HP Recovery 16G USB - WINDOWS 10 64-BIT RECOVERY KIT - fails on HP Notebook - 15-ay192nr

[PCSecurityDr]

Had a failed hard drive in a HP Notebook - 15-ay192nr with Windows 10 Home that was out of warranty.  I replaced old HD with a new SSD.  I did complete diagnostics on the laptop and all hardware passed. I then ordered the 16G USB - WINDOWS 10 64-BIT RECOVERY KIT directly from HP based on the laptops serial number.  I followed the one-page directions that came with the software exactly, but it always failed to finish after 1-2 hours.  All I ever got was Save log, Details, Retry.  After 15 hours of it failing, me doing a ton of research, and changing bios settings based on posts in this forum, and trying again, I took a windows 10 Pro bootable USB stick I had for recovery for another laptop and was able to install windows 10 Pro in 15 minutes, however since the Windows Key stored in bios of the laptop was for Windows 10 Home, the OS would not activate, but this proved the issue was with the software HP supplied and not hardware.  I called tech support and they verified they shipped the correct HP Recovery Kit, based on the serial #, they confirmed my suspicions that the issue with the software not completing was with bios settings and version, but they would not tell me what version I should upgrade to or what  I needed to change unless I paid them $49.95 as a onetime fee and bought a new service contract for $14.95 a month with a minimum 1 year contract.  I spoke to a manager and still was told that the info I needed was not available to the public or on their help forums and they would not help me unless I paid the money. 

I then went to Microsoft and downloaded windows 10 installation media that is for any version of windows 10 except enterprise to be used to recover any Windows 10 box.  The link is:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

with my newly created Windows 10 installation media, I was able to fix this laptop in 20 minutes.  The OS activated with no problems from the key stored in the Laptop Bios and is auto populated to the OS when the OS was installed.  So, OS with NO Bloatware which is way better than if I had gotten HP’s recovery media to work because theirs loads a TON of Bloatware.

I then spent 2 hours trying to get a refund for the $52.50 I paid HP for their useless recovery kit.  No matter what HP number for support or customer service including the ones on the bill and shipping documents I called, I always end up back at the same out of warranty tech support group who then routed me to some other branch of customer service who routed me back to the same tech support group.  Finally, I started threatening to just dispute the charge with my CC company, and miraculously I got routed to the correct group to get refunded after I explained HP sold me a new piece of software, that was unable to be used unless a customer did specific things like update the bios to a certain version and make changes to said bios, but they did not provide any documentation or technical support for this, instead they use it as a racket to try to make customer’s purchase an extended service contract.  They finally agreed to give me a refund for the full $52.50.  If it doesn’t show up with 48 hours like they said it will, I will then just dispute the charges with my CC company.

My final thoughts are that HP Support is nonexistent if you are out of warrant and they use their recovery kits as a way to drive customers to purchase extended service contracts.  If you got roped into purchasing their useless 16G USB - WINDOWS 10 64-BIT RECOVERY KIT, call this Number at HP [edited] for a refund and just download the windows 10 installation media from Microsoft and save yourself a tone of hassle and MONEY.

[PCSecurityDr · Accepted solution]

Just go to Microsoft and downloaded windows 10 installation media that is for any version of windows 10 except enterprise to be used to recover any Windows 10 box.  The link is:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

with my newly created Windows 10 installation media, I was able to fix this laptop in 20 minutes.  The OS activated with no problems from the key stored in the Laptop Bios and is auto populated to the OS when the OS was installed.  So, OS with NO Bloatware which is way better than if I had gotten HP’s recovery media to work because theirs loads a TON of Bloatware.

Call this Number at HP[edited] for a refund for the useless 16G USB - WINDOWS 10 64-BIT RECOVERY KIT and just download the windows 10 installation media from Microsoft and save yourself a tone of hassle and MONEY.

[HaydenS]

ok so when i go to download what you said to download do i need to put it on a flash drive or just download and install??

[rediff]

Since your machine runs Windows 10, you can do a clean install W10 for free by using the media creation tool at the link below.

   https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

The tool will allow you to make a bootable installation media (USB/DVD) and you can use installation media to install.

During the installation process if you are asked to enter a product key, check the 'Skip' box and W10 will install and then automatically activate once you are connected to the internet using the key embedded in BIOS of your machine.

Then you can install the drivers and available software you need from your PC's support page.