worked properly on my win 11 computer, grandson's win 11 computer--- no problem. However my wife's win 11 computer will not recognize the usb drive asked for in the media creation app. File explorer has no problem seeing the usb drive but the MS media creator can not . tried different size usb drives above 32GB and different formats . A search on line with no solutions that worked.Anyone have an Idea . Yeah there is rufus with an ISO but when this works it is so much easier .
-
Welcome to the new forums! Please read this first. For known issues we are working to resolve, click here.
creating Win 11 recovery usb issue
- Thread starter Boris22
- Start date
I typically resolve this by accessing the thumb from Linux and using gparted to delete all of the existing partitions.
Robert Zanatta
Senior Member
Or from Windows you can use diskpart's clean option.
If the issue is isolated to one machine then it's likely a driver issue or USB port issue on that machine.
------------------------------------
I have used new out of the package sandisk drives and drives formatted on different windows machines and also formatted on my linux machine (which I am on right now)- There is not a usb port issue .
Robert Zanatta
Senior Member
So a search and you'll find descriptions is people having your issue with SanDisk drives.
Took a 64GB lexar drive--deleted the partition Gparted--- on the linux machine-created a new partition.formatted fat32--no good--- formatting now on the windows 11 machine-not quick format-takes forever.. this whole thing is no surprise--since DOS 2.1-MS has been consistently inconsistent. That's why I have a linux machine. I have the win 11 machine because I needed some image manip apps linux won't run- as WINE stinks.will see what happens after format
Billiam29
Senior Member
Could you elaborate on the partition size and filesystem choice on this Windows-only attempt with the 64 GB Lexar drive? My Windows 11 machine didn't allow me to format a greater than 32 GB thumb drive partiion with fat32 the last time I tried. I could read one, but I couldn't format it with anything other than exfat.
Regardless of what File Explorer and formatting do or don't let you do, could it be that the Windows media creator doesn't like the combination of fat32 and greater than 32GB in size?
silentstorm
Senior Member
Many years ago, I read that creating a recovery thumb drive, it's best to use 8 - 16GB only, nothing more than that.
I just recently created a win11 boot installer (Sandisk 16GB). The first try was using media creation, and the installation halted due to incompatible hardware, TPM 2 was not found.
You did mention Rufus. I used that and it was super easy. Just run it, select the ISO file downloaded from MS, select the thumb drive, click start. Then it pops out a dialog asking me what options I want. I chose no hardware TPM checks, no privacy questions, no encryption and no MS account requirement. And the installation ran smoothly as it should, no questions asked. Hahahaha
Robert Zanatta
Senior Member
Fat32 has always had a 32GB limitation. There was talk about increasing that limitation in a Windows 11 update, but I've not seen it. ExFAT/NTFS are the preferred file system types for partitions larger than 32GB., Anyways 32GB is more than enough space for the installation program.
But the original issue of the media creation tool not working with the same USB media is strange. Since the device works on other machines with similar hardware and operation systems, it seems likely that the problem is related to a setting or configuration or software/hardware issue on the computer.
I had just created usb recovery drives with the windows media creator on 2 different win 11 machines-Both were sandisk 32 so evidently size doesn't matter.The media creator clearly states no smaller than 32. -The problem machine is a dell. It makes me wonder if there is some conflict as dell has it's own "Dell recovery drive "process independent of MS media creator. Would be interesting to know if the other people were not also on dell computers -of course not possible to know.. This is not an isolated incident. I may try it again after the next win 12 update. It isn't necessary but MS is often a challenge that makes it fun while giving you brain damage.
Last edited:
I don't normally use:
Create installation media for Windows - Microsoft Support
But it says:
"A USB flash drive. A blank USB flash drive with at least 8 GB of space."
Or are you referring to something else?
When you download and give your approval to install the media creator software by choosing YES to the most popular installation question" Do you want this software to make changes "? the media creator application does about 15 second of thinking before the text appears which says to plug in a usb drive no smaller than 32GB. when you do that the program just loops around again to thinking for 15 seconds and then displays the same text message-- you can do this 1000 times and it just loops back to the same thing
On the machines that this has worked properly-- after plugging in the usb drive-- text would appear with the drive acknowledgment drive letter and size. at that point you would click on it and about 30 minutes later it has copied the system files to the new usb recovery boot disc--All win 11btw
Last edited:
Robert Zanatta
Senior Member
This morning I created a Windows 11 bootable installation USB thumb drive using the Windows 11 Media Creation tool that I downloaded from Microsoft. My thumb drive capacity is 8GB and is formatted FAT32. I did this on my Windows 11 system. The drive was bootable and I used it to do an install.
The media creation tool stated that a USB drive of at least 8GB size is required.
So the tool does work correctly with an 8GB USB thumb drive. Make sure you are using the latest tool for Windows from the Microsoft website.
I just tried the same as an experiment. (8GB drive, Fat32.)
It took quite a while to generate the USB boot drive, but it completed without a hitch.
I booted from it successfully. I didn't go further.
In other words, the Media Creation Tool behaved as expected.
I haven't he least idea what "Boris22" has done. The description of menus isn't familiar.
It took quite a while to generate the USB boot drive, but it completed without a hitch.
I booted from it successfully. I didn't go further.
In other words, the Media Creation Tool behaved as expected.
I haven't he least idea what "Boris22" has done. The description of menus isn't familiar.
silentstorm
Senior Member
Yes. There's a possibility that Dell has their own proprietary way. That means you can only create a recovery within the OS itself and not use the media creation app.
What I suggest you do is to go to "Start" menu and search recovery. Then select "Create recovery disk" and follow the instructions.
This is also the only method to create recovery disk for my Surface Pro 9 on win11. Good luck!
I begin to understand, maybe.
In the past, for me, the "media creation tool" is the specific tool downloaded for MS that can be used to create a bootable Windows installation drive. It requires an 8GB USB drive or larger.
The result is not a recovery drive. I've never made one of those.
For me, the recovery drive utility within Windows asks for a 16GB USB drive. That may vary by system. I wonder if it's about the size of a "windows.old" folder that is generated during a Windows upgrade? That's not a disk image.
I don't know how system-specific such a drive may be. At a guess, it'd be fairly system specific.
Why don't I use a recovery drive? I periodically image the C: drive (Currently using Macrium Reflect). If I ever need to, completely restoring C: takes about 10 minutes.
In the past, for me, the "media creation tool" is the specific tool downloaded for MS that can be used to create a bootable Windows installation drive. It requires an 8GB USB drive or larger.
The result is not a recovery drive. I've never made one of those.
For me, the recovery drive utility within Windows asks for a 16GB USB drive. That may vary by system. I wonder if it's about the size of a "windows.old" folder that is generated during a Windows upgrade? That's not a disk image.
I don't know how system-specific such a drive may be. At a guess, it'd be fairly system specific.
Why don't I use a recovery drive? I periodically image the C: drive (Currently using Macrium Reflect). If I ever need to, completely restoring C: takes about 10 minutes.
Last edited:
silentstorm
Senior Member
The recovery drive is very system specific. It includes all the drivers and apps that came with the model of the computer. And also the OS license serials. It only recovers that specific computer model.
Similar threads
Keyboard shortcuts
- f
- Forum