Have bricked an HP 15-fd0017st while trying to update to Win 11 Pro

[DOC-UWSCI]

Hi -  I needed to update an HP 15-fd0017st laptop from Windows 11 HOME to Windows 11 Pro so that my organization's Defender for Endpoints would "see" it and onboard it.  I tried to use a full version of Windows on a USB created with Windows media creator tool, and planned to just blow away what was on the machine and install the OS from scratch.  

When I got to a certain point in the setup for the install, it showed me a list of disk partitions and told me it couldn't install on any of them.  So I looked for help with this and was told to re-partition.  I did ths (which, of course guanteed that nothing useable would be left) but then it refused to install because it said it needed storage drivers.  

I went to HP, put in my model specs and went to the drivers area, but there is no DRIVERS-STORAGE area.  Does anyone know if I can I use Intel's IRTS driver direct from their site?  Or does anyone know where I can get the driver from HP?

Thanks,

Dave

United Way of So Central Indiana

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi:

You shouldn't try to update from Home to Pro that way.

Had you been successful with installing W11 you would have ended up with W11 Home again because Windows will detect the Home product key in the BIOS and reinstall W11 Home.

This is the best way to upgrade from Home to Pro...

Upgrade Windows Home to Windows Pro - Microsoft Support

Your PC is supported by the HP cloud recovery tool which will factory reset the drive to its 'out of the box' condition.

That recovery image should include the Intel storage controller driver you need for Windows to find the drive.

Here is an info link for how to use the utility.  You will need a 32 GB USB flash drive for this.

HP Consumer PCs - Using the HP Cloud Recovery Tool in Windows 11 and 10 | HP® Support

You can download the software from the Microsoft Store.

HP Cloud Recovery Tool - Free download and install on Windows | Microsoft Store

Since you have to use the software on another PC as yours is not working, you will need to enter your PC's product number in the tool's search window in order to proceed.

Your PC's product number is  9U9T0UA#ABA.

If you prefer to clean install W11, I have zipped up and attached below, the Intel RST drivers for PC's that have Intel 12th and 13th Gen Core processors.

Unzip and copy all of the files in the folder in the attachment to a USB flash drive.

Have the flash drive and your Windows installation media plugged into USB ports.

Boot from the Windows installation flash drive.

When you get to the screen where no drives can be found, click on the Load driver option, browse to the flash drive with the storage controller drivers on it.

If you check the box, it will only include the compatible driver.

If Windows still can't find the drive, uncheck the box to include the compatible driver and try any of the ones listed.

Follow the guidance in the Microsoft link to upgrade from Home to Pro.

[DOC-UWSCI]

Hi Paul --

Thanks so much for your post and for the drivers.  The short version is, thanks to you, I was able to get the system back to its Windows 11 Home setup, and it's working fine.

I don't think I can upgrade to Pro using the version of Win 11 Pro that I got from Microsoft viaTechSoup; it looks like it can only be installed on a machine with no existing OS.  I'm going to stop working on this for now, but will eventually have to buy some additional keys intended for upgrading, and then I'll try it again (maybe).

Best,

Dave

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Anytime, Dave.

Glad to have been of assistance.

I didn't know there was a difference in Pro product keys other than OEM vs Retail.

You may want to try the product key shown under the 'Upgrade to W11 Pro Manually' section on the Microsoft Link I posted.

I would imagine that if the key is no good it will be rejected and the upgrade will not proceed.

Cheers,

Paul