Restore new HP laptop to OOBE - is that still a local operation?

This may be too model-specific for this forum, but I'll ask anyway. A friend has a new HP laptop that she wants to restore to OOBE status, to recover some free software offer that came with the laptop but was deleted. I recall many/most Windows consumer laptops used to put the OEM image restoration files in a recovery partition that could be accessed by booting to a small thumb drive prepped for that purpose. Is that likely to still be the case? In reviewing the HP documentation for her laptop, their cloud download of a full image is mentioned, but not this former approach. The cloud image would likely suffice, but my experience with HP is that they update these images periodically, and she has a preference to have the original image back. I'm also not certain her model is even supported through the cloud program. Sadly, no disk image was taken prior to first boot and use.

It is a Win11 laptop.

spoolin01 said:

This may be too model-specific for this forum, but I'll ask anyway. A friend has a new HP laptop that she wants to restore to OOBE status, to recover some free software offer that came with the laptop but was deleted. I recall many/most Windows consumer laptops used to put the OEM image restoration files in a recovery partition that could be accessed by booting to a small thumb drive prepped for that purpose. Is that likely to still be the case?....

It is a Win11 laptop.

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Welcome to Eleven Forum.

Starting with Windows 10 the factory reset no longer needs a separate partition, it uses the files from the Component Store (WinSxS) as the source files to reinstall Windows. Any OEM apps and drivers will be reinstalled too, they are restored from an OEM Provisioning Package held in C:\Recovery\Customizations.

What HP software could she possibly want? Most of what came on my HP was bloatware and trials. First thing I did was clean away all the crap and then installed a paid copy of MS Office.

That was the approach I was taking, but turns out she wants the free McAfee trial. Inexplicably. I'll have time later to digest this information so far.

Maybe you should explain the free trial is for 30 days. HP isn't paying McAfee for freebies, but McAfee is paying HP to install bloatware on every PC. You can get a 30-day free trial directly from McAfee's site.

Ah, she thinks it's a year.

bfunke said:

What HP software could she possibly want? Most of what came on my HP was bloatware and trials. First thing I did was clean away all the crap and then installed a paid copy of MS Office.

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The HP stuff I'd not want to lose by a clean install would be the HP use of the function keys, like volume and screen brightness. I think a clean install would result in the function key being used only in its standard form. That's obviously not what is meant by the OP, but does answer your question.
John

spoolin01 said:

That was the approach I was taking, but turns out she wants the free McAfee trial. Inexplicably. I'll have time later to digest this information so far.

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Does she have a history of mental illness? I'm sorry, I could not resist. McAfee free trial has got to be the worst bloatware ever.

It's good to update the drivers and export the drivers to an external drive before you run a clean installation.

example:
C:\WINDOWS\system32>dism /online /export-driver /destination:"Z:\Driver_Backup"
reinstall the drivers:
C:\WINDOWS\system32>pnputil /add-driver "Z:\Driver_Backup\*.inf" /subdirs /install /reboot
That saves you a lot of time!

When buying a new computer - just boot a stand alone version of Macrium or similar program to image the disk before doing anything e.g ist time setup etc with the computer. That way if you have to RMA it you can restore to shop status completely untouched.

Then do any other things afterwards such as copying drivers / removing bloat / trialware / nagware etc. And if it goes pear shaped just restore the image and start again.

Cheers
jimbo

As was noted at the outset, HP also has original factory images for any modern system that you can pull down. Those things take forever to install (could be several hours), but that should get you back to the original shipped state. Due to how slow that is, immediately after a factory recovery like that, I like to use something like Macrium to do a backup onto a UFD. That can be restored MUCH faster than by using the HP recovery media.

See if your HP has an image available here. My Feb. 2016 Spectre wasn't available.

starchase said:

See if your HP has an image available here. My Feb. 2016 Spectre wasn't available.

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Unfortunately hers isn't either.

NavyLCDR said:

Does she have a history of mental illness? I'm sorry, I could not resist. McAfee free trial has got to be the worst bloatware ever.

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Harsh, but not unwarranted She can be obstinate.

jimbo45 said:

When buying a new computer - just boot a stand alone version of Macrium or similar program to image the disk before doing anything e.g ist time setup etc with the computer. That way if you have to RMA it you can restore to shop status completely untouched.

Then do any other things afterwards such as copying drivers / removing bloat / trialware / nagware etc. And if it goes pear shaped just restore the image and start again.

Cheers
jimbo

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This is what I do, with Clonezilla, but neglected to insist on it for her new laptop.

hsehestedt said:

As was noted at the outset, HP also has original factory images for any modern system that you can pull down. Those things take forever to install (could be several hours), but that should get you back to the original shipped state. Due to how slow that is, immediately after a factory recovery like that, I like to use something like Macrium to do a backup onto a UFD. That can be restored MUCH faster than by using the HP recovery media.

Click to expand...

I've used the HP downloads before but as I understand, they aren't necessarily original, as they seem to update them for Win10 feature releases, and who knows what else. At least that seemed the case for mine. Not all model lines are in the program either, I think. Starchase linked a model checker.


I've learned a lot here, thanks to you all. It now looks like she may just get Costco to restore it, as they have said they would.

NavyLCDR said:

Does she have a history of mental illness? I'm sorry, I could not resist. McAfee free trial has got to be the worst bloatware ever.

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I cleaned up a client's computer a couple weeks ago that got McAfee when visiting a FaceBook page and it also included WebAdvisor, required some cleaning of the Registry. Wednesday was having help in setting up a ROKU device for TV and got it again, got it cleaned up today. Both times it was initiated by a Ransomware warning.

spoolin01 said:

I've used the HP downloads before but as I understand, they aren't necessarily original, as they seem to update them for Win10 feature releases, and who knows what else.

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Interesting. I have two spectre laptops. One is from about 2016 and the other from 2017. Both of those deploy the original factory installation with no updates whatsoever.

I did an HP Laptop 15 clean to Win10 Home then wiped it and did Win11 Home, worked fine using the MCT-created Bootable USB Thumb/Flash drive for each. As for 'bloatware', there is nothing from HP, just the extras I don't need from Microsoft so I removed their icons from the Start menu.

I was distracted and ended up having to create a Microsoft Account [using a non-primary E-Mail] but after getting the updates I created a Local Account with Administrative rights then rebooted into the Local Account and deleted the Microsoft Account. Caveat: don't use the same exact name for both, at least one character different between them or all files will end up in the same folders under C:Users\USERNAMEHERE\.

hsehestedt said:

Interesting. I have two spectre laptops. One is from about 2016 and the other from 2017. Both of those deploy the original factory installation with no updates whatsoever.

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I bought my Pavilion laptop used mid-2020 with no OS, and the last time I DL'd the HP image, late last year, it was W10 22H2 (as best I can recall). I had also DL'd an image around the time I bought it, but went instead with straight MS W10 on the first go-round. I don't recall which version the first HP was - still have the installer but can't check it just now - but obviously not 22H2.

ETA: it was first sold late 2016. i7-6700HQ