Media Creation Tool Error 0x80072F8F – 0x20000 in Windows 7/8

When you attempt to upgrade to Windows 10 from a Windows 7/8 computer using Microsoft’s Media Creation Tool, the error 0x80072F8F - 0x20000 may appear. The full error message verbatim is below:

There was a problem running this tool

We're not sure what happened, but we're unable to run this tool on your PC. If you continue experiencing problems, reference the error code when contacting customer support. Error code: 0x80072F8F - 0x20000

media creation tool error 0x80072F8F

Let’s see how to fix this error on Windows 7 and Windows 8.

Important: Information in this article (and the registry fix) is for Windows 7 SP1 and Windows 8 systems only. They don’t apply to Windows 8.1 and higher!

Cause

The error 0x80072F8F - 0x20000 happens because the Media Creation Tool uses the TLS 1.2 Protocol, but the protocol is disabled by default on Windows 7 and Windows 8 computers. By default, only SSL3 and TLS1 are enabled in Windows 7 and Windows 8. On Windows 8.1 and Windows 10, SSL3, TLS1.0, TLS1.1, and TLS1.2 are enabled by default.

RELATED: Fix for Microsoft Store Error 0x80131500

[Fix] Media Creation Tool Error 0x80072F8F – 0x20000

To resolve the Media Creation Tool Error 0x80072F8F – 0x20000 error on Windows 7 and Windows 8 computers, enable the TLS 1.1 and TLS 1.2 protocols. Follow these steps to do so:

Method 1: Enable TLS 1.1 and TLS 1.2 via the registry (Windows 7 & 8)

  1. Make sure your system is fully updated.
  2. Open Notepad.
  3. Copy the following lines into Notepad. 
    Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\WinHttp]
"DefaultSecureProtocols"=dword:00000a00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\WinHttp]
"DefaultSecureProtocols"=dword:00000a00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SecurityProviders\SCHANNEL\Protocols\TLS 1.1\Client]
"DisabledByDefault"=dword:00000000
"Enabled"=dword:00000001

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SecurityProviders\SCHANNEL\Protocols\TLS 1.2\Client]
"DisabledByDefault"=dword:00000000
"Enabled"=dword:00000001
  4. Save the file with a .reg extension — e.g., enable_tls.reg
  5. Double-click the enable_tls.reg file to apply the settings into the registry. Click Yes when asked for confirmation.
  6. Download the KB3140245 package (TLS 1.1/1.2 enablement update) from Microsoft and install it.
  7. Restart Windows.
  • Download registry files: If you wish to download premade registry file(s), download enable-tls.zip. Unzip and run the enclosed file enable_tls.reg. To reverse/undo the setting to Windows 7/8 defaults, run the undo.reg registry file.

(Credits to Markus for the fix.)

Method 2: Easy Fix (for Windows 7)

The above registry fix was created incorporating the suggestions in the Microsoft article titled Update to enable TLS 1.1 and TLS 1.2 as default secure protocols in WinHTTP

The article talks about the Microsoft Update with will enable TLS 1.1 and TLS 1.2 support via KB3140245 package. Here are the instructions:

  1. Download the KB3140245 package. Don’t run it yet.
  2. Download the “Easy Fix” executable via the above link (direct download) and run it. The fix will create the DefaultSecureProtocols registry value which is a prerequisite for the Microsoft update.
  3. Now run the KB3140245 .msi package you downloaded in Step 1.

This automatically enables TLS 1.1 and TLS 1.2 on the computer.

media creation tool error 0x80072F8F - easyfix
Easy fix 51044 v2.1.4.0 — KB3140245

Re-run the Media Creation Tool now. It should work now!

media creation tool error 0x80072F8F

Editor’s note

Note that the Easy Fix sets the “DefaultSecureProtocols” registry value only; it doesn’t write to the SCHANNEL registry location. But the manual registry fix in “Method 1” above does both! So, if you’ve explicitly disabled the TLS 1.1 and TLS 1.2 protocols via the SCHANNEL registry modification (e.g., by using the nisudf.reg registry fix to resolve a game/server connectivity issue), then the “Easy Fix” tool won’t help. You need to use “Method 1” in that case.

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Ramesh Srinivasan is passionate about Microsoft technologies and he has been a consecutive ten-time recipient of the Microsoft Most Valuable Professional award in the Windows Shell/Desktop Experience category, from 2003 to 2012. He loves to troubleshoot and write about Windows. Ramesh founded Winhelponline.com in 2005.

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81 thoughts on “Media Creation Tool Error 0x80072F8F – 0x20000 in Windows 7/8”

  5. Many sites have proposed fixes for this error. The fix on this website is the only one that worked for me, after two hours of trying other fixes!

