Factory Reset vs. Windows 10 Reset

[TRooney95648]

Is there any difference between doing a Factory Reset  (F14  or similar) compared to using Windows 10 to do a clean reset and install.

Previously you could hit F14 on boot up and get a choice to Factory Reset.  But that does not seem to be there now.  Has Windows 10 reset function made that obsolete??

Terry Rooney

[Grzwacz]

Greetings Terry,

Welcome back to the forum.

I am not a HP employee.

A HP factory reset will put your PC back to the way it shipped from the factory. The HP recovery partition will be present in this image.

You will have to reinstall software you added to the PC.

All software HP included at the factory will be in the image.

You may lose some HP software if you do a Windows refresh or a Windows reset. You will have the option to keep personal settings and some applications.

You will have to install software you added to the PC.

A clean Windows install removes everything because this process  partitions and formats the HDD.

The HP recovery partition will be gone. All software you installed and personal settings will be gone.

Regards

[TRooney95648]

Not quite accurate. When you do a Windows clean install you can elect to keep the HP recovery partition.

terry

[Grzwacz · Accepted solution]

Hi,

We are both correct.

The HP recovery partition will be gone if you delete all partitions on the disk and do a custom, clean Windows installation. The HP Recovery partition and previous Windows recovery partitions will be there if you only install Windows 10 clean on the primary partition containing the operating system.

Or you could delete the Windows Recovery and EFI partition when deleting the operating system partition. Then install Windows in the unallocated space. The HP Recovery partition will still exist.

Leaving the HP Recovery partition when the HP Recovery Manager software is missing on a clean Windows installation is questionable.

Regards

[TRooney95648]

On a related issue, I can not get the HP Cloud Recovery to work. When I fill in the Product ID the message I get is that the ID is not correct.  I know it is correct.

An HP tech was able to get it to work and create a recovery flash drive.  But when I attempt to boot with that drive I get the message that  no bootable operating system was found.  Examining the drive I find that all the needed files are there but they are under a folder so they are not seen when trying to boot.

Incidentally the Microsoft flash drive for a clean install always works perfectly. I have reset about 10 systems with it.

Terry

[Grzwacz]

Hi Terry,

Some HP PCs support cloud recovery, some do not.

I don't know your PCs product number.

I would contact HP Support (Link) if your PC supports cloud recovery but the product ID fails when following instructions for cloud recovery at this HP Support site (Link).

I don't know why this is happening.

Regards