Operating system accidentally deleted

[Khaled91]

I accidentally deleted the windows 10 operating system from my monitor and I don't have a product key what should I do, it came preinstalled on it and I can't find any sticker for the product key, do I need to buy a new one?

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi:

The Windows product key is encrypted in your PC's BIOS.

You don't need it to reinstall W10.

You should have two options to reinstall W10 on your PC:

Your PC should be supported by the HP cloud recovery tool which you can use with another PC running W7 64 bit or newer to create a bootable USB recovery drive that will reinstall W10 the drivers and the software that originally came with your PC.

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

The other way to reinstall W10 would be to make bootable installation media with the media creation tool from the link below.

Download Windows 10 (microsoft.com)

After W10 has completed installing, you can install the drivers and available software from your PC's support page.

HP Pavilion All-in-One - 24-r013ne Software and Driver Downloads | HP® Customer Support

[Khaled91]

Ok so do I need to create a bootable USB stick that contains Windows 10 and install it in the pc? I heard if you install the same version your pc had you will not be asked for a product key, is that true? Also when I boot up the monitor it just says boot device not found or something

[Paul_Tikkanen · Accepted solution]

You can use the cloud recovery tool or you can download W10 with the Media creation tool.

There is only one W10 USB file you can make that contains all versions of W10 (Home. Pro).

W10 will detect what the product key is good for and will automatically install that version.

You will not be asked for a product key using either method.

[Khaled91]

Thank you for helping!

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.