[Fix] Media Creation Tool Error 0x80004005 – 0xA001A

When you use the Media Creation Tool to create a bootable USB Windows 10 setup disk, error 0x80004005 - 0xA001A occurs during the process. Precisely, the error happens after the ISO download is complete, and during the ‘creating media’ stage when it nears 50%.  Here is the full error message:

This article tells you how to fix the Media Creation Tool (MCT) error 0x80004005 - 0xA001A in Windows 10.

Fix: Media Creation Tool Error 0x80004005 – 0xA001A

MCT throws the error 0x80004005 - 0xA001A if there are issues with your USB thumb drive. All you need to do is delete the (USB disk) volume, create a new simple volume and reformat the volume. Follow these instructions:

Note that these methods will wipe out data from the USB flash disk completely. If you have multiple USB drives which includes flash drives as well as external hard drives, disconnect them (except the USB drive which you’re going to use to create bootable media using MCT) before proceeding, to avoid confusion.

Method 1: Using Disk Management to Re-create the USB Disk Volume & Format it

1. Insert the USB flash drive into the system.
2. Right-click Start, and click Disk Management
3. Right-click on the USB flash drive in Disk Management, and choose Delete Volume.
   
   Note: This procedure will delete the entire data on your USB flash drive. Be sure you choose the correct drive in the Disk Management UI. In this example, I used an 8 GB pen drive, which shows up as 7.50 GB

4. After you delete the volume, it will show up as “Unallocated” disk. Right-click on the “Unallocated” disk and click “New Simple volume.”
5. Follow the instructions in the wizard and create a simple volume and format the drive (FAT32 or NTFS).
6. Exit the Disk Management console.

Method 2: Using “DiskPart” Command to re-create the USB Disk Volume, and then Format it

1. Start an elevated or admin Command Prompt window.
2. Type diskpart and press ENTER
3. Type list disk and press ENTER. Note down the disk # of your USB drive. You can recognize it easily by noting the disk size. In this example, the USB flash drive is Disk 2. It will vary in your case. Exercise caution and select the correct disk that represents your USB flash drive.
   
   
4. Type select disk 2 and press ENTER
5. Type clean and press ENTER
6. Type list disk again to check if the USB drive is the currently active drive, denoted by an asterisk (*) on the left.
   
7. Only after you ascertain the the USB flash drive is the currently selected drive, type convert mbr and press ENTER
8. Type create partition primary and and press ENTER
9. Type assign and and press ENTER. This assigns the last available drive-letter.
10. Type format FS=NTFS quick (for quick format) or format FS=NTFS (for normal format)
11. Type exit and press ENTER to quit from diskpart environment.
12. Type exit and press ENTER to close the Command Prompt window.

After following one of the above methods, start the Media Creation Tool and see if you’re able to create a Windows 10 USB setup boot media.

Alternate Option: Download the Windows 10 ISO locally by using the Media Creation Tool or via direct (ISO) download method. Then, use the Windows USB/DVD Tool or the 3rd party Rufus utility to create a bootable Windows 10 USB disk.

Hope this article helped you fix or circumvent the error 0x80004005 - 0xA001A when running the Media Creation Tool in Windows 10.

See also Windows 10 Media Creation Tool Error 0x80072f76 – 0x20017