    Reply

  11. Wow, a huge thank you!!
    I’ve been trying to solve upgrade issue on a Win7 pc, now it is fixed because of you!!
    Thank you so much!!!

    Reply

  13. BRRROROOOOOOOO THANK YOU SO MUCH YOU ARE THE BEST
    I ALREADY SPENDING MY TIME A DAYS AND NONE OF THOSE DOESNT FIX MY PROBLEM
    BUT THIS DOES. YOU ARE THE REAL MVP TYSM

    Reply

  16. 16 june 2022 – Having done all this, I still get a white window at the end of the install – L’installazione di Windows 10 non è riuscita – Windows 10 installation failed.

    Reply

  17. June 16 2022

    My PC runs Windows 7 and tried to upgrade 10.
    Problem with Error Code 0x80072f8f-0x20000
    It was fixed with author advice.
    Method 2 works well and it went smooth now.
    Thank you so much.

    Reply

  21. Muito bom resolvi seguindo o método 2, depois de várias tentativas frustadas em vídeos do YouTube que só me vizeram perder tempo, o meu era windows 7

    Reply

  22. Dont usually leave comments good or bad but I search everywhere and this method works for me hands down. Albeit I am running windows 7 x64 and this explained what was happening and had a fix. Thank you very much.

    Reply

  30. Your KB3140245 package is not just working as you said,I just followed each and every step you said but when I started this package Then its showing not applicable on your computer
    I am having Dell inspiron 15 3000 series having 64 bit system processor and 4 GB RAM on which there should not be problems occuring like this

    please help, I am really get much tired of this problem

    Reply

    • Hi Vansh,

      It appears that your system has a newer update that supersedes KB3140245. In that case, can you just apply the TLS registry fix and let me know if that helps.

  31. I was very sceptical, but this really worked. It was a good surprise. Thanks a lot. BTW this is not an automatically generated comment, I am real, you reading this can also write a comment down below. Cheers!

    Reply

  36. Hi, thank you for the manual how to resolve that issue. Today I had installed fresh Win 7, than SP1 and after that I faced that issue with upgrade to Win 10. I tried your suggestions but without success. But it was strange that even Windows Update do not find updates.

    Then I saw that visiting support.microsoft.com face the untrusted SSL certificate root issue. So I found which is the root one “DigiCert Global Root G2” and installed it as trusted root certificate.

    And after that, tools starts working. So this issue might be also related not only to protocol version but even to SSL certificate untrust.

    Best regards,
    Michal

    Reply

  44. i have tried method 2 nd 1 as well. still facing the issue. I got sony vaio e series. Recently formatted the laptop.

    Reply

  45. this actually worked, first time this kind of site did work. thought it was a joke! or a scam. but it wasn’t. impressive.

    Reply

  49. You legend, i had given up on this machine after receiving that error. thank you. had my doubts editing the registry but all worked like a dream

    Reply

  50. Hi I have found a further potential cause (which was the cause in my case..)

    Symptoms:
    *error message as at the start of this article with Error 0x80072F8F – 0x20000
    *also, seeing ‘invalid certificate’ errors when accessing all web pages.

    Obviously, there was a good chance the two were connected.
    Eventually I realised that the old, and not used for several years, laptop was displaying a date in 2020. So the incorrect system date was causing a problem, not least as the site certificates were ‘in the future’ as far as the laptop was concerned.

    Once I updated the system date to the correct one, the upgrade process started.

    Reply

  52. Worked for me.
    wind 7 to win 10 upgradings.
    you are the best. I relly appreciate your effort in writing this on the internet it’s helping me and helping many others on this globe. keep up the great work.

    Regards,
    Nasir
    From Malaysia

    Reply

  56. when i try to run the KB3140245 , it says this update is not applicable to your computer.
    i’m even stranded, i hope i get a solution.

    Reply

  57. when i try run the KB3140245, it says this update is not applicable to your computer.
    i’m using Toshiba satelite pro L300 Intel(R) Celeron(R) CPU 900 @ 2.20GHz 2.19GHz 2.00 GB RAM 32-bit operating system.
    please help me out . I’m stranded.

    Reply

  67. I tried min. 20 “solutions” before this from various sources including official Microsoft support, I even tried ChatGPT and nothing worked for me, finally solved with your solution. Thank you very much!

    Reply

  69. Your instructions are a standard for others who mean to help – they should adopt and follow: Clear simple steps, leaving nothing out, with options!

    I ran into the error, applied your 2nd option, and everything worked after that as it should have to upgrade. As a spokesman for the novice community, so many thanks to you!

    Reply

  71. Tried for hours to get round this problem, found your post by accident. What i know about computers I could write on a postage stamp, thanks to following your post step by step the problem is now fixed…Thank you for helping us less tech savvy folks out here.

    Reply

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