HP15 Factory Reset

[ChrisGreaves]

Earlier this morning I shot myself in the foot. The bullet passed through the HP15 Win11 laptop. I am trying to revive the laptop by using the old Dell Win7 Home Premium laptop which runs my jukebox.
My data partition T: was backed up last night, as usual, so my data is safe and I can afford to reset the entire HP15 SSD drive if I have to.
Factory Reset
I used the <F10> key to interrupt theHP15 boot sequence and have wandered through those blue-screen menus twice; there is no sign of “factory reset” (as is seen in numerous YouTube videos and web pages). I suspect that I have clobbered the recovery partition in some way, either when I partitioned the SSD into a boot and a data partition, or some other senile activity.
ISO Files
Here on the Win7 laptop I have hooked up my backup drive and run Everything looking for ISO files.

20230817_01.jpg

I see several recent ISO files but suspect that this is the part of Macrium that makes a bootable USB memory key.
On the other hand at almost 1 GB they are much larger than the 16 MB ISO files with “Macrium” in the label.

February 18th 2023 was, I believe, the day I took delivery of the HP15 laptop.

I have a Macrium boot memory key that works, in that it provides a GUI interface that lets me search DVDs, CDs, and USB external drives.
I have blank CDs, blank DVDs, and a few spare USB external HDDs

I ***think*** I need to burn or copy one of these 1 GB ISO files to a peripheral device (still using this old Win7 laptop) and then plug that peripheral into the dead HP15 laptop, boot up with the Macrium key, and everything should work from that point onwards.

Question 1: Which of these ISO files am I to copy to a peripheral

Question 2: What should I be doing? Burning to DVD or CD or just dragging to a USB HDD?

Thanks in frightened anticipation
Chris

[Rebel]

Maybe I'm not completely understanding, but if you have a relatively recent Macrium image (and you say that you do have a working boot key) then why not simply restore the latest image to the HP and then do any Windows updates that you may require? The image should contain any HP drivers that may be required.

[ChrisGreaves]

Maybe I'm not completely understanding, but if you have a relatively recent Macrium image (and you say that you do have a working boot key) ...

Hi John. about the only thing you do not understand is my level of incompetence.

This morning I booted with the Macrium memory key and pointed it at every USB drive, every CD, every DVD that had a date later than January 2023; that is, that was labelled after I took delivery of the HP15.
While the Macrium boot GUI could report folders and files, in no case did it report or locate anything that got it excited as "recovery" stuff.

Typing that I realize that I was not pointing it to my data backup drive (Y: in the screenshot above) or to the data partition on this old Win7 laptop (the T: in the screenshot above)
When I have shot myself in the foot I am reluctant to allow myself anywhere near my data backup.

Because I could not get that Macrium boot key to locate recoverable system stuff, I then wondered if I had made an ISO file. It appears (Y: and T: above) that I do have ISO files.

That's when I made my post. I felt that I had exhausted my efforts at watching videos and reading web pages, and poking Macrium via that boot key.
Macrium tries to effect recovery, just as the <F11> key does at boot time, but the sequence of blue screens with large command buttons is the same, and at no time did i see a large command button with "factory reset", which is what led me to believe that I had somehow clobbered the recovery partition.

Thanks, Chris

[Rebel]

A "Factory Reset" procedure is provided by the manufacturer of the computer and you won't find it anywhere within the Macrium interface.

If I am understanding you correctly then, I assume that you have not made an image of the HP drive (with Macrium) and saved it to some external USB drive or external portable hard drive? If that is the case, then Macrium (at this time) will be of little use to you.

In that case, a complete reinstall using a Windows 11 ISO may be the only answer. Go to Tom's Hardware Site and follow the procedure there to download the latest Win11 ISO and create a bootable installation disk with the Media Creation Tool. It's a bit of work, but if I am understanding your current predicament, this may be your only solution.

If you are successful, and once you have applied any Windows Updates that may be required and re-installed your software and copied back your data files, then use Macrium to create and save a complete image of the HP hard drive to an external removeable drive (USB, SSD or Hard Drive).

I also "shot myself in the foot" very recently, but after booting with my Macrium recovery boot usb stick and pointing Macrium to the external drive where my images are stored and selecting the latest image, I had everything up and running again within approximately six minutes.

Good Luck Chris

[ChrisGreaves]

In that case, a complete reinstall using a Windows 11 ISO may be the only answer. Go to Tom's Hardware Site and follow the procedure there to download the latest Win11 ISO and create a bootable installation disk with the Media Creation Tool. It's a bit of work, but if I am understanding your current predicament, this may be your only solution.

