I deleted WinSxS folder first to free up space

[DavidMcKenzie]

I deleted WinSxS folder first to free up space and now I am stuck on the startup reboot after I did not know to get to the system restore. 

[WAWood]

@DavidMcKenzie 

That was the WRONG thing to do -- you should have done research before blindly removing a critical Windows system folder!

If you can not reboot into Windows, your carelessness has trashed your PC and now, you would have to do a factory reset from external media -- and you will lose EVERYTHING in the process.

The ways to do an external factory reset are the following:
- Factory reset using external HP image you make
- Factory reset using external HP image you buy

Each of these is discussed in some detail below ...

---------- Factory reset using external HP image you make ----------
HP provides a Cloud Recovery tool that you can use, together with a 32GB USB stick, to create your on HP reset media.

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

This works the same as the factory reset described above.

---------- Factory reset using external HP image you buy ----------
For those PCs not supported by the Cloud Recovery, in some cases, HP offers Recover Media for sale. This can not be downloaded; instead, it must be ordered from HP.

HP Recovery Media is a set of DVDs and a CD, or USB stick, that will erase the hard drive (removing all data, settings, and applications, reinstall the original OS, drivers, and some HP Utilities.

In some cases, you may be able to order a USB stick instead of disks.

You can look online for Recovery Media starting with the linked paged: http://support.hp.com/us-en/drivers

Once there, input your Product name or number. On your Software and Drivers Download page, select your Operating System and and Version. Click &quot;Update&quot;.<br><br>If HP Recovery Media is available for your machine, down near the bottom of the page, you will see an entry for Order Recovery Media-CD/DVD/USB. Click the &quot;+&quot; symbol to expand that entry and click on Order Media for details.

Or, if you prefer, you can do the same by contacting HP Customer Support.

HP contact info: https://support.hp.com/us-en/contact-hp?openCLC=true

If HP no longer carries the media you need, another site you should check for HP Recovery Media is: http://www.computersurgeons.com/

These work the same as the factory reset described above.

[DavidMcKenzie]

So if I plug in the USB flash drive if I did have one? Will it just go back to it own regular boot state?

[WAWood]

@DavidMcKenzie 

The 32GB USB drive is used by the HP Cloud Recovery program to create HP Recovery Media -- which you then boot from to perform a complete factory reset of your PC.  That will erase the ENTIRE drive, removing everything on it, recreate all the partitions and repopulate them.  When finally done (this can take hours) your PC will then reboot back into the initial setup screen you saw when you first opened it.

[DavidMcKenzie]

is a sandisk cruzer glide 32gb recovers all files and factory resets it?

[DavidMcKenzie]

Plus this for the HP Recovery Tool do I have to really have a empty usb drive for the Sandisk or does the Sandisk already have the Windows 10 data in it?

[DavidMcKenzie]

Does this is the HP usb drive  you were talking about?

amazon.com/HP-v165w-32GB-Flash-Drive/dp/B0052WT1OC     HP v165w 32GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive - Blue - P-FD32GHP165-GE or this https://www.amazon.com/HP-v150w-Flash-Drive-P-FD32GHPV150W-GE/dp/B07W4F4DCZ

[DavidMcKenzie]

I forget to mention this I do have warranty on the my laptop so I so get a drive for free?