Can I use HP Cloud Recovery Tool to restore Windows 11 Pro?

[mtiede]

I need to do a total replacement of Windows 11 Pro.  I'm pretty sure the machine came with Windows 10 and I updated to Windows 11 Pro.  The Cloud Recovery tool appears to want to create a recovery to Windows 10.  

Will I be able to easily migrate it to Windows 11 Pro again without having to buy another license or something?

Is there a way to make it just create the Windows 11 Pro recovery?

Or is it easier just to create a USB with Microsoft's Windows 11 Pro from Microsoft Media Creation Tool and then add on the HP bits and pieces afterward?

[BeemerBiker]

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@mtiede wrote:

I need to do a total replacement of Windows 11 Pro.  I'm pretty sure the machine came with Windows 10 and I updated to Windows 11 Pro.  The Cloud Recovery tool appears to want to create a recovery to Windows 10.  

Will I be able to easily migrate it to Windows 11 Pro again without having to buy another license or something?

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Windows license is stored at Microsoft so no need to buy another license.  You will have to download Office but it will also be activated.  Other 3rd party apps (Acronis, Nero, Adobe, etc) will have to be re-downloaded, the key found (if any) and used to activate.

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Is there a way to make it just create the Windows 11 Pro recovery?

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No, HP and other OEMs will have exactly what was put on the system when it was bought.  HP just started doing this recently and other OEMs usually do that only for big ticket systems, if at all.  Since optical drives no longer ship, many OEMs not bothering to provide backup of their stuff.  Lot of the stuff distributed is bloatware and wont fit except on Blue-ray media

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Or is it easier just to create a USB with Microsoft's Windows 11 Pro from Microsoft Media Creation Tool and then add on the HP bits and pieces afterward?

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I looked at the list of available downloads and there is not that much.  

The  "multimedia" will need to be downloaded and all of the HP and Diagnostic software (3 of them) plus the support assistant

I suspect if you get the Support Assistant first it will do the updates, if needed, for  you

https://support.hp.com/us-en/help/hp-support-assistant

========my recommendation=======

When doing the win11 install from the OEM USB select the options that saves your files.

When the system is working OK then copy what you need from documents, photos, music, contacts, etc

To be safe, if you are using Outlook, you might want to save the ost or pst files on flash to allow email and contacts to be imported