Reinstall Windows 11

[ParryJM]

My laptop cannot start properly.  I beleive the internal hard drive has failed.

The laptop was purchased from HP and it came with Windows 10 pre-installed.  It came with no Windows media.

I did a free Windows 11 upgrade, so now the laptop is running Windows 11.

If I replace the current hard drive with a new hard drive, how do I go about getting Windows 11 installed on this new hard drive?

Can I download the Windows 11 software to the laptop using the product key that came with the laptop?

IWhere do I locate my Windows 10 key that is assocated with the Windows 100 software pthat was re-installed?

Ideally, I would like to install Windows 11 directly instead of installing Windows 10 and then upgrading to Windows 11.

As part of the Windows 11 installation process, can I format the drive first?

[Paul_Tikkanen · Accepted solution]

Hi:

If you buy a new hard drive, there will be no need to format it as it will have no partitions.

W11 will install and format the partitions it needs to operate.

Your W10 product key is encrypted in your notebook's BIOS.

You won't need the key to reinstall W11.

What you do is to make the bootable W11 USB installation flash drive with the media creation tool at the link below (2nd option).

Download Windows 11 (microsoft.com)

After you boot from the installation media and get past the Install Now screen, you will be asked what version of W11 you want to install (Home or Pro).  Select the version of W11 that you upgraded to from W10.

Then you will be asked to enter a product key.  Select the 'I don't have a product key' option and W11 will install and activate after you are connected to the internet.