I need HELP with an older HP Desktop

[MrJsGirl]

Hello All! I am new to this community and this is my first time posting, but I am at a loss and do not want to pay $200 for geek squad to fix it for me. I bought this HP All in One 20-2c210 computer back in 2016/2017 and it is a great computer, but my ex stole it and put all his inofrmation on it. We split up and I took it back and tried to recover and reset the computer back to factory settings and have had absolutely no luck. It is operating on Windows 10, but unsure which system and it will not let me upgrade to Windows 11. I just want to reset it all to factory settings and install windows 11 on it so it will work properly. I have a new work from home job and need this computer. Everytime I try to reset it, it states there was a problem and it could not reset. GRRRRR I do not know what to do. It does not show an error code or anything, just that there was a problem.  HELP ME PLEASE!!!! 

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi:

You can use the HP cloud recovery tool to create a bootable USB recovery drive that will reinstall Windows, the drivers and the software that originally came with your PC on the new SSD.

Here is an info link for how to use the utility.  You will need a 32 GB USB flash drive to create the recovery media with.

HP Consumer PCs - Using the HP Cloud Recovery Tool in Windows 11 and 10 | HP® Customer Support

You can download the software from the Microsoft Store.

HP Cloud Recovery Tool - Microsoft Store Apps

If you have to use the utility on another PC, you will need to enter your notebook's product number in the tool's search window in order to proceed to make the recovery media. 

Your PC's product number is:  Z5M01AA#ABA

After you get the PC factory reset with the recovery media, this is the easiest way to upgrade to W11 if you are interested when a PC does not meet Microsoft's minimum W11 hardware requirements:

Read this discussion for how I upgraded several HP and Dell notebook and desktop PC's that did not meet the W11 hardware requirements to W11 22H3.

You have to use the version of the Rufus utility that I zipped up and attached in the discussion (v3.18).

Re: Issues upgrading to windows 11 - HP Support Community - 8517912

If the in-place upgrade fails, you should be able to clean install W11 using the bootable W11 installation flash drive you made with Rufus.

Microsoft will be ending support for W10 in October of 2025.