creation Tool. I myself got this error when I try to create a bootable USB drive (aka Create an Installable Media).
Here's what I tried:
Reformatting USB drive to FAT32
Deleting files
Tried to locate and run Setupprep.exe (I couldn't find this file in C:\$Windows.~BT\Sources or anywhere)
Change Startup Type of Update-Related Services (Startup Type: Manual -> Automatic)
Uninstalled and Reinstall Windows 10 Media Creation Tool
Made sure my USB is above 8Gb as instructed by the tool (it is 15Gb)
The Fix (for me at least):
1. Downloadthe Windows 10 Media Creation Tool directlyinto the USB drive that you want to use as a bootable device (meaning you download the Tool into the same USB you chose to use as an Installation Media). If you already downloaded the tool on your PC's Desktop, copy it into your USB.
2. Run the Tool directly from your USB, meaning you open File Explorer, locate the MediaCreationTool.exe in your USB and double-click to run it.
The installer should then create an Installation Media/Bootable USB.
Hope this helps!
Cheers,
Tom
Windows for home | Windows 10 | Install and upgrade
Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.
322 answers
Sort by: Newest
-
Anonymous
2018-10-20T01:12:58+00:00 -
Anonymous
2018-10-18T10:02:59+00:00 Fix worked for me - 18th October 2018
-
Anonymous
2018-10-14T14:55:44+00:00 I am glad my skills are good and that my "FAT drive will sometimes work" comment was applied. End result: people fixed their computers and I am happy.
-
Anonymous
2018-10-14T14:50:42+00:00 Good for everyone. Glad I could help. I know it works. Thanks for all the followup the most I have received here.
-
Anonymous
2018-10-14T12:20:24+00:00 I solved it the same way!