Reinstall Windows 10 after erasing recovery partition

[TanguyP]

Hello,

After buying my HP Omen laptop, I installed a Linux distribution (Mint) and set up full disk encryption, which seems to have erased the recovery partition that HP set up to allow reinstalling Windows 10.

Now I would like to reinstall Windows 10, but the usual procedure using the recovery partition won't work. Also, I haven't been able to locate my serial number sticker where HP said it should be, so I currently have no way to contact customer support.

I'm still running on Linux Mint at the moment, so I don't have an easy way to use those Windows tools to create a bootable recovery USB stick which I saw mentioned somewhere.

Any ideas? Thank you in advance.

[CF4 · Accepted solution]

Hi

Try:-  sudo cat /sys/firmware/acpi/tables/MSDM | strings | tail -n 1

write down the W10 activation key, it's a Debian command and matches most.

Then try this...

ISO images of various Microsoft OS's are available.

They can be be downloaded (sometimes you need a licence key other than the HP OEM key)
and 'burnt'/expanded to a DVD/USB. They WONT contain appropriate HP software, like drivers etc.
But may enable a repair to be started.

For when it’s a NON MS OS (iOS/Linux/Android) to create install media.
www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10ISO

Then it is a DD command I currently cannot be certain of, if you can't find a tool.

sudo dd if=/dev/sda7    of=/home/tanguyp/W10ISO.iso bs=2048 conv=noerror;  sync

This is unknown to me, but it may help...

https://www.linuxbabe.com/ubuntu/easily-create-windows-10-bootable-usb-ubuntu

http://www.webupd8.org/2016/06/make-bootable-windows-10-usb-install.html

In doubt please ask.

[visruth]

Hi,


If you've not already created HP recovery USB just after initial setup of the notebook, your only option to bring back notebook to factory configuration is to order HP recovery USB specific to your model directly from HP technical support

Find serial number: https://support.hp.com/in-en/document/c04559742

Contact HP: http://www8.hp.com/us/en/contact-hp/ww-phone-assist.html

Else, you can create UEFI bootable Windows 10 USB using Microsoft Windows media creation tool and use this to boot from and CLEAN INSTALL operating system.

Option 1: create USB
https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/2376-create-bootable-usb-flash-drive-install-windows-10-a.html

Clean install tutorial:
https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/1950-clean-install-windows-10-a.html

Windows 10 will be automatically activated after installation while connected to internet

Additional drivers from here: https://support.hp.com/in-en/drivers/selfservice/omen-by-hp-17-w200-laptop-pc/13823501


Regards

Visruth

[TanguyP]

Thank you so much!!

I followed your first link to download the ISO, then the first of your 2 links to create a bootable USB drive.

The only unintuitive part was that at system startup, I needed to let the USB drive boot by itself, instead of selecting the USB boot option manually from UEFI.

Then I formatted all existing partitions, created a new one to install Windows 10, and for the rest it all went very smoothly! Everything worked out of the box, without my having to install any drivers manually.

[CF4]

Prego.

And yet you don't DUAL boot?