HP Cloud Recovery Client fixed... HowTo

[SDH]

I've been frustrated by HP's on-line mechanism for downloading bootable "Recovery" installers for our HP Z440/Z640/Z840 workstations... it has not worked well for quite some time now. It fails to connect to a server that can provide the downloads. Others have reported it is broken also.  I finally took the time to figure out the solution, which works for more recent HP Z workstations also. HP started making this Cloud Recovery on-line system available at no cost for Windows licensed computers after the Z620 generation, providing HP-licensed Windows 10 installs initially and now including HP-licensed W11 installs for their more recent workstations.

The current SoftPaq download for the Cloud Recovery Client (CRC) via the HP Z440/Z640/Z840 drivers download page ("Software-Security" section) is old, getting you SP138865, and the HP ReadMe for that does not list these or other Z workstations. Its release date was 3/14/22. It runs briefly and does not auto-launch an interface, but it does place a SP138865 folder inside the auto-created SWSetup folder on the root level of the boot (C drive). The SoftPaq installer was then manually triggered by launching the .msi inside the "src" folder inside the SP138865 folder mentioned above, and that did create a HP Cloud Recovery app on our ZX40 systems that could be launched from the Start menu. However, that is a defective app because it cannot link to a server that would provide the Recovery download. DO NOT USE THAT OLD ONE.

If you installed the older SoftPaq you can delete it easily via Control Panel/ Programs and Features/ HP Cloud Recovery/ delete/ restart. Then install the newer one obtained from below.

A functioning link for the newer CRC SoftPaq installer that does work properly can be found at the top of the HP web page that lists the HP computers/ laptops/ workstations that have Cloud Recovery downloads available. To save you the effort that HP link is https://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp150501-151000/sp150676.exe. This gets you SP150676, release date 12/21/23. Its ReadMe can be downloaded via https://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp150501-151000/sp150676.html. This HP ReadMe also does not list the Z440 or other Z workstations but it does work fine for their Cloud Recovery downloads. This SoftPaq install has the HP CloudRecovery.msi installer inside its "src" folder, and it also has an install launcher ("HPUP.exe"). The older one did not. I simply went into the "src" folder and ran the .msi from there. That navigation is Local Disk (C:)/ SWSetup/ SP150676/ src/ HPCloudRecovery.msi.

The old and the newer SoftPaqs, during install, provided zero HP "on-screen instructions". My thumb drive was auto-reformatted from exFAT to NTFS with its Properties checkbox at the very bottom checked ("Allow files on this drive to have contents indexed in addition to file properties"). For any NTFS installer drive I always uncheck that/ Apply/ and choose the option to Apply changes to drive :\subfolders and files... indexing of such drives is unnecessary and will slow the install experience.

Note that if you are running the new Cloud Recovery Client on a Windows-HP-licensed computer that is CR eligible the process will autodetect its chassis serial number from its motherboard's firmware and proceed with the Recovery download. If you're running the CRC on another computer instead then you will need to manually enter a proper Windows-HP-licensed chassis serial number. And, no, the Cloud Recovery thumbdrive that results won't work if your HP workstation is Linux branded in its motherboard's firmware (even if you've properly activated it for Windows via a purchased W10/W11 Microsoft license). You insert a 32GB (or larger) thumb drive before running the CRC. Mine was 64GB, was originally exFAT32 formatted, and was auto-erased and reformatted to NTFS by CRC.

The resulting ZX40 bootable installer thumb drive includes HP's preferred drivers and uses an older W10Pro64 installer (version 1809). After the install you can easily upgrade that to the latest W10Pro64 version via Microsoft Windows Update, and thereafter you may choose to upgrade to W11. I imagine you could convert the entire set of components on the Recovery thumb drive to an .iso (W10) and thereafter use that .iso and Paul Tikkanen's excellent Rufus method to convert it to a Rufus W11 bootable thumb drive installer (as is posted about here in this forum). The Cloud Recovery download options for newer HP Z workstations generally will include a more recent W10Pro64 version, and a W11Pro64 version.

Below is an image of what the newer CRC SP150676 places inside the resulting SWSetup folder on the root level of your current C drive, and also two images from the Cloud Recovery creation process. Finally, the new HP SP150676 ReadMe is attached below as a PDF:

The CRC installer parts...

Options...What I chose...

HP ReadMe attached below...