Media Creation Tool Error 0x80042405 0xA001B

Anonymous
2019-05-22T02:24:49+00:00

I must be doing something wrong because I always have the update fail with some BS error like this. What are the proper steps to run this tool?

I download the tool to the desktop. I'm on an Admin account. I insert a 16GB thumb drive. I format it. I start the tool. I point it to the thumb drive. During the phase where the files are copied to the USB, I get some stupid error like this:

Why are my steps not good enough? Where is the hole in my logic? Or is this tool just written poorly. I'd like to use stronger language here as I used to have to start it all over again and burn bandwidth trying this failed endeavor over and over.

I've heard people make it work by running the tool FROM the USB. Why would that matter? I've tried to write files to the thumb drive just after the format and before running the tool to make sure I have successful writes. Doesn't help. 

As a workaround today, I left the error up for a bit. Tried to access the thumb drive and it said it needed to be formatted AGAIN! So I did. Then I just opened the C:$Windows.~WS\Sources\Windows and copied the files to the drive by hand. Made the dang thing myself! WHO WRITES THIS STUFF??

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Install and upgrade

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Kapil Arya 38,446 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
2019-10-23T10:23:40+00:00

Hello,

I would suggest you to create latest media. Download the Media Creation Tool using this link:

https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=691209

Hope this helps!

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  1. Anonymous
    2019-06-21T15:06:33+00:00

    I had exactly the same problem as you did, no matter how many times I tried with 3 different 32Gb thumb drives.

    Eventually I tried both of these simultaneously and it worked, so one of these (or both combined) may work for you:

    First: Manually make the thumb drive bootable with Diskpart:

    • Open an elevated command prompt and run diskpart.
    • Once inside Diskpart, type list disk and you'll get a list of all storage drives in your computer. Take a note of the number that matches your thumb drive (it'll read, for instance, Disk 2 (I'll use 2 for the sake of this example)
    • type select disk 2<enter>
    • type clean <enter>
    • type convert mbr<enter>
    • type create partition primary<enter>
    • type format fs=fat32 quick<enter>
    • type active <enter>
    • type assign <enter>
    • close the elevated prompt

    Second: Run the Windows Media Creation Tool IN ELEVATED MODE

    Basically, right click on the executable file and "Run as administrator". You'll get the usual UAC prompt. Accept and let the media creation tool do its thing.

    I got this to work after trying a lot of stuff. I didn't find this exact solution elsewhere so your mileage may vary, but it's worth a shot

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  2. Anonymous
    2019-06-13T23:38:41+00:00

    Credit to user Thomas TKH for this fix.

    I'm surprised with all the experienced users on this forum that you are getting these unhelpful answers. If you get this error, simple copy and paste the Media Creation Tool onto the USB drive itself, then run it directly.

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  3. Anonymous
    2019-05-22T04:49:14+00:00

    Strange how I can drag the files the tool makes from C:$Windows.~WS\Sources\Windows to the USB drive WITHOUT doing a CLEAN though. Can't wait till I walk a client through DISKPART and they fry some other attached drive.

    I think the tool is just garbage.

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  4. Anonymous
    2019-05-30T04:21:35+00:00

    For the past couple of weeks, I too have been wracking my brains on this media creation tool error 0x80042405-0xA001B -- I even went as far as buying new USB flash drives thinking it was the security mechanism in SanDisk flash drives.  This afternoon I downloaded a USB flash drive formatter and noticed the format failed because access to the drive was locked exclusively by a background process. Using process explorer as described in https://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/windows-in-use.html , I was able to locate the mysterious process that had exclusive access to the flash drive, in my case was a shadow backup app.  Once I closed the process, started the media creation tool and was successful.  Performed the task two more times success.  I hope this helps.

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