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Media Creation Tool: Access is Denied When Moving ISO to USB

This is an unusual error, but there are a few workarounds that you can try out ✨

9 min. read

Updated onOctober 4, 2023

updated onOctober 4, 2023

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Users have reported an error withMedia Creation Toolwhile moving Windows 10 ISO toUSB flash drive, and today we’ll try to fix this error.

Using the Media Creation Tool is a straightforward way to create installation media for Windows 10. However, users may encounter issues, including:

The Media Creation Tool enables you to download and transfer the Windows 10 ISO file to a USB flash drive or DVD for easy installation. An “Access denied” error may occur when moving the ISO file to a USB drive, but this foolproof guide can help you solve the Media Creation Tool access denied error.

How can I fix the Media Creation ToolAccess Deniederror when moving Windows 10 ISO to USB?

1. Try disabling all other applications that you don’t use

Users report that Access denied is sometimes caused by other applications that are installed on your PC. A reliable way to fix this problem is to perform a Clean boot and disable all startup applications and services.

2.System Configurationwindow will now appear. Go to theServicestab and checkHide all Microsoft services. Now click theDisable allbutton.

Now go toStartuptab and click onOpen Task Manager.
A list of startup applications will now appear. Right-click the first item on the list and chooseDisablefrom the menu. Now repeat this step for all startup applications.
After you disable all startup applications, closeTask Manager,and go back toSystem Configurationwindow. Click onApplyandOKto save changes.
Now restart your PC.

This is rather simple and you can do it by following these steps:

When your PC restarts, try tocreate bootable mediaonce again. If the problem doesn’t appear, it means that one of your startup applications was interfering with the Media Creation Tool.

If you want to know how to add or remove startup apps on Windows 10, check out thissimple guide.

2. Try a different USB flash drive

If you’re getting an Access denied error while moving your Windows 10 ISO file to a USB flash drive you might consider trying adifferent flash driveto see if it works because your flash drive might not be configured properly.

If another flash drive is giving you trouble you might want to consider burning the ISO file to a DVD and installing Windows 10 from a DVD.

Several users reported that in order touse a flash drive as bootable media, the flash drive has to be exactly 8GB in size and formatted as an NTFS drive. If your flash drive isn’t formatted as NTFS, you can format it by doing the following:

Once your drive is formatted as NTFS, try to use Media Creation Tool to create a bootable drive. If you need to format your flash drive, you can also use third-party tools such asMini Tool Partition WizardorParagon Partition Manager.

Both of these tools allow you to format your USB flash drive, but they also offer other advanced features that you might need.

3. Use RUFUS instead of Media Creation Tool

➡️ To do this, you will first have todownload RUFUS, as well asofficial Windows 10 ISO.

Be aware of the RUFUS access to the device is denied error scenario that can appear because of the Microsoft Defender antivirus.

If you encounter the Windows needs a GPT partition error, solve it with the help of thisuseful guide.

4. Check if your drive is set to read-only mode

Certain drives might be ready-only and that can be a big problem if you’re trying to create a Windows 10 installation media. If your drive works in read-only mode, you’ll encounter anAccess Deniedmessage when using Media Creation Tool.

To fix this problem, you need to ensure that your drive isn’t working in read-only mode.

The first thing that you should do is check for the Lock switch. Some flash drives have a lock switch that will activate the read-only mode and prevent you from writing files to your flash drive.

If you have this switch, be sure that your drive is unlocked. If your drive doesn’t have any physical lock switches, you can check if your drive is set to work in read-only mode by doing the following:

After doing that, your USB flash drive won’t be in read-only mode and you should be able to create bootable media without any problems.

Most users don’t know what to do when the Windows key stops working. Check outthis guideand be a step ahead.

5. Check your antivirus software

If you’re gettingAccess Deniederror message while using Media Creation Tool, it might be because your antivirus is blocking access to yourUSB flash drive.

Many antivirus tools will prevent you from accessing your flash drive in order to minimize the chance of malware infection.

To fix this problem, it’s advised to check your antivirus settings and disable all policies related to removable storage. If that doesn’t help, you might want to try disabling or even uninstalling your antivirus.

Many users reported issues withAvira Antivirusand Media Creation Tool, and if you’re using Avira, be sure to uninstall it from your PC.

For Norton users, we’ve got adedicated guideon how to completely remove it from your PC. There’s a similar guide onhow to uninstall McAfeeas well.

If you’re using any antivirus solution and you want to completely remove it from your PC, you can approachthe best uninstaller softwareyou can use right now.

If you’re having problems with your antivirus and Media Creation Tool, you might want to consider switching to a different antivirus and therefore you would needqualitative antivirus software for Windows 10 PC.

6. Check your ISO file for corruption

Sometimes you might get anAccess Deniederror message while using the Media Creation tool if your ISO file is corrupted. Your ISO file can become corrupted during the download especially if you have anyproblems with your Internet connection, antivirus, or firewall.

To check if your ISO file is working properly, users are recommended to open it with the 7Zip application and try to extract the contents of the file to their hard drive.

If you don’t encounter any problems during file extraction, it means that your ISO isn’t corrupted.

Several users also reported that they fixed the problem by using 7Zip to move the contents of the ISO file directly to the USB flash drive. It’s not confirmed that this method works, but you can try it out if you want.

On the other hand, if your ISO file is damaged, you’ll have to download it again from Microsoft’s website.

7. Use Diskpart to format your drive

According to users, you can fix theAccess Deniederror message with Media Creation Tool simply by formatting your flash drive with diskpart.

Diskpart is a powerful tool, and you need to be extra cautious while formatting your flash drive. To format your drive, do the following:

After doing that, your drive should be formatted and ready to use, so try to create bootable media again.

That’s about it, we hope this article helped you to deal with Media Creation Tool in Windows 10. If you have any suggestions or questions, just leave them in the comments section below.New Media Creation Tool error annoying Windows usersA new error that has been reported by our readers isError code 0x80072f8f – 0x20000, which is affecting both Windows 7 and Windows 10 users. This error is related to the TLS 1.2 security protocol that we have explained in detail. Make sure to read our guide and solve it fast.

Media Creation Tool: Access is Denied When Moving ISO to USB#

How can I fix the Media Creation ToolAccess Deniederror when moving Windows 10 ISO to USB?#

1. Try disabling all other applications that you don’t use#

2. Try a different USB flash drive#

3. Use RUFUS instead of Media Creation Tool#

4. Check if your drive is set to read-only mode#

5. Check your antivirus software#

6. Check your ISO file for corruption#

7. Use Diskpart to format your drive#