Restoration to factory reset

[Preciousmint]

I did a factory reset because I did not remember my password to sign on to laptop. Recovery manager popped up and says restoration incomplete. The restoration did not complete please select one of the following buttons. My options are save log details and retry. When i hit save log it says this feature collects information about your system to help hp diagnose the issue. Insert a removable dish drive with at least 2mb of free space and then click ok. I don't have a disc. When I hit details I get it out says some errors detected. Found 3 SW ISSUES REFER TO following files if exist CTOERROR.flg, system.sav\*failure.flg, or c:\system.sav\logs\allfailure.log

Right now I cannot retry it does nothing. It's the laptop now gone? Is there a way I can fix it??

[Max3Aj]

@Preciousmint, Welcome to HP Support Community. 

Thank you for posting your query, I will be glad to help you. 

Nope—your laptop is not gone. This issue can often be fixed, even though HP Recovery Manager says "Restoration Incomplete." Here’s what’s going on and what you can do about it:

What Happened?

You used HP Recovery Manager to perform a factory reset due to a forgotten password, but the process failed midway. The system is now stuck at an incomplete recovery state, and you can’t boot into Windows or retry the restore.

How to Fix It: Options You Can Try

Option 1: Hard Reset + Retry Recovery

Try this first—it sometimes helps the system retry recovery.

1. Power off the laptop completely.
2. Unplug the power adapter, remove any USBs or peripherals.
3. Press and hold the power button for 15-20 seconds to drain residual power.
4. Power it back on and immediately start pressing F11 repeatedly (about once per second).
5. If it works, this should take you back to HP Recovery Manager.

If F11 works, choose "System Recovery" and try again.

Option 2: Use HP Cloud Recovery (Recommended if Recovery Manager is broken)

If F11 doesn't help or you keep getting the same error:

1. Use another working PC to create a bootable recovery USB.
2. Go to HP Cloud Recovery Tool page.
3. Download and run the HP Cloud Recovery Tool.
4. Enter your laptop’s product ID or serial number (found on the bottom of the laptop or in BIOS F1 or ESC on boot).
5. It will download the correct recovery image and create a bootable USB (you'll need an 8GB or 16GB USB drive).
6. Plug this USB into your notebook and power on while tapping ESC, then choose F9 for boot options and select the USB.
7. Follow the on-screen steps to reinstall the factory OS.

Note:

• If your laptop was older, sometimes the recovery partition is corrupted or missing, which causes this failure.
• HP Recovery Manager can get buggy, especially after Windows updates or drive errors. 

I hope this helps. 

Take care and have a good day. 

Please click “Accepted Solution” if you feel my post solved your issue, it will help others find the solution. Select "Yes" on the bottom left to say “Thanks” for helping! 

Max3Aj

HP Support