If you ever wish to upgrade your Windows PC to the latest operating system, the Windows Media Creation tool is your best bet. The tool is available for everyone on Microsoft’s official website and it is a breeze to use it.

However, lately, many users have been complaining about receiving a specific error when trying to create a bootable media or trying to upgrade the operating system on their PC using it. The error code 0x80072f8f – 0x20000 appears when users try to launch the MediaCreationTool.exe file.

Fortunately, you can easily fix the issue from the comfort of your home. All you need are the steps listed in this guide. That being said, since issues like these can present themselves due to a variety of reasons, you might need to try more than one fix listed here.

Before trying any of the fixes listed below, simply try to use your USB in another port to make sure that it isn’t a faulty USB port creating the trouble.

Method 1: Run the Media Creation Tool as an Administrator

While this is one of the most elementary steps that you can perform, it can work wonders at times. Moreover, since restarting the tool with administrative privileges hardly requires any real effort from your side, it is definitely worth trying to resolve the issue.

First, head to the directory containing the .EXE file for Media Creation Tool. Then, right-click on it to reveal the context menu. After that, locate and click on the ‘Run as administrator’ option to proceed.

Now, a UAC (User Account Control) screen will appear on your screen. If you are not logged in with an admin account, enter the credentials for one. Otherwise, click on the ‘Yes’ button present in the window to proceed.

Once the tool has been opened with administrative privileges, try to complete the process and check if the issue is still present.

Method 2: Perform a Clean Boot

A clean boot allows you to turn off all but essential Microsoft services on your computer. This way you can make sure that you are ruling out the possibility of any third-party background service interfering with the tool and hindering the task completion.

Note: A clean boot does not erase any data from your system.

Booting your PC in a clean boot state is a pretty straightforward process. To do so, first, press the Windows+R keys together on your keyboard to bring up the Run command utility on your screen. Then, type msconfig in the text box and hit Enter on your keyboard. This will open a separate window on your screen.

After that, on the System Configuration window, make sure you have selected the ‘General’ tab. Then, click the checkbox preceding the ‘Load system services’ option and uncheck every other option if needed under the ‘Selective startup’ section.

Next, click on the ‘Services’ tab present in the window, and then click on the checkbox preceding the ‘Hide all Microsoft Services’ option located in the bottom left corner of the window. Then, click on the ‘Disable all’ button to disable all but Microsoft services.

Now, click on the ‘Apply’ button to apply the changes and click on the ‘OK’ button to close the window.

After that, restart your PC from the Start Menu to load the system in the clean boot environment. After the restart, again try running the Windows Media Creation tools on your system. If the issue does not present itself, you can now try to pin down the third-party background service that is interfering with it.

Method 3: Clear the Software Distribution Folder

All the downloaded update files are stored in the Software Distribution folder. There can be a scenario when these files become inaccessible to the system and in turn, cause the issue. Hence, deleting them would help resolve the issue, if those inaccessible files are the issue.

First, open the File Explorer window by clicking on the ‘This PC’ icon present on your desktop. Otherwise, press the Windows+E keys on your keyboard together to open a window.

After that, open your Windows installer drive by double-clicking on it to proceed. (If you do not know which one is the Windows installer drive, it will have a Windows logo icon.)

Now, in the installer drive, locate the ‘Windows’ folder and double-click on it to head to the directory.

Finally, in the ‘Windows’ folder, locate the ‘SoftwareDistribution’ folder and double-click on it to open the directory.

After that select all files by pressing the Ctrl+A keys together on your keyboard and then press the Shift+Del keys on your keyboard to delete all the files permanently from your system.

Once you have cleared the Software Distribution folder, head to the Start Menu and type Command Prompt to perform a search for it. Then, from the search results, right-click on the ‘Command Prompt’ tile and select the ‘Run as administrator’ option from the context menu.

Now, a UAC (User Account Control) window will appear on your screen. If you are not logged in with an admin account, enter the credentials for one. Otherwise, click on the ‘Yes’ button to proceed.

Now, on the Command Prompt window, type or copy+paste the below-mentioned command and hit Enter on your keyboard to execute it.

wuauclt.exe /updatenow

Once the command has been successfully executed, restart your computer from the Start Menu and re-run the Media Creation Tool to check if the error is fixed.

Method 4: Modify the Registry Files

If we go by the forum chatter, the registry fix has helped many users eliminate the Media Creation Tool error code. This method is most likely to resolve this error on your device.

To do so, first, head to the Start Menu and type Registry to perform a search for it. Then, from the search results, click on the ‘Registry Editor’ tile to open it.

Now, a UAC (User Account Control) window will appear on your screen. If you are not logged in with an admin account, enter the credentials for one. Otherwise, click on the ‘Yes’ button to proceed.

From the ‘Registry Editor’ window, either navigate manually or copy+paste the below-mentioned address in the address bar of the editor and hit Enter on your keyboard to directly jump to the directory.

Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WIndows\CurrentVersion\WindowsUpdate\Auto Update

Then, from the right section of the window, right-click to reveal the context menu and then hover over the ‘New’ option to further expand it. Next, select the ‘DWORD’ option from the menu to proceed. This will create a new file. Name it ‘AllowOSUpgrade’ to proceed.

Once you have successfully created and renamed the DWORD file in the directory, double-click on it to open it.

Finally, locate the ‘Value Data’ field and enter 1 as a value. In case there is a value already present in the field, do not hesitate to overwrite it. Once done, click on the ‘OK’ button to save the changes.

Now, restart your PC from the Start Menu and again run the tool to check if the problem persists.

Method 5: Reset Windows Update Component

One more method to fix the issue is by resetting the Windows update components on your PC. There’s a decent pool of users who have been able to resolve the issue on their PC using this fix.

First, head to the Start Menu and type Terminal into the menu to perform a search for it. Then, from the search results, right-click on the ‘Terminal’ tile and then select the ‘Run as administrator’ option from the context menu to proceed.

A UAC (User Account Control) window will appear on your screen. If you are not logged in with an admin account, enter the credentials for one. Otherwise, click on the ‘Yes’ button to proceed.

After that, on the Terminal window, click on the ‘chevron’ (downward arrow) icon present on the tab bar and select the ‘Command Prompt’ option to continue. Alternatively, you can also press the Ctrl+Shift+2 keys on your keyboard.

After that, on the Command Prompt tab, enter the below-mentioned commands individually and hit Enter after each one of them to execute them.

net stop wuauserv
net stop cryptSvc
net stop bits
net stop msiserver
Ren C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution.old
net start wuauserv
net start cryptSvc
net start bits
net start msiserver

Once you have successfully executed all the commands, restart your PC from the Start Menu and run the Media Creation Tool again to check if the problem has been resolved.

There you go, folks! The above-mentioned methods will definitely help you resolve the error code on your system.