Reset laptop, did not save files, now can't get past login screen

[MomofMany96]

I reset my laptop in order to clear everything but Windows off of it so that I could give it to my son. I now can't get past the login screen. It wants me to login under my account, but when I do, it tells me that it can't find that user. I have tried the following, and I have also tried creating a bootable file on a USB drive, but it was not successful.

I found this on another thread, so I did all of this. My laptop passed all tests, so it is not a hardware problem. System Restore did not work, since I have no restore points saved from wiping all files. What else can I do?

1. Try hard restart/hard reset.

Press the power on-button on your PC and hold it for about 5-10 seconds until your computer powers off completely.

Remove and unplug any external periferals and accessories.

Press once the power-on button to turn on the PC and wait if it will start now. Wait...

If it still fails to load properly, go ahead with the next steps

2. Perform some basic hardware checks to rule out hardware problem

- Please, shutdown the computer using the power button (pressed and hold for a few seconds until PC powers off)

- Power the computer back on.

As soon as you press the power-on button, immediately begin hitting the Esc button (like tap-tap-tap) before any logo appears. This should open a HP Startup Menu

- Choose F2 to open System Diagnostics. Follow the on-screen instructions to perform System Test >> Quick test.

This will check major hardware componets for issue (do it just in case) . Here is more info >> http://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c03467259#AbT1

If there are no system checks/no quick tests, perform HDD (hard disk drive) and RAM check (memory check).

Let me know the test results. If the tests pass without issues, continue. If not, please, let me know

3. Repeat steps 1-2 above but when HP Startup menu opens, please choose F11 for System Recovery options.

The computer should boot from it's recovery partition to open you various recovery options. Note, that F11 option will only work if the recovery partition is there (not deleted) and intact. From there, you have prenty of options to choose from. Every HP computer comes with recovery partition present to assist in tough moments.

Please, perform "System Restore" first in an attempt to fix the issue. Please, restore back to previous days (restore point) where the issue was not present. Here is more info:

>> http://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c03327545#AbT5

>> https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/4588-system-restore-windows-10-a.html

[MomofMany96 · Accepted solution]

UPDATE: I found my original Windows disk and was able to reinstall it from that. It is the only thing that worked!