Reinstall Windows - Formatted and installed different OS

[hadnow]

Hi,

I have the Elite X2 1012 G1 Tablet. Now the thing is I wanted to try linux booting so my hardware engineer tried to install the same. Now instead of keeping the OS  and installing it as dual boot, he said install which in turn formatted the disk and installed linux fresh on the tablet. Now I am without the original windows os which came with the system. Any help on how I can install a fresh copy of windows which came with the system? And how can i get the license for it as I cant find any license key I believe windows 10 had digital license. And what version of windows is installed on this system. Any way to restore the system back to how it came - like factory restore? Thanks in advance for the help.

[TheOldMan · Accepted solution]

According to this spec page, that model could have had either Windows 10 Pro 64 or Windows 10 Home 64.

https://support.hp.com/us-en/product/hp-elite-x2-1012-g1/8741943/document/c04918657

On this page there  is a cloud recover setup.  Scroll down to the "Software-Restore CD" and click on that heading. 

https://support.hp.com/us-en/drivers/selfservice/hp-elite-x2-1012-g1/8741943

It will open and then "Cloud Recovery Client" and that will open and give access to the download

https://support.hp.com/us-en/drivers/selfservice/swdetails/hp-elite-x2-1012-g1/8741943/swItemId/ob-2...

Here are the "Installation instructions"

1. Download the file by clicking the "Download" or "Obtain Software" button and saving the file to a folder on your hard drive (make a note of the folder where the downloaded file is saved).

2. Double-click the downloaded file and follow the on-screen instructions to unpack the files to C:\SWSETUP\SP85318 or another directory of your choice.

Instruction document "c05115630 Using the HP Cloud Recovery Download Tool.pdf" is in the Softpaq directory

I have not used this before but assume it has/needs to be done in a Windows environment.  Since you have a Linux OS and it should be able to download that to a USB flash drive, that might work also.  The Windows that file will install should be one that is authentic, so you will not need a license key and it will be activated once it is completed.

Please report back with results or ask for additional help.

[hadnow]

Hi. Thanks a lot for your detailed post @TheOldMan I did exactly as per the post and Windows successfully installed and running on my tablet. Thanks once again for the help. Just for other users - the steps are quite simple. You can run this on any other Windows device first. First step is to create a recovery pen drive. I used a 32GB pen drive. I then downloaded the Cloud Recovery Client and it asked me the serial number and model of the device on which I want to install the recovery. I added the serial and model of my tablet. It took a couple of hours to download and create the recovery pen drive. Once done, I removed it from the PC and then added it in the USB port of the tablet. Then at boot I pressed ESC and F9 keys which got me to the boot options where in I selected - boot from Pen Drive. Post that installation was just following the steps and now I got back my windows restored!

[TheOldMan]

Thanks for reporting back.  I am glad you filled in the missing pieces on how that process works.  I have not actually  gone thru it before.  Glad it all worked as expected.