Windows 10: WIndows media creation tool failed and ruined my flash drive

After the media creation tool failed to create a bootable flash drive, i can no longer recognize my flash drive. I have tried going into the device manager and uninstalling the device, checking for updates on drivers, it does not show up in the disk manager or anywhere else. i've tried multiple computers and usb ports. I get an error after plugging it in that says " the device has malfunctioned and windows does not recognize it". I am pretty upset because this flash drive was not cheap and it worked fine before windows' tool basically made it useless. Any advice?

:)

 

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.

 

Failed Media Creation Tool attempt at bootable USB flash drive


Hi,
Ive just had another failed attempt at creating a bootable Windows 10 USB flash drive on my laptop using the Media Creation Tool and setting the tool to use the USB flash drive as chosen media rather than the ISO method. It failed after the download had finished and at the point where it has verified the download and begins to create the media..it failed at 51% with an unexpected error screen. That was my third and final attempt with the same error at the same point every time..this time with a brand new flash drive. Im now going to use the Diskkpart method but Im still going to use the Media Creation Tool to download the Windows 10 ISO. Then use Mount and copy and paste the files over onto the USB. Am I going to be OK to download the Windows 10 ISO using the Media Creation Tool again or will it try to download the ISO to the same folder (wherever that is) on my hard drive causing possible corruption or conflicts with my new Windows 10 ISO download?

 

media creation tool does not see flash drive

Hi Keitaro,

In order for us to assist you regarding the Media Creation Tool, that doesn’t recognize your flash drives. Kindly refer to the response of
Keitaro on this
link. This will provide you troubleshooting steps on how to update your computers system using the Media Creation Tool.

Let us know how it goes.