Microsoft ironically blocks Windows 10 to 11 ISO upgrade as it breaks Media Creation Tool

Windows 10 support ends in just a couple of days and that means Microsoft is soon going to begin offering Windows 11 upgrades to more and more PCs. The company obviously wants users to embrace the new OS and has often made adverts and promotional content meant to highlight the great benefits of Windows 11 PCs.

For example, early this year it shared a pointers list, and detailed how having a feature like TPM immensely helps. Microsoft has also pointed out the performance benefits, busted "myths and misconceptions", and highlighted the many cool gaming features and enhancements.

Besides those, an advert titled "Start Fresh Without Starting Over with Windows 11" was also published which is meant to suggest that users are in for a very familiar experience on Windows 11, despite it being better than Windows 10.

In a way, this behavior sort of matches how Microsoft heavily promotes the use of a Microsoft Account during Windows 11 installation and has now started blocking more bypasses. Right now, only one simple official bypass remains.

Ironically for Microsoft, the company's official bootable ISO creation utility called Media Creation Tool (MCT) has broken as it no longer seems to work correctly on Windows 10. The company has confirmed this issue stating that "the Windows 11 media creation tool version 26100.6584, released September 29, 2025, might not work as expected when used on Windows 10 devices. The media creation tool might close unexpectedly, displaying no error message."

As a refresher, Microsoft published this version of MCT right around the Windows 11 version 25H2 release time-frame. The tech giant says that it is investigating the issue as it notes that it is "working on a resolution for this issue, and it will be released in a future update to the Windows 11 media creation tool."

Thus affected users will have to use third-party apps like Rufus.

Source

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Posted Monday 13 October 2025 at 5:43 pm AEST (my time).

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