A required drive partition is missing.

[owlette1]

Hi,

I have looked all over the boards for this issue but I cannot seem to find a solution that works.

I am trying to factory reset my Notebook PC back to its original state. Just to be clear, the PC works fine and I have no boot up problems that I am aware of; I simply want to factory reset my PC because it is currently way too cluttered with files and programs I don't need.

Back on topic: When I boot up the PC, I press the F11 Key to go into Recovery Mode. From there, I navigate to the part that allows me to Reset my PC to its original state. However, when I select this and after waiting a while, I get the error message: "...A required drive partition is missing." and I am unable to reset my PC. This leads me to believe perhaps some parts of my hardware has been corrupt.

As of typing this, I have also tried Factory Resetting through PC Settings > Update and recovery > Recovery > "Remove everything and reinstall Windows" but to no success as it does not detect removable/recovery media.

Please advise on how I can achieve my goal of completely factory resetting my PC to its original state.

Additional information: I cannot find the recovery disk (if there was one) that came with the PC during purchase. All I have is my computer and the charger.

[WAWood]

@owlette1

Hello;

Allow me to welcome you to the HP forums!

To address your last issue first -- your PC did not come with a Recovery Disk because, starting with Win8, OEMs only provided the means to create your own disks -- which you apparently did not do -- rather than including disks with the PC.

Sounds like the Recovery information has become corrupted, and if that is the case, your only recourse is to order something known as HP Recovery Media ...

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 have to order these from HP; they can not be downloaded.

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 "Update". 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 "+" 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 Service:

If you live in the US or Canada, contact information is on this page: http://www8.hp.com/us/en/contact-hp/phone-assist.html#section1

If you live elsewhere, contact information is on this page: http://www8.hp.com/us/en/contact-hp/ww-contact-us.html

NOTE: After you get through, stay on the line until you are finally able to talk to some one -- it can take a while!

If you have trouble finding a phone number, then try: 1 (800) 474-6836

If HP no longer provides Recovery Media for your model, another site you can check is: http://www.computersurgeons.com

When you get the media, if it is a USB stick, insert it into your PC, pressing F9 to get a Boot menu, then select the External USB Hard Drive to boot from it.