Thank you John. I shall start on this tomorrow morning. I am exhausted right now and probably won;t do Tom's Hardware justice.
Cheers, Chris

[ChrisGreaves]

Thank you John. I shall start on this tomorrow morning.

Hi John. I have attached the text portions of my log of work, together with one of the eliminated images - the image that shows a consistent error from the "mediacreationtool.exe"

HP15R005.jpg

MY key paragraph right now is:-
I am trying to execute the Media Creation Tool on a “Windows [[[7]]] Home Premium” laptop; I am not yet at the point of choosing DVD or Memory Key, so I assume that this laptop is too old to implement a Win11 ISO. That is, This ISO technique works on a Win10 machine for purposes of upgrading to Win11, but not on a Win7 machine for leap-frogging in to Win 11.

Which brings me back to my existing ISO files, specifically "Macrium Reflect Free Rescue Disk v8.0.7279.iso"
This appears to be created by Macrium, and I have a Macrium boot key that works.

HP15R006.jpg

I will try to burn this ISO file to DVD and then try offering it to the Macrium boot key on the "dead" HP15 laptop, then report back here.
Cheers, Chris

[ChrisGreaves]

I will try to burn this ISO file to DVD and then try offering it to the Macrium boot key on the "dead" HP15 laptop, then report back here.

OK. Regarding those ISO files (about 1 GB in size)
(1) I tried burning to two different DVDs, both times with "verify after burning" and both times the verify failed. Nothing appears on the DVDs when viewed through Windows Explorer.
(2) I didn't really expect to see anything in Explorer; I think that the ISO-burning produces a binary mass of data without the regular NTFS/FAT/etc formatting.
(3) Each DVD was taken fresh from the spindle; I never return a DVD to the source spindle (did that in the past and learned a lesson)
(4) I then copied/dragged the 1 GB ISO file to a 1 TB external USB HDD and moved back to the dead HP15.
(5) Booted with the Macrium key in case Macrium was able to do anything at all with a copied ISO file. Nothing.

At this point I am dead in the water.

I don't want to buy a second new PC this year.
Windows 11 Home (Download) offers a disk for $139, possibly $US.

Unless anyone can come up with a quick fix.

I have deplored the pre-loaded PCs ever since PCs were sold without the disk. The disk seemed to me to be a tangible key(license).\But more than that, it seems to me that having a copy of the installation on the same drive as the OS is "all your eggs in one basket". Which is, I believe, what has happened to me. probably through my own stumbling fault.

Sigh!
No Cheers,
Chris

[Rebel]

I'm out of ideas Chris. If you can't create a bootable Win11 installation disk (whether USB, DVD, etc.) using the Win11 ISO and the Media Creation Tool, then perhaps it's time to see your local PC repair shop (if there is one in Bonavista). As I said previously, Marcium won't do anything with an ISO. Macrium looks for it's own backups or images and that's all (at least to my knowledge). You have to create bootable media (i.e. a Windows 11 installation disk) from the ISO via the Media Creation Tool. If you can't do that, then your repair shop will probably be able to help. Once again, good luck.

[ChrisGreaves]

I'm out of ideas Chris.... If you can't do that, then your repair shop will probably be able to help.

Thanks John. Even knowing that I am out of luck is good; it stops me banging my head against a brick wall all weekend.
Now I will have to get on with my gardening, composting, tree seedlings, and the larger-scale manufacturing of meat pies and apple pasties.
My nearest computer repair store used to be in St John's, until they went out of business. I own a bicycle.

I shall order a disk from here, put it on my credit card, and then pray that the ban's computers Go Down
Thanks again.
Chris

[Rebel]

Remember, that if you order it in the "download" format, you will still have to then create either a DVD or a bootable USB disk. Probably best to buy the USB version.

[DocAElstein]

