As it happens, the error can sometimes be caused when the tool is not able to successfully format your USB drive. In order for any tool to write the Windows installation media files on your USB drive, it has to completely wipe out any data present on the data by formatting it. However, when this process fails and Windows Media Creation Tool is not able to format your drive correctly, it might throw up the error message in question. In addition to this, there can be a partitioning issue with your USB drive that could also come into play here and cause the error message to appear. In such a scenario, you will have to clean the USB using an advanced utility called DiskPart as well as create primary partitions. With that said, solving this issue is fairly easy and we will be mentioning different solutions that you can implement to get the problem sorted down below. So, without further ado, let us get into it.
Run Windows Media Creation Tool as an Administrator
When you face the error message in question, the first thing that you should do is run the Windows Media Creation Tool as an administrator. This is really useful as it allows the Windows Media Creation Tool to run with administrative privileges. As a result, no third-party apps running in the background can interfere with the process and you can easily create a bootable USB drive. To run Media Creation Tool as an administrator, simply locate the executable file and right-click on it. From the drop-down menu that appears, choose the Run as administrator option. Click Yes on the follow up User Access Control dialog box that appears. See if the error message still appears.
Manually Format USB
As it turns out, the Windows Media Creation Tool may fail at wiping out the data on your USB drive which is why you might be experiencing the error message in question. In such a scenario, what you can do is manually format the USB drive yourself and then run it through the Windows Media Creation Tool to create the bootable USB drive. To format the USB drive manually, follow the instructions given down below:
Re-Partition USB Drive with DiskPart
USB drives can get damaged pretty easily and in some cases, they are not recognized by the operating system. This can usually refer to a partitioning issue on your drive which often occurs when the drive was formatted incorrectly or due to a bad format. In such a scenario, you can use the DiskPart utility that comes with Windows to clean up your USB drive. With the help of DiskPart, you can easily re-partition your USB drive so it will get rid of any possibilities there as well. To do this, follow the instructions given down below:
Run Windows Media Creation Tool from USB
This is a bit of a weird workaround among the ones that we have mentioned. As it turns out, there have been several user reports that running the Windows Media Creation tool from inside the USB drive actually gets rid of the error message. We don’t have a reason as to why this seems to be working but it has definitely solved the issue for multiple users so it might work for you as well. To do this, connect your USB to your computer. Copy the Windows Media Creation Tool and paste it inside the USB drive. After that, right-click on it and choose the Run as an administrator option. Go through the process and see if the error message still pops up.
Install KB4505903 Update
As it turns out, the error message can sometimes be caused due to a Windows bug. If you are running an older version of the Windows 10 operating system, there is a good chance that you are facing the issue because of it. The KB4505903 update targeted this error and included a fix for it. Therefore, you will have to install the KB4505903 update on your system to get the issue sorted. Follow the instructions down below to download and install this update:
Fix: Media Creation Tool Error 0x80042405-0xa001aHow to Fix: Error Code 0X80072F8F - 0X20000 on Windows While Using Media…FIX: Media Creation Tool Error 0x80070005 - 0x90002Fix: Windows 10 Media Creation Tool Can’t Find USB
