Reinstalled Win 10 generic (not OEM), HP Support Assistant finds nothing to update!

[Mike_DSM]

Hello,

Yesterday I wiped my system and did a clean install of Win 10 (generic). I did create OEM restore media but didn't use it because I was following a good tutorial on TenForums to move Users to its own drive (or partition as in my case). It was successful, Windows now sees my Users folder and all child objects as residing on my U:\ drive (I split the 1TB HDD about in half, Windows and all programs are in C:\).

I checked before wiping the factory install but did not make a list of all the original factory software and utilities because after registering my device with the HP Support site and looking at all the software and drivers listed for my device I wrongly assumed that HP Support Assistant would be able to restore things I would want back such as HP 3D DriveGuard and HP CoolSense Technology (and more).

But after downloading HP Support Assistant today it tells me everything is up to date! Is manually picking and choosing drivers my only option now or does anyone have a better idea? The list of drivers for my machine gives me no confidence! Comparing graphics drivers,  both the Intel and Nvidia drivers currently on my machine are dated later and higher version numbers than HP lists!

Between HP Support Assistant and the support website>Software and Drivers I'm getting no comfort.  BTW I ran the HP Support Assistant prior to the OEM wipe and it said everything was up to date then also. 

Anyone have any idea how I might proceed with getting some of the OEM software back on my notebook?

Thank you,

Mike

[WAWood]

@Mike_DSM 

First of all, there is no Windows 10 "generic" edition -- there are Home, Pro, Enterprise, OEM, "N" (etc) but not "generic". So, I am guessing that you installed either Home or Pro (and both are Retail versions).

Second, HP does not provide downloads for their apps and utilities that come preloaded on their PCs because you are NOT supposed to replace their preloaded OS with your own version.

To get those back, you would need to do a factory reset -- and given that you reformatted the drive, the built-in function is now almost certainly NOT going to work anymore.

To do this NOW, you would need to consider purchasing something known as HP Recovery Media -- and need to know in advance that starts by erasing and reformatting ALL the partitions on the drive.

HP Recovery Media is a set of DVDs and a CD, or USB stick, that will erase the hard drive (removing all data, settings, and applications, reinstall the original OS, drivers, and some HP Utilities.

In some cases, you may be able to order a USB stick instead of disks. You have to order these from HP; they can not be downloaded.

You can look online for Recovery Media starting with the linked paged: http://support.hp.com/us-en/drivers

Once there, input your Product name or number. On your Software and Drivers Download page, select your Operating System and and Version. Click "Update".

If HP Recovery Media is available for your machine, down near the bottom of the page, you will see an entry for Order Recovery Media-CD/DVD/USB. Click the "+" symbol to expand that entry and click on Order Media for details.

Or, if you prefer, you can do the same by contacting HP Customer Service:

If you live in the US or Canada, contact information is on this page: http://www8.hp.com/us/en/contact-hp/phone-assist.html#section1

If you live elsewhere, contact information is on this page: http://www8.hp.com/us/en/contact-hp/ww-contact-us.html

NOTE: After you get through, stay on the line until you are finally able to talk to some one -- it can take a while!

If HP no longer provides Recovery Media for your model, another site you can check is: http://www.computersurgeons.com

When you get the media, if it is a USB stick, insert it into your PC, pressing F9 to get a Boot menu, then select the External USB Hard Drive to boot from it.

[Mans]

@Mike_DSM 

Hello,

The drivers you are looking for are available through the HP links below.

• HP CoolSense Technology: https://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp79001-79500/sp79297.exe.
  
  
• HP 3D DriveGuard: https://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp85001-85500/sp85435.exe.

For other software and drivers for your computer are available on your computers page below.

• Software and drivers for HP ENVY 17-u273cl
  
  
• HP ENVY 17-u273cl - Product homepage

If you want to create an HP System Recovery Kit and reinstall the system as it was on day one, please use HP Cloud Recovery Tool.

In case of need, do not hesitate to solicit us.

Best regards,

[WAWood]

@Mike_DSM 

Sorry, I had forgotten that HP does supply SOME of their SW products for downloads on the HP product page -- as @Mansexpertly indicates.

But. for the full set of preloaded OEM utilities and apps, I still believe you have to do a factory reset.

