Automatic repair not able to repair (desktop)

[jk03264]

I am having an apparently-similar problem with a  Slimline Desktop p260-p026 (Windows 10 native) that worked well for a while but was powered off for nearly two years during the pandemic.  Seeing nothing but automatic repair messages, more or less in a loop, since then.  This is a 2016 machine, with the KB article indicates should be supported by the cloud recovery tool but  when I enter the product ID V8P18AA (or V8P18AA#ABA) at https://d34z73bbtpzgej.cloudfront.net/ it says "not available".  I have tried to reinstall Windows using a image obtained directly from Microsoft, but the device will not load the Windows image (or anything else) from either a DVD or a USB stick -- just keeps failing and going back into the automatic repair loop.  

Is there something else to try or do I need to write the machine off?  More specifically, would removing and replacing the hard drive allow a Windows reinstall to work or is this, as it would appear,  a more fundamental problem?  I am not seeing any messages that would seem to indicate a hard drive problem or anything else specific.

thanks.

[Paul_Tikkanen · Accepted solution]

Hi:

Yes, for some reason, your PC is not supported by the Cloud recovery tool.

If you used the W10 media creation tool to create a bootable USB installation flash drive, that should have worked.

Download Windows 10 (microsoft.com)

You have to boot from the installation media, otherwise if you just plug the flash drive in the PC and turn it on, the PC will always boot from the hard drive, which of course is not working right now.

To do that, have the installation media in a USB port.

Turn on or restart the PC.

Immediately press/tap the ESC key to get the menu of options.

Select the F9 boot options menu and from that select the UEFI diskette on key/USB hard drive that the media creation tool made and press the Enter key.

The PC should boot from the flash drive and the W10 installation files will begin to load.

[jk03264]

Many thanks.  I stupidly assumed I could boot/install from the repair option and it did not occur to me to use the "real" boot menu.

Added information for anyone who needs to do this:  On machines of that vintage, at least, the options after pressing F9 are "PMAP", "PLDS DVDRW", and IPv4 and IPv6 followed by the identity of the Ethernet adapter.   The first is the important one.  Also, once one gets to the Windows installation screen, click "Install".  The "Repair your machine" option just goes back to the familiar automatic repair loop.  It may also warn that it doesn't like the way HP set the partitions on the disc up -- just go ahead with it as designed -- if nothing else, the other partitions are too small for Windows, user data, etc. 

Finally, be patient: the installation here took close to an hour.  Once it is done and you have things configured again, it is wise to reboot the machine and then immediately go to "Settings"-> "Update and security" and let it do its thing to bring things up to date.

thanks again,

   john

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome, John.