Hi Chris
Re ISOs and stuff
Disclaimer: I don’t have a lot of experience with these things and have had very varied success and failure…
So, having said that, on the off-chance something here might help, just my 2 cents…
_ 1) So far all the (Original, unmodified, Legal) Microsoft Windows Operating System ISO files I have seen are bigger than 1GB. I don’t know what all that “Macrium” stuff is about but all the kosher Microsoft Windows Operating System ISOs I have obtained go from
about 2.5GB for Vista,
maybe 3-4GB for Win 7 but I don’t have a lot of them.
Windows 10 I have a large collection. Initially they seemed to be around 3GB when windows 10 started and they doubled at about 6GB finally.
_2 ) With some help from some people in some Threads here a few years ago I was able to turn ISOs into a DVD that then worked to re install/ new install Vista and Windows 7.
A couple of years ago I spent a few weeks with lots of windows 10 ISOs , different computers, different DVD/CD drives and followed similar procedures that were successful with Vista and Win 7. I never managed to get a working windows 10 DVD.
_3 ) I was able to upload all my win 7 and Vista ISOs to somewhere like Google Drive, re download them and then make a DVD from the re downloaded ISO file, that then worked to re install / new install Vista or Win 7. I uploaded and re downloaded some of the win 10 ISOs as well. It seemed to work , the files uploaded and re downloaded looked the same, but as I never got any DVD finally to work I can’t say any more than that.
_4 ) Until yesterday I had never looked at any Win 11 ISOs.
As I read this Thread I thought I would give it an initial go, just in case something useful for you might have come out of it.
I went to the official Microsoft site on the same internet connection with an old Vista machine, a windows 10 machine and my only windows 11 machine. The Vista machine and win 10 machine got to download the win 11 ISO OK. The win 11 machine refused stubbornly to do it, claiming it was not allowed on my computer or internet connection. Today it’s happy to do it and is doing it now https://i.postimg.cc/9024CkkD/Downloadi ... Aug-19.jpg Same computer but slightly different IP address, but I don’t know if that is a coincidence
_5) I was able to upload to Google drive the two ISOs I downloaded. I tried to download them again, but at the very end they failed, saying either system failure or that the source refused to give them, despite the fact that the source appeared to be happily supplying it right up to the end? I think I am on dodgy*** ground so I won’t take this much further.
I will give you what I have so far
On the Vista machine:
This is what the downloaded ISO looks like: https://i.postimg.cc/mgMfGm70/On-Vista- ... 11-ISO.jpg
Here is what appeared to upload OK, but so far fails to fully download, just as it appears to have almost finished downloading
Win11_22H2_English_x64v2.iso https://drive.google.com/file/d/1oOaFdS ... =drive_web
On the Win 10 machine
This is what the downloaded ISO looks like: https://i.postimg.cc/sx0rNpjg/On-Win-10 ... 11-ISO.jpg
Here is what appeared to upload OK, but so far fails to fully download, just as it appears to have almost finished downloading
Win11_22H2_EnglishInternational_x64v2.iso https://drive.google.com/file/d/1XfcVJV ... =drive_web

The downloading from the Microsoft site or from the Google drive takes me about 2 hours, but that is usual for my internet connection. The upload takes about 8 hours minimum if my internet connection does not break in the meantime.
These times are not unusual for my internet connection and computers from what I remember from when I looked at this before.
I expect for most people those times would be reduced from between a bit to a lot.
_.______________
***My gut feeling is that since windows 10 you are on dodgy ground trying to do these sort of things. I think Microsoft might be messing about with the ISOs and related things, changing their definitions as if they owned a time machine. As they don’t own a time machine they mess with your brain and computer so you believe you did something once you never did. The more you do what they want you to do, like downloading their Media maker or whatever , the better chance you probably have of appearing to have success. But you may have to sell part of your sole, or your computer’s sole to them.

I have yet to see a clearly demonstrated, working example, of someone actually getting hold of an official ISO, making a DVD from scratch with it, and then making a working install. When I have looked a bit deeper into people claiming to do something along those lines, then they were often messing with imaginary things, virtual machines and the like, a few USBs along the way, lost in some world slightly detached from the real one, and Microsoft had probably infected and planted a virus in at least part of their brain. Or they are using specialist software that can manipulate the current ISO files
I just took a look at that Tom’s hardware place. It often mentions an install disk, but then goes off in a long complicated set of things involving USB flash drives, virtual machines, downloading things like Media Creation Tool. In the end you end up doing some sort of install and then probably will tell everyone you did whatever Microsoft hoped you would then say you did and that might involve saying you made an install disk from a Microsoft ISO , but you never did.
I think Tom’s brain has got the Microsoft virus. At some point he is talking about a ….. bootable USB Windows 11 install disk
….. Uhh a USB disk?
He will perhaps tell you it’s a virtual imaginary concept, so you might as well imagine you have a computer
Tom doesn’t know how to make an operating system installation DVD from an ISO, or if he does he’s not telling. But he will tell you he can, he did, and he will say he is telling you how to do it.

I just googled what a computer ISO is.. International Organization for Standardization, for filesystems in optical (CD/DVD) disks
. That probably should read .. International Organization for Standardization, for filesystems in optical (CD/DVD) disks up to about windows 10. After that it’s a file with whatever in it Microsoft wants in it, and probably no one else will ever know for sure but they may think they do or did, and will want to kill you if you question them when they tell you. Perhaps in a couple of years the definition will be that an ISO file is a Microsoft product that has its roots in, and has some similarities to, the older classic ISO files from which you could create Installation media, but is now just part of an overall system to control you.



