Windows 10 21h2 Media Creation Tool

[Eleanor Heidecker]

Ineeded to install a temporary Windows 10 lab system for experimentation, but I encountered a completely new (for me) and strange error reporting that Windows Setup was missing media drivers. How odd. What could have been the cause?

Windows was being installed from a LiveUSB created using the built-in Linux Disk Image Writer utility to a standard SATA III SSD in perfect working condition. All hardware more than met the specs for a Windows installation.

The Windows ISO was definitely good because it was downloaded directly from the official Microsoft web site. I even tested the ISO with a temporary virtual machine. Setup went well with the virtual machine, so there were no problems with the Windows ISO due to a corrupted download.

The culprit was the Linux Disk Image Writer utility I was using to create the LiveUSB. It simply does not create a valid Windows 10/11 installation USB. Even though Windows Setup will boot from the USB, Windows Setup itself cannot read the partition needed to install Windows.

Use a different LiveUSB creation tool: Yumi. Balena Etcher is another tool, but it does not work either to create a bootable Windows 10/11 LiveUSB. I tried. While Linux does not care and you can practically use any USB creation tool for a Linux ISO, a Windows ISO is very picky about how it wants to exist on a USB. Of the three tools that I tried, only the Yumi Legacy version successfully created a functioning and bootable Windows USB.

The preceding works for Windows 10 21H1, but not the newer 21H2 (also available from the official Microsoft web site for download in case you need to test with Windows). To create a LiveUSB with Windows 10 21H2, we need to use the exFAT UEFI/BIOS version of YUMI. This is a different program from the version used above.

HDXPRT, whichstands for High-Definition Experience & Performance Ratings Test, was thefirst benchmark published by the HDXPRT Development Community, which laterbecame the BenchmarkXPRT Development Community. HDXPRT 4, the latest version, evaluatesthe performance of Windows 10 and Windows 11 devices while handling real-worldmedia tasks such as photo editing, video conversion, and music editing. HDXPRTuses real commercial applications, such Photoshop and MediaEspresso, tocomplete its workloads. The benchmark then produces easy-to-understand resultsthat are relevant to buyers shopping for new Windows systems.

The HDXPRT 4setup process takes about 30 minutes on most systems. The length of the testcan vary significantly depending on the speed of the system, but for most PCs thatare less than a few years old, a full three-iteration test cycle takes under twohours.

HDXPRT is a usefultool for anyone who wants to evaluate the real-world, content-creationcapabilities of a Windows PC. To see test scores from a variety of Windowsdevices, go to HDXPRT.com andclick View Results.

HDXPRT 4, our benchmark for assessing Windows performance on real-world media tasks, runs tests that use real commercial applications such as Adobe Photoshop Elements (PSE) 2020. Last fall, we informed HDXPRT testers that Adobe had started requiring a user ID to download the free Adobe Photoshop Elements 2020 trial package. Previously, testers could download the trial without setting up an account.

Recently, Adobe made additional changes to the access path for thePSE 2020 installation package. The package is no longer available on the PSE downloads page, but users whopreviously purchased their copy or registered it with Adobe can access thepackage on another page. However, this approach does not work for users who want totemporarily use the trial version for HDXPRT 4 testing.

We have found a third-party location, ProDesignTools, thatcurrently offers a free, straightforward PSE 2020 installation package downloadwith no requirements for registration or transmission of personal information.In our testing so far, the installation package (PhotoshopElements_2020_LS30_win64_ESD.zip)has been functioning as expected, and HDXPRT 4 is running the PSE-basedworkloads without any issues.

In our lastround of tests on Windows 10, Firefox was the clear winner. Three of theChromium-based browsers (Chrome, Edge, and Opera) produced very close scores,and the performance of Brave lagged by about 7 percent. In this round ofWindows 10 testing, performance on every browser improved slightly, with GoogleChrome taking a slight lead over Firefox.

In our Windows 11 testing, we were interested to find that without exception, browser scores were slightly lower than in Windows 10 testing. However, none of the decreases were statistically significant. Most users performing daily tasks are unlikely to notice that degree of difference.

Lastweek, Microsoft announcedthat the Windows 11 GA build will officially launch Tuesday October 5, earlierthan the initial late 2021 estimate. The update will start rolling out withselect new laptops and existing Windows 10 PCs that satisfy specific system requirements,and only some Windows 10 PCs will be eligible for the update right away.Through a phased Windows Update process, additional Windows 10 PCs will be ableto access the update throughout the first half of 2022.

Betweenthe phased Windows 11 rollout and the pledgeMicrosoft has made to continue Windows 10 support through October 2025, it willlikely be a while before the majority of Windows users transition to the new version.We hope the transition period will go smoothly for the XPRTs. However, because wedesigned three of our benchmarks to run on Windows 10 (HDXPRT 4,TouchXPRT 2016,and AIXPRT),we might encounter compatibility issues with Windows 11.

This week, we have good news for HDXPRT 4 testers. A few weeks ago, we discussed the fact that Adobe removed the trial version of Adobe Photoshop Elements (PSE) 2018 from the PSE download page. HDXPRT 4 used PSE 2018 for the Edit Photos scenario, so this change meant that new HDXPRT testers would not be able to successfully install and run the benchmark.

We apologize to HDXPRT testers for the inconvenience over the last several weeks, and we thank you for your patience while we worked on a solution. If you have any questions about HDXPRT or the community, please feel free to ask!

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