[Mike_DSM]

@Mans, thank you for the useful links.

I did use the Software and Drivers page before posting, and was confused by seeing graphics drivers that weren't as current as the ones that the Windows installation or updates have installed. I see that the drivers for HP CoolSense and HP 3D DriveGuard are the same as you provided links to, so I'm confident that I'll do no harm by installing them.

My concern overall was that HP Support Assistant purported itself to be an automated solution for such things, but it fails to see anything missing on my machine - AND the Software and Drivers page clearly contains drivers that are older - with no guidance on how to be sure which driver is best for the current hardware and Windows version configuration. 

I don't plan at this time to reset my machine to factory image because of my reason for wiping it in the first place (and see my reply to WAWood), but it's good to know that resource is out there!

Since I can't have my desired configuration of C:\Windows and U:\Users and an OEM condition together (actually it might have been possible but the tutorial author warned against trying), I choose to keep the current configuration. I thought I could have the best of both worlds because of what I understood of the HP Support Assistant. Clearly, automating the driver and utility software update process is a better, safer method of keeping machines current - IF IT WORKS. 

I will use your helpful links to install the two utilities, and I suppose I will just have to carefully examine each utility and driver package on the site to pick and choose whether to install or not. I'm very disappointed in the HP Support Assistant.

Thanks for your useful help!

Mike

[Mans · Accepted solution]

@Mike_DSM wrote:

My concern overall was that HP Support Assistant purported itself to be an automated solution for such things, but it fails to see anything missing on my machine - AND the Software and Drivers page clearly contains drivers that are older - with no guidance on how to be sure which driver is best for the current hardware and Windows version configuration.

@Mike_DSM 
Thanks for your return,

Some software and drivers must be installed in advance for HP Support Assistant to detect updates. So this is the normal behavior of the HP Support Assistant application.

If you wish to update the graphics card driver you can do so directly from the NVIDIA website below.
https://www.nvidia.com/Download/driverResults.aspx/156282/en-us

In case of need, do not hesitate to solicit us.

Best regards,

[Mike_DSM]

@WAWood,

I do apologize for forgetting to state which edition of Windows 10 "generic" in my post (it was Home). I was focused on the more important point of it being a "generic" installation as opposed to an OEM configuration. I don't think that whether it was Home, Pro, Enterprise, N or etc. was entirely relevant to the question - which was that HP Support Assistant had failed to perform as I expected, and the Software and Drivers page for my machine had what appear to be outdated drivers. I was really hoping for the automation promised in HP Support Assistant.

I did state in the second sentence of my post that "I did create OEM restore media but didn't use it..." 

The reason, if anyone is interested, that I chose to do such a radical thing as to wipe my factory image was that I had my old HP ProBook 4530s running Win 7 under  this kind of non-OEM configuration happily for years before this current move to the new machine, and I want to migrate my data to this new machine in a manner that hopefully doesn't confuse the OS too much - and it will certainly fit my needs better (Users on a separate drive partition).

To each his own, but for me I have long preferred to have the Users directory (and all that points to it) on a separate drive partition because it makes better sense for regular drive imaging and data backup purposes. Frankly I can't understand why Microsoft didn't include making such a configuration easy when they launched Windows 10. But as I said, to each his own in that regard, and the fact is that neither MS or HP thought to make such a configuration possible - so people are left to create configurations that don't fit the mold.

The people I have to thank for creating the thorough and effective tutorials I used under Windows 7 and now Windows 10 are Kari Finn and Shawn Brink of SevenForums and TenForums. A link to the excellent 'Move Users Folder Location in Windows 10' tutorial is here: https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/1964-move-users-folder-location-windows-10-a.html

@WAWood, thank you for your guidance, even if you missed the target on this one. 😉

BTW, I had Win 7 Pro on the HP ProBook 4530s but since Win 10 Home allows backup to network drives I didn't see the need to go with Pro this time. That was my top priority.

Thank you,

Mike

[Mike_DSM]

@Mans

Thank you for the explanation and for the extra link.

To all who are directed to @Mans reply just above, I clicked the Solved button on the wrong reply, please read his reply earlier today for even more helpful info. That contains more info relevant to my question.

Thanks again,

Mike