Setting Laptop back to factory settings

[Old_Deuteronomy]

This is the best board I can find from the options offered.  I have an HP Envy laptop, Serial No. [Personal Information Removed], product No. B6W53EA#ABU, subsequently upgraded to Windows 10 from the factory-installed Windows 7.  I wish to restore the laptop to its original factory state, from the recovery partition (E:), before disposing of the device. Can you direct me to where I can find the necessary instructions?

[iomare · Accepted solution]

Hi,

Since upgrading to WIndows 10,  I believe you can not use the recovery partition.

The best idea is to create a bootable USB drive with Windows 10 on it and then use it to clean install the OS on the machine.

Here is a small guide:

Download media creation tool from Microsoft on PC (different PC), run and create a bootable pendrive with the OS on it. (there is an explanation on the Microsoft web page on how to create the pendrive). Create the drive with Windows 10 Home 64-bit edition. Windows will automatically activate once installed and connected to the Internet.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

If you choose this option you will need to use the pendrive to perform a clean install of Windows 10. You might need to disable fastboot and secure boot in BIOS (probably not). So, insert the pendrive and turn off the PC by holding the power button. Press the power button and repeatedly keep pressing ESC until the startup menu appears and then press F9 and choose the pendrive in the boot menu. Once it boots from pendrive follow the procedure to install Windows.

During installation choose custom install and delete all partitions. Install in unallocated space.

When finished installing allow Windows to completely update and find all or most drivers. You can follow this process by going into settings > Security and update > click on Verify for updates. You might need to reboot a couple of times.

 I recommend installing HP support assistant which will help keep your drivers up to date and much more. You can download the latest version from here.

https://www8.hp.com/us/en/campaigns/hpsupportassistant/hpsupport.html

Once completely updated you can go into device manager and see if there are any missing drivers (there will be yellow exclamation mark next to the device). You can find these drivers and software on HP support page for your product.

Hope it helps,

David

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