Problem restoring desktop

[Sol613]

I had to wipe my hard drive due to a ransomware attack. I had upgraded to Window 10 pro but never created a restore disc. I tried making one from another hp computer I have. However, as it goes through the setup I get to the customize screen and midway kicks me to this screen:

[WAWood]

@Sol613

I don't know HOW you made a Restore Disk from another PC, but those are generally model-specific and not intended to be used with other PCs.

If your PC is a 2016 model or newer, you should see if you can make a bootable USB recovery drive using the HP cloud recovery tool on a working PC.

The recovery drive can then be used to install Win10 and the HP drivers and utilities that originally came with your PC.

You will need a working PC and a 32GB USB stick to hold the recovery files.

Here is the link: https://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c06162205

[Sol613]

PC is older that 2016. Other options?

[WAWood]

@Sol613 

1) Use this link to download and create Win10 install media: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

2) Insert that into your PC, boot from it, and run through the installation. When you get the window asking for a product key, look down near the bottom of the window for the link you can click to skip that step.

3) When done (the PC may restart several times) and you boot into Windows and you get back online, it will contact the MS activation servers and automatically reactivate Win10.