Windows 10 Media Creation Tool Error: 0x80042405 - 0xA001A

Anonymous
2017-11-16T13:39:26+00:00

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

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  1. Anonymous
    2018-03-09T18:26:27+00:00

    This worked for me, apparently the MCT does not the front USB ports and did not fail were it has been failing once I plugged it directly into the I/O panel. At the time of this post it is still running but seems to be progressing without issue. Thanks!

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  2. Anonymous
    2018-03-09T18:28:34+00:00
    1. Use pendrive with at least 8 GB.
    2. Try formatting FAT32, and NTFS as well, if FAT32 does not working.
    3. The Media Creator Tool can be run from the laptop/desktop, or from the pendrive itself.
    4. Remove every other device plugged into other USBs.
    5. Use USB on the motherboard directly at the back (I/O shield), don't use front panel, or long USB cable.
    6. Disable all Antivirus, Malware, etc.. protection for this 5 minutes.
    7. Do not do anything else in the background, and try to exit/disable/shutdown any unnecessary programs. (Fraps, Steam, HW monitoring, .... everything)

    This worked for me, apparently the front USB ports were the problem and it worked fine once I plugged the flash drive into the rear I/O panel.

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  3. Anonymous
    2018-03-17T20:06:38+00:00

    Maybe more worked disabling antivirus to me... not copying media creation tool to USB disk.

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  4. Anonymous
    2018-03-18T04:22:41+00:00

    Also worked for me; just copied the Media Creation Tool to the USB drive normally (not as administrator) and just let it download and install. Thanks Tom.

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  5. Anonymous
    2018-03-18T20:34:53+00:00

    I tried this fix. I got the error code stated when creating Windows 10 installation media failed a number of times. Unless I did something wrong all I got was that the computer I was using to download and create the installation media on reset to a clean version of Windows 10? Not what I intended. Still trying to find a fix for the failure of the media creation to USB to try and recover a "dead" computer.

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