How to boot to my USB flash drive if I would ever need to recover my Windows 10 OS

[shu-hi]

How to boot to my USB flash drive if I would ever need to recover my Windows 10 OS.  I have read that on many computers you would use one of the (F) keys as the computer is booting up.  If this is the case, what (F) key would I use?

[MKazi · Accepted solution]

@shu-hi

Let me take a moment to thank you for posting on the HP Support Forums. 

I understand that you would like to know how to perform a system recovery using the USB recovery kit on your HP Pavilion HPE series PC. I'll be glad to assist you with this.

Have you already created a USB recovery kit on this PC? If not yet then please access this link for the steps: http://hp.care/2qKLz9t

Below mentioned are the steps to perform a system recovery in Win10 using the USB created media:

• To recover your system with the media you created, use the following instructions.

• Disconnect all connected devices and cables such as Personal Media Drives, USB drives, printers, and faxes. Remove media from internal drives, and remove any recently added internal hardware. Do not disconnect the monitor, keyboard, mouse, or power cord.
• Insert the recovery media (USB Drive, CD/DVD) and then turn off the computer.
• Turn on the computer and immediately press the Esc (escape) key repeatedly, about once every second, until the Startup Menu opens.

Figure: Desktop Startup Menu

• Press F9 to open the Boot Device Options menu.
• Use the up or down arrow key to select the CD/DVD drive or USB drive, and then press Enter.

Figure: Desktop boot option menu

• NOTE: More than one USB drive or CD/DVD drive selection might be available from the list of bootable devices. If so, select one of the USB drive CD/DVD options from the list to see if HP Recovery starts. If recovery does not start or a non-system disk error is displayed, restart the computer by pressing the power button, and then repeat these steps to select another USB or CD/DVD drive. When recovery starts, continue using the steps to complete recovery.

  If you cannot select the recovery media drive from the Boot Menu, enable Secure Boot and disable Legacy Mode in the BIOS. For detailed instructions, seel below.

  It might be necessary to enable secure boot in the BIOS in order to start the computer using recovery media (USB Drives or CD/DVD). Follow these steps to enable Secure Boot in the BIOS.

• NOTE: Use the following procedure only when you cannot select the recovery media from the Boot Option Menu or when you are using an external optical drive. If you are able to boot from the Recovery media or not, it is very important to reverse the changes made in the BIOS, this means you need to load the BIOS default settings. Otherwise this may cause instability in the system when making updates recommended by HP.

  Use one of the following methods to open the Computer Setup Utility:

• Turn on the computer and immediately press the F10 key repeatedly, about once every second, until the Computer Setup Utility opens.
• Turn on the computer and immediately press the Escape key repeatedly, about once every second, until the Startup menu opens. Then press F10.

• Choose menu screens by pressing the left or right arrow keys. Use the up or down arrow keys to move through the list of items on the menu screen. Press the Enter key to select an item and open a submenu. Then use the left and right arrow keys to modify the settings. Press the F10 key to save the changes and exit from a submenu, or press the Esc key to exit from a submenu without saving the changes.

• Use the right arrow key to choose the Security menu, then use the down arrow key to select Secure Boot Configuration, and then press Enter.

Figure: Security menu

• Press F10 when the Secure Boot Configuration window is displayed.

• Use the down arrow key to select Secure Boot, then press the left or right arrow keys to modify the setting toEnable.

• Use the up arrow key to select Legacy Support, then press the left or right arrow key to modify the setting toDisable and press F10.

• Press F10 to accept the changes and exit. Then press Enter or use the left arrow key to select File, use the down arrow key to select Exit Saving Changes, and then press Enter to select Yes.

• The Computer Setup Utility closes and the Operating System Boot Mode Change screen is displayed, prompting you to confirm the Boot Options change.

  Type the code shown on the screen, and then press Enter to confirm the changes.

• The Computer Setup Utility closes and the computer restarts.

• Turn the computer off and try to boot from the Recovery media once again.

• When prompted to run Recovery Manager from the hard drive or from media, select Run program from media, and then click Next.

Figure: Recovery manager

• HP Recovery manager opens.
• Select System Recovery to erase all the files from the hard drive and restore it to the original factory condition. Then click Next.

  CAUTION: If you have not already backup your files, click file backup and follow the instructions. Proceeding without backing up your files will result in lost files and information.

Figure: System Recovery

• Select Recover without backing up your files and then click Next.

Figure: Recovering without backing up your files

• HP Recovery Manager prepares the computer for recovery.

Figure: Preparing the computer for recovery

• If you are using recovery discs, follow the on-screen instructions by inserting the next disc as prompted. Do not click Cancel.

  CAUTION: Do not stop the process while the Windows partition is being reformatted and the files to restore the hard drive are being copied.

• Wait while the files are copied to the hard drive.
• Click Continue when the recovery preparation is complete.

  CAUTION: Do not interrupt the process as it restarts multiple times during the recovery and installation phase.

Figure: Recovery preparation is complete

• The computer might go through several Software Installation screens; this is normal, please do not turn off your computer during this process.

Figure: Installing software

• When setup is complete, do the following:
• Turn off the computer.
• Reconnect all devices and cables.
• Turn on the computer.

• Before using the computer, update and protect your computer by reinstalling any virus and security software that was installed before the system recovery.
• Reinstall any software programs that were added after purchasing the computer, as well as any files that were backed up.

I hope this information helps. Let me know. Cheers! 🙂

[shu-hi]

Thanks - that's exactly what I was looking for 

[MKazi]

@shu-hi

You're most welcome.

I'm glad I was able to assist you on this platform.

Cheers!