Replaced HDD for SSD that was broke, how do I reinstall Windows?

[MrRoar]

A friends house 255 G4 had a “3F0 no OS” error. I’ve removed the HDD and connected it to a dock and it’s dead. 

I’ve replaced the HDD with an SSD but how do I reinstall Windows?  I’ve downloaded go cloud recovery but it won’t recognise the product ID and so just doesn’t go to next step. 

The laptop came with Windows, can’t remember version though, is there a way to recovery this without having to buy Windows again?

 Thanks 

[Paul_Tikkanen · Accepted solution]

Hi:

Your notebook missed the cut to be eligible for the cloud recovery tool.

Some of those models came with W8.1 Pro, and your friend may have upgraded it to W10, and some 255 G4's on the tail end of the run came with W10 Pro.

So, what you do is this...

Make a bootable W10 USB installer with the media creation tool from the link below.

Make the 64 bit installation media.

Download Windows 10 (microsoft.com)

Boot from the installer, and if it asks you what version of W10 you want to install, select W10 Pro.

If it asks for a product key, select the 'I don't have a product key' option and see what result you get after the installation is complete. 

If W10 is asking to be activated, then you need to install the correct version of Windows the notebook came with and then upgrade it to W10.

If you run into that situation, install the free Showkey plus app from the Microsoft Store, and it will show you the Windows product key in the BIOS and the version of Windows the key is good for.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/showkeyplus/9pkvzcprx9nv

If the installer does not ask what version of Windows you want to install or ask for a product key, then it will automatically install and activate the version of W10 the PC came with.

After W10 has completed installing, you can install the drivers and available software from the notebook's support page.

HP 255 G4 Notebook PC Software and Driver Downloads | HP® Customer Support

[MrRoar]

Thanks I’ll try that. I’m pretty sure it was Win 10 on it, but think as you say came with Win 8. 

I’ll try the Ms Win 10 abs no product key option first. Thanks

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.

If you need to install W8.1 first, let me know and I will give you the instructions to install W8.1 and upgrade to W10.

You will need to use a slightly different procedure to create a bootable W8.1 installation flash drive.

[MrRoar]

So did the Win 64 from MS link and installed and says “Win is activated with a digital licence linked to your account”

I logged in and added my MS account during setup. I have bought Win in the past, but as this wasn’t my laptop, has it just used a spare license that I must have from previously buying Windows sometime?

*edit* actually just looked at a screenshot I took of BIOS and on it says “factory installed OS - Win 10” so have to presume it did indeed come with Win 10? Or would this become updated once a new OS is written over, eg if it originally came with Win 7?

 Thanks 

[Paul_Tikkanen]

I assume it came with W10 but if you install the showkey plus app, it will tell you exactly what version the original OEM windows product key was good for.