Alan

[ChrisGreaves]

... Go to Tom's Hardware Site and follow the procedure there to download the latest Win11 ISO and create a bootable installation disk with the Media Creation Tool. ...

John, I am getting mired in various solutions so i spent 30 minutes going back over old threads, revisiting "solution" web pages and so on.

1. The HP15 gets to the point of asking for a recovery key. This appears NOT to be any sort of product key because the blue screen asking for a recovery key accepts only digits, not upper-case alphabetic characters.

2. As far as I have read, "Recovery partition" work works only from within Windows. That makes sense in that "How are you going to use or manipulate the hard drive partitions without some sort of disk management system".

3. So I am back to downloading an ISO, but this time using the new ACER-3 laptop as a Win11 machine that should be able to follow Tom's Hardware and am considering Tom's How to Get Windows 11 or Windows 10 for Free (or Under $20)

4. Even with an unactivated copy of Windows, I might be in a good position to use some of the "recovery partition tools" that (2. above) require one to be in Windows.

Is that all making sense?
Thanks, Chris

[Rebel]

1) I assume that the HP asking for a "recovery key" refers to a procedure related to the HP Factory Reset option. I have no idea what this means Chris - I've never had to use a Factory Reset option on any of my computers.
2) Again, I am not familiar with the Factory Reset options, so I can't help with anything related to that procedure.
3) Good to see that you are downloading a Windows 11 ISO (and then create either a bootable DVD or USB stick) with the Media Creation Tool. But you should only have to use the bootable DVD or USB stick to completely reinstall Windows from scratch if for some reason you totally brick your system. Apart from a calamity like this, a Macrium system image (using a Macrium recovery USB stick or DVD) would be the fastest and simplest option to restore your system post disaster.
4) Again, I'm not familiar with the Recovery Partition tools, but a quick search for "HP Recovery Tool" brings up a lot of articles and tutorials.

[ChrisGreaves]

1) I assume that the HP asking for a "recovery key" refers to a procedure related to the HP Factory Reset option. I have no idea what this means Chris - I've never had to use a Factory Reset option on any of my computers.
2) Again, I am not familiar with the Factory Reset options, so I can't help with anything related to that procedure.
3) Good to see that you are downloading a Windows 11 ISO (and then create either a bootable DVD or USB stick) with the Media Creation Tool. But you should only have to use the bootable DVD or USB stick to completely reinstall Windows from scratch if for some reason you totally brick your system. Apart from a calamity like this, a Macrium system image (using a Macrium recovery USB stick or DVD) would be the fastest and simplest option to restore your system post disaster.
4) Again, I'm not familiar with the Recovery Partition tools, but a quick search for "HP Recovery Tool" brings up a lot of articles and tutorials.

The story so far: My Goal in all of this is to resurrect the HP15 which I destroyed a week ago. My options are:-
(a) Try to get system backup and recovery working on the ACER-3.
(b) Try to get Macrium system backup and recovery working on the ACER-3. This will turn “S Mode” OFF on the Acer, but that is not a great concern to me.
(c) Use the ACER-3 to d/l the ISO and the Media Creation Tool
(d) Use the ISO and the Media Creation Tool to resurrect the HP15.

I can skip (a) and (b) to speed up achievement of my goal.
I worry that the external CD drive ("Transcend") is faulty for some reason. In the back of my mind is that it didn’t produce a system recovery suite back in March.
On the ACER-3 I have managed to create a usable Win11 boot memory key but have not been able to create a usable USB external or DVD disk. Besides unsuccessfully feeding these two media to my Win11 boot memory key, I have also failed to boot from the two media discs (I'll try anything that might work).

I am tempted to skip steps (a) and (b) above and focus on (c) and (d) - my real Goal - resurrection of the HP15.
Cheers, Chris

[Rebel]

"On the ACER-3 I have managed to create a usable Win11 boot memory key but have not been able to create a usable USB external or DVD disk. Besides unsuccessfully feeding these two media to my Win11 boot memory key, I have also failed to boot from the two media discs".

Maybe I'm a bit (or a lot) obtuse, but I don't understand what you're saying here.
a) How did you create the "usable Win11 boot memory key" (I assume it is on a USB stick) ?
b) I don't know what you mean by "a useable USB external or DVD disk".
c) What do you mean by "feeding these two media to my Win11 boot memory key" ?
d) "I have also failed to boot from the two media discs". What two media discs?

