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How can I factory reset my laptop when the recovery environment is not found?

Anonymous
2024-02-17T21:21:13+00:00

Hello,

My HP Spectre x360 laptop went to sleep during an update and then when I turned it on, it was a black screen saying, "Boot device not found, please install an operating system on your hard disk". I I could only run diagnostics, and go into the BIOS, but not get past those screens to log in.

I took it to a shop, and was told that my C Drive was corrupted, and data could not be recovered. They installed a new C Drive and upgraded me to Windows 11. I am now getting rid of this laptop since it has a few glitches, like the mouse sparking when it goes over links, a discolored line on my screen, it overheats quick, and the battery does not last long like it used to. I want to factory reset my laptop and recycle it.

I go to System>Recovery>Reset PC>Remove Everything, and it won't let me. It says "Could not find the recovery environment. Insert your Windows installation or recovery media and restart your PC with the media". Am I supposed to create a recovery USB drive on a different laptop and do it that way or a bootable drive and do a clean install? That has me confused. I just want to completely wipe everything on the laptop since it seems to be corrupt and leave no track that it was mine so I can give it away/ take it to the center. Any help will help.

Thank you,

Jen

Windows for home | Windows 11 | Recovery and backup

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  1. EmilyS726 227.6K Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2024-02-17T22:52:53+00:00

    Hello Jen, this is Emily.

    Yep, you got it. In this case, you need to do a clean install, like you said, create the Windows ISO flash drive on a different computer, boot up your HP from BIOS and clean install it. The reason you cannot find the WinRe environment can be that the your recovery partition is damaged or missing.

    To perform a clean installation of Windows 11 using the Windows Media Creation Tool. You do need to get access to another computer so you can download the Windows installation files into a flash drive, then use the flash drive to help your computer. Hopefully you have a spare computer, or you can have friend or family help you.

    The following steps should be done on a working Windows computer:

    Download the Windows Media Creation Tool from Microsoft's official website. https://www.microsoft.com/software-download/win... click on the "download now" button under "Create Windows 11 Installation Media"

    Run the tool and select "Create installation media for another PC."

    Choose "USB flash drive" as the media to use for the installation and select "Next."

    Connect a USB flash drive with at least 8 GB of free space to your computer.

    Select the USB flash drive you want to use, and then select "Next."

    The tool will then download the required files and create the installation media.

    =====================================================

    Now these steps will  be done on your problematic computer:

    Go to the computer's BIOS boot menu to have it boot from the USB drive.

    Follow the on-screen instructions to install Windows 11, making sure to choose "Custom install" and select the option to delete all existing partitions.

    Once the installation is complete, you'll have a clean installation of Windows 11 on your computer.

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  1. Anonymous
    2024-02-18T04:13:52+00:00

    Hi Emily,

    Thank you for your reply. I did as you suggested, and it turned out great. I had difficulties finding the Boot menu options, some say ESC, others F9, F10 and F11. F11 seemed to do the trick and with the help of a youtube video I got it to install and got it started under a local account. Thank you. I have it ready to take it in.

    Thank you very much for your help!

    Jen

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