Will I still be able to use pre-loaded HP software products if I do a clean install of Windows 10?

[Glookie]

I have a Pavilion 14 Notebook which came with Windows 8.1-64 Home, and which I upgraded to Windows 10-64 Home. The upgrade went very badly, but I'd like to use Win 10 if possible. Microsoft recommends that I do a clean install of Windows 10, which will necessitate reinstalling all my MANY programs. They cannot tell me, however, if I still will be able to use some of the HP apps that came pre-loaded on my machine and that I find very useful -- even though I am out of warranty. For example, I use HP Support Assistant for driver updates, and I have found that HP DriveGuard works really well!

Will I still be able to download all these products, and from where? Will I be able to get them from the drivers page for my laptop? If I cannot, I will probably have to settle for reverting to Windows 8.1.

Thank you.

[CherylG]

Your Support page does have software/drivers listed for Windows 10:

http://support.hp.com/us-en/drivers/selfservice/hp-pavilion-14-v000-notebook-pc-series/6936223/model...

[Glookie]

Thank you, Cheryl G. I guess that means they'll still be available to me after my rebuild. 🙂

Do I have to install these drivers in any particular order, or can I just go down the page and install the latest of each (if it's not there already)?

[CherylG]

In my opinion it is always best practice to install Intel Chipset Installation Utility and Driver first. Probably graphics next to ease the eyes-check Device Manager now to be sure what you need. You might want to do a check of Device Manager also to determine which Wireless driver you need since HP uses several different ones and usually lists all options on the driver page.

[Glookie]

Thank you again for your quick and clear response.

I will attempt the clean install this weekend, and will let you know how it went.

[Glookie]

I just tried to begin the custom clean installation. I got this message: "The partitions on the disk selected for installation are not in the recommended order. For additional info about installing to GPT disks, go to microsoft.com and search for "GPT". Do you wish to proceed with this installation?" I clicked Cancel and saw an Error Code 0x8030002C.

I looked for info on GPT on microsoft.com, but it was beyond my technical scope. I did find this page, blogspot windows 10 installation GPT error , but was afraid to implement it for fear of totally killing my PC. I still have an image of my PC when it was Windows 8.1, and I am also concerned about never being able to reload that image (only as a last recourse, if Windows 10 fails, of course.)

I have inerted a screenshot of my Disk Management, below.

Thank you for your help.

[Glookie]

BTW, I don't know whether you'll want to see my DiskPart List too, so here it is. Thank you again.

[Glookie]

I researched some more and realized I'd be able to use my backup image if all else failed. So I wiped out all my partitions and ran the clean install. It took 2 days to get all to look the way I need it, but now I'm up and running in Windows 10!

Thank you, Cheryl G!

[Glookie]

I spoke too soon. 😞   I still cannot get into Safe mode with networking. In Safe mode, the Networking Settings page is missing the options for Wi-Fi and airplane mode, and Wi-Fi is disabled. If I try to enable my Wi-Fi adapter via the VPN option, it gets enabled and then immediately disabled again. Also, if I go in as the admin user -- not the built-in one, but the one with my name, I cannot even open the [disconnected] Edge browser; I get a message that the "Built-In Administrator" cannot use Edge in Safe Mode. I can open the offline Edge browser as a standard user.

I tried everything I found online:

1. On my network adapter, in Device Manager, I cleared the option that says Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power.

2. I tried to connect from the Lock Screen.

3. In the adapter's Wi-Fi Properties tab for "Sharing", I cleared both the box to allow other network users to connect and the box to allow other users to disable the connection.

Anyone have any clue how I can resolve this?

[Glookie]

Still cannot get into networking in safe mode, tried MANY things.

1. I did a clean install, and spent about 3 days reloading all my programs and updating my drivers.

2. On my network adapter, in Device Manager, I cleared the option that says Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power.

3. I tried to connect from the Lock Screen.

4. In the adapter's Wi-Fi Properties tab for "Sharing", I cleared both the box to allow other network users to connect and the box to allow other users to disable the connection.

5. I connected my laptop to the Ethernet wire and got online (in non-Safe mode.) Then I tried to get online in safe mode with networking, but that didn't work either.

6. I ran sfc /scannow.

7. I went into services.msc and tried every possible service i might need.

8. I also tried disabling all non-Microsoft services in msconfig; didn't work either.

I don't know whether the problem is with my HP configuration, or with Windows 10 itself, so -- after weeks of struggling with this, I posted on a Microsoft forum, too. No results so far.

Anyone have any inkling what this could be? Getting desperate. Thank you, all.