[ChrisGreaves]

Maybe I'm a bit (or a lot) obtuse, but I don't understand what you're saying here.

John, it’s not you; it’s me. I am juggling three computers, none of which is capable of doing what I want them to do.
DELL/Win7: The laptop I have fallen back to, probably ten+ years old.
HP15/Win11: The March 2023 laptop I destroyed a week ago.
ACER-3: The cheapo shipped up from St John’s three days ago and supposedly my lifeline to sanity and an ISO.

I do have a goal: Resurrect the HP15.
My objectives towards that goal are to learn/master procedures surrounding system recovery, something I have ignored since MS stopped issuing a Windows Installation CD years ago. I expected this to be a straightforward procedure on the new ACER.

a) How did you create the "usable Win11 boot memory key" (I assume it is on a USB stick) ?

On the ACER-3 I used the Settings; Recovery steps to Start Backup procedures, writing a system image to a DVDRW+ and a system image to an external USB 100 GB disk. Then I continued by creating a recovery drive on a USB memory key. The ACER-3 reported a problem creating that boot key, but I decided to use it anyway. It booted on the ACER-3 and also on this DELL.

b) I don't know what you mean by "a useable USB external or DVD disk".

I tried to create a system image on a DVDRW+ and tried to create a system image on a USB external drive. The ACER reported that both attempts failed, but I found files on both discs, so I figured I would try using the bootable memory key (which ACER said wasn’t complete) to load a system image from the DVDRW+ and from the external USB drive. Neither loaded, which suggests to me that either the boot key really isn’t complete, or that both system images aren’t complete, or nothing is complete.

I am unhappy that a new Win11 laptop cannot make a bootable recovery kit, but perhaps that is Microsoft at work. I noted that the screens included “(Win7)” in the Settings/Control Panel screens.
Why am I trying to do this? To educate myself in the correct way to go about accepting a new laptop, that is, make sure that I have a separate and tangible recovery suite before installing software. Part of my education.

c) What do you mean by "feeding these two media to my Win11 boot memory key" ?

When I found that the memory key would boot (both on the ACER and on this old DELL), I thought to see if it would make sense of the DVDRW+ and/or the USB external. It seems to me that there’s little point in making a recovery suite unless I test it straight away, and even though the ACER said “incomplete”, I thought it worth trying to see if I could at least get a system to reboot, which is my goal on the ill-fated HP15.

d) "I have also failed to boot from the two media discs". What two media discs?

By this time I was getting desperate/frustrated, but while I had all the equipment out I thought it ought not to hurt if I tried using the DVDRW+ and the USB external to see if the firmware (on the ACER and on the DELL) would boot from them. As they say “You never know!”, and it was only another ten or fifteen minutes out of my life.

I am exhausted; tomorrow morning, fresh from sleep, I will use Macrium on the ACER to make a system image and bootable key for the ACER.

With that done, I can start using the ACER, whose job is to download that ICO and Media Creation Tool (which failed to download on this old DELL a week ago)

Cheers, Chris

[JoeP]

Try using Rufus to create a bootable USB drive. It is very small, easy to use, and free. The version with the "p" in the name is the portable version (just download and use).

This USB drive will allow you to do a clean install of Windows. Then you'll need to reinstall all your software and restore your data drive. If you are really paranoid do an image backup after the OS install and before any program installation. Then another after all your programs are installed but before the data is restored. If you are not so paranoid just do the one before the data is restored.

[ChrisGreaves]

Try using Rufus to create a bootable USB drive. It is very small, easy to use, and free. The version with the "p" in the name is the portable version (just download and use)

Thanks for this lead, Joe.
Where do you suggest that I run Rufus?
Remember that my Goal is to resurrect the dead HP15, so I can't run Rufus on the dead HP15 to create a system backup FOR the HP15.

Rebel's suggested method is to d/l an ISO and the Media Creation Tool on the interim Win11 Acer-3 (then, I imagine, deal with the license issues)

I am not questioning the usefulness of Rufus, but I do want to make sure we understand that the HP15 laptop will not boot from it's SSD and will not perform a Factor Reset from the Troubleshooting menu, no matter how I gain entry to that menu.

Cheers, Chris

[JoeP]

Run it on the Acer to create the USB drive. You'll likely have to go into the HP EUFI/BIOS and change the boot sequence so the USB drive is tried before the SSD.
You won't deal with any licensing until you install the OS on the HP system. Then, it should activate anyway because it is an OEM license in the device firmware. If not there, it would be in a Microsoft account if you used one.