Cloud Recovery failed 3 times on notebook 15-dw3015cl (2N3N0UA)

[carlos_the_man]

So this machine was upgraded to windows 11 via Microsoft update.  After updates were installed it asked for a bit-locker key to allow the machine to boot so the owner asked me to just reinstall windows on it (no my laptop).

I downloaded the HP cloud recovery from the Microsoft store in both a windows 10 machine and Windows 11 also (more on that later)

I plugged in the 32 GB usb key and i pressed F9 to boot into it and I answered all the questions and it ran for a few minutes and it asked me if I had an additional USB drive to add to it but I do not so I skipped it and it says it will reboot.  I removed the USB key as it was shutting down and then it continued to update and install software and reboot at least one more time.  After about 90 minutes I get a message indicating the installation failed.  It gives me the option to retry or save a log or cancel I think.  I used Gparted to format the drive clean and tried again with the same result.  I then used the windows 11 machine to create the boot media for cloud recovery.  I followed all the steps again and it also failed.  

I then created a windows 11 usb drive from Microsoft and tried to install it but I see the installation cannot see the disk drives.  I downloaded the storage drivers from the support page of this product but nothing was visible by the installer.  With some research done I found a thread where someone provided a driver and i tired it and this time the installer is able to see the driver but when I choose it to be installed it indicates there was an error installing the driver.

I am stuck.  none of the installations work and I am unable to load the storage driver to plain install windows 11.  I will settle for windows 10 and upgrade if need be but this experience with HP recovery is frustrating and has resulted in a lot of time wasted.  Can anyone help me find the right procedure or a different direction to go to get this fixed?

[Paul_Tikkanen]

See if the driver that I zipped up and attached below works for the clean install of W11:

[carlos_the_man]

God morning, thank you for replying.

I am unable to download anything.  It show a file name but hyperlink to download.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.

Try downloading the attachment again.

When I looked at it, I noticed it was stuck on the virus scan check.

Now I see that the file can be downloaded.

[carlos_the_man]

Good morning

Thank you again for replying.  I was out all day and was unable to reply.  I tried to install it twice and each time it said no compatible drivers found.

Do you know if maybe someone changed the HDD that is the reason why the drivers would not be found?  The owner told me he took it to a local shop once before to get it "fixed"

I am wondering if I can swap the HDD for and SSD so it is a little faster but not sure how HP will handle the SSD if it is not in the recovery image or if could at that point just plain install windows 11

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.

Sorry the drivers you tried didn't work.

Unfortunately I don't have any other suggestions for you to try since those drivers should have worked and since the cloud recovery tool didn't work either, I think it may be time for you to take the PC into your local PC repair shop and have them reinstall Windows for you.

Yes, if your notebook came with a 2.5" mechanical hard drive you can install a 2.5" SSD instead, and if your notebook has an Intel Core processor, it has a M.2 slot that supports the much faster performing M.2 2280 NVMe SSD's.

[carlos_the_man]

Thank you for your reply.  I want to see if i can understand the problem.  Would you have any idea why the drivers (I assume some form of universal driver) would not work?

If I change the HDD for and SSD will the cloud recovery work then?  To will that allow me to se the Windows 11 insataller work then?

I think if I understand why this did not work I can figure out what to download.  

I am trying to get the right driver or maybe. Just change hardware if need be.  

Thanks for your help.  Also any suggestions of maybe how to create the cloud recovery different?

[carlos_the_man]

OK so I finally had time to do some solid research.  I read but did not pay close attention that systems with the intel processor (so far this is what I have found) 11th, 12th and 13th generation use Intel Rapid Storage Technology.  This notebook has an 11th gen processor.  I did go to the download page and got both the Intel Rapid Storage technologies, one was for newer systems and for some older systems.  The last time I used 7zip to extract contents but the Windows 11 installer indicated it found no compatible drivers and that was a week ago.  In this thread someone offered an F6 folder with a driver but the result was the same.  This time I went to intel and downloaded a package for the RST directly from them and no success either.  I downloaded from the HP website again and this time rather than point to the root folder of the extracted files I drilled down looking for the driver file and I saw an F6 folder, which as I mentioned someone offered before.  I pointed to that folder and then I found 2 drivers and one of them worked.  I am now installing windows 11 (very slow on this spinning hdd).  The one thing I failed to write down was which of the two downloads I used from the HP website.  If someone runs into this download both and one of them should work with this notebook.  Thank you Paul_Tikkanen, thanks to the F6 folder you sent me I was able to research more and when it showed up on my screen I remembered and tried it and with the latest download from HP it worked.