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About Windows Media Creation Tool
The Media Creation Tool is Microsoft's own way to get Windows installation media. It downloads the current Windows 11 release, version 25H2 at the time of writing, and writes it to a USB flash drive you can boot from to install or reinstall Windows.
It is one of three options on Microsoft's Windows 11 download page. The same site also links to builds for Arm devices, Windows 10 media and Insider Preview images. It suits anyone setting up a new PC or doing a clean install.
Strengths
- Official source for current Windows 11 media
- Creates a bootable USB installer in one process
- Download page also covers Windows 10 and Arm builds
Limitations
- Only produces Microsoft's own Windows images
- Runs on Windows only
- Needs an internet connection to download the image
Details
- Pricing
- FreeFree download from Microsoft.
- License
- Proprietary (Proprietary)
- Developer
- Microsoft
- Platforms
- Windows
- How it runs
- Downloadable app
- Best suited for
- Making a bootable Windows 11 USB installer from the official source
- Categories
- Disk tools
- Last verified
- Added
- Provenance
- Facts checked against the developer's own pages and store listings, 1 sources on file.
Alternatives to Windows Media Creation Tool
Compare allSoftware that can replace Windows Media Creation Tool for an important use case, and what changes if you switch.
Rufus
Writes a bootable USB drive from an ISO, and can strip the Windows 11 install requirements while doing it.
Rufus is open source and writes any ISO to USB, can strip Windows 11 TPM and Secure Boot requirements, but you must supply the image yourself.
MediaCreationTool.bat
Script wrapper around Microsoft's Media Creation Tool for every Windows 10 and 11 build.
MediaCreationTool.bat wraps Microsoft's tool to reach older Windows 10 and 11 releases, downloading from Microsoft's servers, but it is an unsupported batch script with presets that change defaults.
Ventoy
Prepare a USB stick once, then boot any ISO by copying the file onto it.
Ventoy prepares a USB stick once so Windows and many other ISOs can be copied onto it and picked from a boot menu, and runs on Windows and Linux.
WoeUSB-ng
Create a Windows installer USB drive from Linux.
WoeUSB-ng creates a Windows installer USB drive from Linux with graphical and command-line interfaces, but needs a Windows image you already have.
WinToUSB
A Windows tool that creates portable Windows To Go installations and bootable Windows installer drives.
WinToUSB creates Windows installer drives and also portable Windows To Go installations, but it is closed source freemium software with some features limited to the paid edition.
PowerISO
A Windows tool for creating, editing, burning and mounting disc images and writing bootable USB drives.
PowerISO creates bootable Windows USB drives and also mounts, edits and burns disc images, but it is closed source freemium software and needs an image supplied separately.
Similar software
Related functionality, not necessarily a direct replacement.
tiny11builder
PowerShell scripts that build a trimmed-down Windows 11 installation image from an official ISO.
Easy2Boot
A free multiboot USB kit that boots many ISO, IMG and VHD files from one drive.
YUMI
A multiboot USB creator that puts several operating systems and tools on one drive.
balenaEtcher
Writes an OS image to a USB stick or SD card, verifies every byte, and refuses to target your hard drive.
Hiren's BootCD PE
Bootable Windows PE rescue environment full of diagnostic and repair tools.
