Might be a silly question,

[Red000]

will the recovery partition still be of any use once upgraded to win11?

[NonSequitur777 · Accepted solution]

@Red000,

Yes, the recovery partition remains useful, but its primary purpose changes after you upgrade to Windows 11. 

What happens to the partition?

The original HP Factory Recovery Partition typically contains an image of the operating system that came with your PC (likely Windows 10). After upgrading:

• It stays Windows 10: Using the partition to "Factory Reset" will likely revert your computer all the way back to its original Windows 10 factory state, wiping Windows 11 and all your data.
• Potential Corruption: In some cases, major OS upgrades can break the link between the hardware triggers (like the F11 key) and the recovery partition, making it inaccessible.

Do you still need it?

Most modern HP users find the physical recovery partition less critical because of newer, more flexible alternatives:

• HP Cloud Recovery: You can now download a fresh factory image directly from HP onto a USB drive using the HP Cloud Recovery Tool. This effectively makes the on-disk partition redundant.
• Windows 11 Built-in Reset: Windows 11 has its own "Reset this PC" feature (found in Settings > System > Recovery) that can reinstall Windows 11 using either local files or a cloud download, without needing the HP partition.
• Reclaim Space: If you are happy with Windows 11 and have created a backup or recovery USB, you can delete the partition to reclaim several gigabytes of storage space.

Summary of Options:

If you want to...              Use this method:

Go back to Windows 10	Use the HP Recovery Partition (F11 at boot) or the HP Cloud Recovery Tool.
Refresh Windows 11	Use Reset this PC in Windows 11 Settings.
Clean install Windows 11	Use the Microsoft Media Creation Tool to create a bootable USB.

Kind Regards,

NonSequitur777