Windows 11 Media Creation Tool breaks just as Windows 10 hits End of Life

Microsoft has confirmed a problem preventing Windows 10 users from running the Media Creation Tool to create Windows 11 installation media.
The tool crashes unexpectedly without displaying any error message.
To upgrade, Microsoft recommends downloading the Windows 11 25H2 ISO file directly from its website.
Alternatively, you can use third-party tools like Rufus to create a bootable USB drive.

Microsoft has confirmed an issue that prevents users from running the Media Creation Tool on Windows 10 devices. The company recommends downloading the ISO file directly to upgrade to Windows 11.

The Media Creation Tool is a utility designed to download installation files and create either a bootable USB media or an ISO file of the current version of the operating system, in this case, for Windows 11.

However, on the official release health page, the company has noted that the updated tool to create media for Windows 11 (build 26100.6584) has a bug that is causing the Media Creation Tool to close unexpectedly, displaying no error message on devices running Windows 10 22H2.

The irony of this issue is that it is happening now, as Windows 10 support is ending on October 14, 2025, and Microsoft has been urging users to upgrade.

If you’re still using Windows 10, you can download the installation media to perform a clean installation or an in-place upgrade of Windows 11. You can download the Windows 11 25H2 ISO directly from the Microsoft servers and then mount the image in File Explorer to perform an in-place upgrade. Alternatively, you can use third-party tools like Rufus to create bootable media for a clean installation.

You can also use Rufus as a replacement for the Media Creation Tool, as it offers an option to download installation files for creating a USB installer.

These are the two easiest options to download Windows 11 to upgrade your computer running Windows 10.

Create a bootable USB media of Windows 11 using Rufus
Download the official ISO file of Windows 11 from Microsoft

Create a bootable USB media of Windows 11 using Rufus

To use Rufus to download the Windows 11 25H2 ISO file and create a bootable media, connect a USB flash drive with 8GB of space, and then follow these steps:

Open the Rufus website.
Click the link to download the latest version under the “Download” section.
Double-click the Rufus executable file to launch the tool.
Click the Settings button (third button from the left) at the bottom of the page.
Choose the Daily option in the “Check for updates” setting and under the “Settings” section to make the “Download” option available in the tool.
Click the Close button.
Click the Close button again.
Open Rufus again.
Choose the USB flash drive under the “Device” section.
Click the down-arrow button (on the right side) and select the Download option.
Click the Download button.
Select the Windows 11 option.
Click the Continue button.
Select the latest release of the operating system, in this case “25H2.”
Click the Continue button.
Select the Windows 11 Home/Pro/Edu option.
Click the Continue button.
Select the language for installation of the new version of the operating system.
Click the Continue button.
Select the x64 architecture option.
Click the Download button.
Select the location to save the Windows 11 25H2 ISO file automatically.
Choose the “Standard Windows 11 Installation” option under the “Image option” setting.
(Optional) Continue with the default settings after the download.
(Optional) Under the “Volume label” setting, specify a name for the drive (for example, Windows 11 Setup).
Click the Start button.
Clear all the options from the “Windows User Experience” page to create an installation media without modifications.
Click the OK button.

After completing the steps, you can use the bootable USB flash drive to clean install the Windows 11 2025 Update or perform an in-place upgrade.

Download the official ISO file of Windows 11 from Microsoft

To download the official Windows 11 25H2 ISO file, follow these steps:

Open the Microsoft Support website.
Select the Windows 11 option under the “Download Windows 11 Disk Image (ISO) for x64” section.
Click the Confirm button.
Select the installation language.
Click the Confirm button.
Click the Download button to save the Windows 11 25H2 ISO file.

Once you complete the steps, the Windows 11 2025 Update ISO file will be downloaded to your computer.