Windows 10: Microsoft Creation Tool/USB Flash Drive

So I used Microsoft Creation Tool to create a Windows 10 boot on a 235 GB Flash Drive.


Reformatted the drive via Windows and after I only saw 32 GB usable and the remaining 205 GB of storage was unallocated. (couldn't use it)

So, why did that happen?

Anyway, I used DiskPart and did a long format. Named the drive and saw all of my storage again.

The next day I went to safely eject the drive, it wasn't there. Wasn't there under "This PC" and it was showing up in Disk Management but I can't eject it from there and the entry is blank. When I right click > Volumes, it just says - Capacity: 0 MB / Unallocated Space: 0 MB / Reserved Space: 0 MB.

It also shows up as 0/0/0 in DiskPart and I can't access a primary partition. So the flash drive is toast as far as I can tell, so I sent it back under warranty.


So why did this happen? I guess I'll just buy a 35 GB USB flash drive from now on when I need to reinstall Windows.

:)

 

Failed Media Creation Tool attempt at bootable USB flash drive


Shawn, these are the steps being referred to that NavyLCDR posted. They work for both UEFI and MBR.

Here are the steps to create a standard Windows 10 USB flash drive:

1. Use the Media Creation Tool to download and save the ISO file to your hard drive.
2. Insert the USB flash drive.
3. Open a Administrator Command Prompt and enter: diskpart (if it isn't an administrator command prompt, it will ask for administrator permission).
4. list disk
5. select disk # <- replace # with the actual disk number of the USB flash drive
6. clean <- this will erase the disk selected above, make sure you selected the USB flash drive!
7. create part pri
8. format fs=fat32 quick
9. active
10. exit
11. exit - and if the first Command Prompt was not an Administrator Command Prompt, exit that one too.
11. Mount the ISO file saved by the Media Creation Tool. If you are using Windows 8 or 10, you only have to right click on it and click on mount. If you are using Windows 7, then you must use a program like WinCDEmu to mount the ISO file:
WinCDEmu - the easiest way to mount an ISO. And more...
12. Copy all the files and folders from the mounted ISO file to the USB flash drive.

That's as simple as it gets. Between steps 7 and 8 you can enter: "select part 1" without quotes - but it should not be necessary.
Between steps 8 and 9 you can enter: "assign" without quotes - but it should not be necessary.

 

Windows 10 Won't Boot, and I can't get the Media Creation Tool onto a USB drive

Hi,

Thank you for contacting Microsoft Community.

The USB drive should be formatted and empty, then you can create the medic creation tool as below and check if it helps.

You may use the below Windows 10 ISO link to download the tool and check create the installation media.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

• Run the media creation tool.
• Select Create installation media for another PC.
• Choose the language, edition, and architecture (64-bit or 32-bit) for Windows 10.
• Follow the steps to create the installation media, and then select Finish when it’s done.
• When you’re ready to perform a clean installation, turn on your PC, insert the
  DVD or USB flash drive you created, and then shut down your PC.
• Restart your PC, and then press any key to boot from the DVD or USB flash drive.

Hope this information is helpful and do let us know if you need further assistance. We will be glad to assist.

 

Failed Media Creation Tool attempt at bootable USB flash drive

Hi mate,
I think I might have given you the wrong impression. When I say I'm going to use Mount and Copy and Paste the files over to the USB I meant that I would download the Windows 10 ISO using the Media Creation Tool and then use Diskpart to prepare the USB flash drive. Mount the ISO and then copy and paste all the files over onto the Diskpart prepared flash drive.
This is the method I mean to use rather than using third party software such as Rufus :-
diskpart
list disk
select disk # <-replace # with the actual number of the USB flash drive
clean
create part pri
format fs=fat32 quick
active
exit
exit

Mount the ISO file. Copy files and folders over onto the USB flash drive.

So in my original question could there be any corruption or problems that could be caused by the Media Creation Tool failure that I described in my first post or would the two downloads be kept totally separate so no conflicts can occur when I use the Media Creation Tool to download the ISO again?