HP Update for Windows 10 lost all data and was locked out of my laptop and Microsoft

[KatM2024]

Hi everyoone, I looked on Community Boards but I did not find a solution to this issue.

Around March 31, I installed about 3 HP Updates for my laptop running Windows 10. However, when I restarted my laptop again, I had lost ALL of my user data and only a temporary profile was created. Because of this issue, it caused me numerous problems logging into my Microsoft account, even after I restored from a cloud backup service. 

My laptop is still not back to where it was before this update from heck, and this happened in November 2023 as well. 

I don't know what to do.

I'm only basically knowledgeable in technical procedures so anytihng too complicated will be a challenge. Can this issue be fixed, please, or am I out of luck?

Thank you for any help you can offer. 

[WAWood]

Are you sure it's 32-bit? Because I thought that Win10 Home was 64-bit from HP.

[KatM2024]

Hi WAWood,

Thanks for taking the time to reply.

I thought it was 64bit but the site wasn't accepting my entry as 64bit so I entered 32. Sorry for the confusion.

[WAWood]

I asked because HP provides a Cloud Recovery tool that allows you to use a 32GB USB stick to create an HP OEM WIndows installation USB stick and that will reinstall Windows onto your laptop.  But that means you start all over again with a new account and have to reinstall all your apps again.  I believe this is only 64-bit, which is why I asked.

[KatM2024]

Thanks for the information but I had no choice but to reset my laptop to factory settings and reinstall everything. However, Microsoft no longer recognizes my computer as legitimate, even after restoring from a backup to a date before the update. I'm experiencing numerous problems logging into any Microsoft apps and websites. This means that reinstalling everything did not bring my laptop back to its previous state.

[WAWood]

Did you reinstall Windows from scratch?

[KatM2024]

Yes, I installed Windows from scratch.

[WAWood]

Where did you get the Windows install media to do this?

[KatM2024]

That is wrong. I only did a full reset and erase all data and files. I didn't have a USB with a clean version of Windows.

[WAWood]

OK -- then that should have worked without any issues. I asked about the clean install because folks often use the wrong Windows media to do that and end up with problems like you have reported.  I have no idea why this did not work properly, as what you did was OK.

Is this still under the warranty?