Recovery for Star Wars Special Edition 15-an050nr Laptop

[InsaneTiger]

Ok, so here is the deal.

My SW edition suffered a horrible accident. Because I loved it so much, and because HP no longer sells it, I had to purchase a used, but like new replacement.

The seller had upgraded it to a SSD and maxed out the RAM at 16GB.

He did an OS migration or cloning onto the new SSD.

Problem though; the Star Wars Command Center does not recongize the system, even though it was migrated, and will not run.

A search showed that this was a problem that arised from replacing the HD. Even a perfect clone will not suffice to allow the Command Center to run, as it doesn't recognize the system. It was said that a recovery was the ONLY way to rectify it.

However, went I went to get Recovery media, HP wants $45 for it!!!

Seriously? They don't offer this as something I can just download?

Is there no way to get this as a no charge download, or am I gonna have to shell out $45 for something that I should rightfully have because I already paid for it?

[CherylG]

@InsaneTiger

Have you tried reinstalling the Command Center:

https://support.hp.com/us-en/drivers/selfservice/swdetails/star-wars-special-edition-15-an000-notebo...

Your laptop had software on it to make Recovery Media- did you make your Recovery Media on the former laptop? If they are same series it should work on the current one. Have you checked to see if the seller also cloned the D:\Recovery partition? Of course if the SSD is much smaller capacity than the original hdd recovery probably won't work.

If the hdd in the previous laptop wasn't damaged you could always install it in the current one and run HP Recovery Manager and make  Recovery Media. Scroll down on the page here to see instructions for making Recovery Media:

https://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c04758961#AbT5

[InsaneTiger]

Yes, I have tried reistalling the Command Center. That doesn't work. I also updated with the latests BIOS update (2018) to cover all my tracks. Also didn't solve the problem

No, I did not make my own recovery disks from the recovery partition of my original device and HDD.

No, the recovery partition was NOT cloned onto this new device's new SSD by the seller.

And no, the original HDD of my original device was also damaged and is in total mechanical failure. It is completly dead.

Am I really going to have to shell out $45 for the recovery media? HP really will not allow a free download of it?

[CherylG]

Sorry, but HP doesn't offer a download. If a clean install  and seperate install of drivers/software will work you can use the free Media Creation Tool offered by Microsoft.

Your Windows 10 license key is embedded in BIOS and you can reinstall Windows without Recovery Discs. Microsoft provides the free Media Creation Tool to download files and create a Windows 10 usb flash drive.Big advantage is you will have latest updated version of Windows 10. At least 8gb flash drive required:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

Select Download tool now, and select Run.
If you agree to the license terms, select Accept.
On the What do you want to do? page, select Create installation media for another PC, and then select Next.
Select the language, edition, and architecture (64-bit or 32-bit) for Windows 10.
-------------------------------
When the flash drive is prepared insert it in a usb port. Power on the laptop and immediately start tapping Esc key. From the menu tap F9 key and use the arrow keys to move to and select usb. Tap Enter key.
When installing and you go through first few screens- choose Custom and select each partition and delete each (if you have more than one).Install on the unallocated space left from that process.Continue with installation.It should pickup the key from BIOS but if it asks at any point just choose "I don't have a key". It will continue and should activate once you are online.

This will not include the original software from HP but most of it can be installed from your Support page.

[InsaneTiger]

I have no idea if that would work. Is there anything on the recovery media that isn't in the driver and software download section?

Seriously though, this is pretty screwed up on HPs part

[Photoray002]

@InsaneTiger

When you say the command center doesnt work, in "what way"?

Is it installing and just not accessing the content that it did before or is the CC not installing at all?

If the command Center is installing and will open, It will not contain all the content needed to work.

HP does not have the content available for download as per some strange copyright issue.

But there was another user who posted all the content needed, to his OneDrive account.

Here is the link to that website, the link is in his first post...

https://forums.windowscentral.com/off-topic-lounge/393179-hps-star-wars-theme-windows-files-linked.h...

Hopefully that helps. I would try the MS Media tool that Cheyrl mentioned first and try the files I linked to.

If that works, you wont have to buy the recovery media.

Thats all I can offer.