Windows 10: Using ISO to re-install/recover W10 instead of HP recovery app

FYI, This Recovery partition contains the factory image to allow you to restore the system back to the day you bought the Laptop. Normally, the Recovery partition should be hidden and you don't see a letter D: assigned from Disk Management. However, they can use "diskpart" command to assign a letter D: to this partition. You can use "diskpart" to remove the D: letter then it won't show up in file explorer. Since you are going to fresh install Windows 10 then you don't have to worry about this.

On a fresh install of Windows, you will have the disk partition scheme in the order as shown below:
1 - 450MB Recovery partition
2 - 100MB EFI System partition containing boot code. Without it, you won't be able to boot Windows
3 - 16MB MSR Reserved partition (hidden from disk management, to see it, use "diskpart", needed for GPT disk to function properly.
4 - The rest is your C: Drive

 

That 450 MB, though, is only the recovery environment and does not contain the ability to reload Windows 10 in it. You need an external install media for that - or add the install.wim file to it and point reagentc.exe to it for /osimage.

 

So, for clarity, the .iso I burned to DVD via the Microsoft Media Creation Tool will install a clean copy of Win 10 after all existing partitions are wiped? And the Win10 product key that came with my laptop (visible in System Properties) will activate it?

Also, for what it's worth, I'm only asking all of this for future reference. The laptop is only a few days old and is working great. I'd like to just wipe the recovery partition right now and use it for my docs. I just wanted to be certain that wasn't a no-no in case I ever do have to reinstall.

Any recommendations on (free) partitioning apps? I used Easeus last time in 2011 to partition my Win7 machine, but it looks now like they removed the resizing option from the free version and I wanted to make the D partion bigger. (The resizing feature was included in the free version back in 2011.)

 

Correct, but you might have to download and install drivers for some hardware if Windows does not have them included.

MiniTool Partition Wizard Free:
Best Free Partition Manager for Windows | MiniTool Partition Free

 

Guys, thank you so much for advising me on this. I really really appreciate you all taking the time to help me out!

 

Hey tomcat, sorry I have to resurrect this thread briefly. I was speaking with an HP service rep and he told me one of the improvements Microsoft is making to Activation 3.0 (for newly built machines that come preloaded with Windows 10) is you won’t have a COA (Certificate of Authenticity) sticker attached to the machine anymore. Instead, this will be embedded in the BIOS. This will avoid product keys from "being compromised"; the OEM pre-installed license is tied to the machine, if you re-installed using the recovery partition or OEM recovery media it will not ask for a product key as it will automatically be pulled from the BIOS.

I clarified that if I attempt to reinstall from a DVD it will ask for a product key and if I give it the one I have from the System Properties panel it won't accept it. He said no, it won't be accepted. He also said the product key is not accessible from the BIOS screens when I asked.

He said my only recovery option if I want to wipe that partition is to use the supplied HP Sytstem Recovery Tool to burn the whole thing to either 5(!!!) DVDs or a USB drive.

Is he yanking my chain? I don't see why a legal installation DVD wouldn't work if I have the product key and product ID number for this machine. Maybe they just don't want users reinstalling without all their extra crap...?

 

Yes, he was yanking your chain. Run showkeyplus from this forum if you want to see your product key from bios:
Solved Showkey - Windows 10 Forums

 

You're awesome, Navy. I just downloaded and ran that app. Which number would it be? I guess the one named OEM Key? There's also a different Product ID.

 

HP is yanking your chain - the media created using the tool will automatically read the embedded product key

 

He yanked your chain so far it's 10' longer! The OEM key you see from showkeyplus is from the BIOS/UEFI.... UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) is a standard firmware interface for PCs, designed to replace BIOS (basic input/output system).



MS assigns a digital key to activate it.

Print that Showkeyplus info and stash it somewhere safe! Cause there's no COA sticker anymore, it's your backup of the keys.....

 

So everything we discussed previously is still the way to go? Just wipe the damn partition and I can use my burned Win10 DVD to reinstall or recover if ever I need to? HP has made me afraid. This laptop was a lot of $$$$s.

 

When you boot from the DVD and start the "clean" install, you'll get to a point where it asks where to install the OS. It's there you can delete all the partitions (cause you are running under the install mini-OS). You'll end up with a completely blank unallocated drive. That's where you choose to install...... just let the install process do it's thing and you'll get the partitions, as set up by MS, and listed above by Navylcmdr. You can't get any cleaner! Don't forget to do Updates. The DVD can be used down the road if you need to do a repair or in-place upgrade. AND..... backup, backup, backup! You'll be fine.

 

If you've never done this before, word of caution. You'll get a "Press any key to boot from DVD" when you first start. Do so. BUT, the process will re-start several times. DO NOT answer that question the next time it comes up, just let it time-out (about 3 seconds) and manually eject the DVD. If you press any key to boot from DVD the second time you'll start all over, not what you want to do. It's now running on a shrunk down OS that only knows how to do the install.

 

Ok, great. Got it. I swear I'm really no newbie at this, I've done plenty of partitioning on every machine I've owned. When I upgraded from XP to 7 I installed 7 on a different partition so I could boot in and out from XP until I adapted to 7 and wiped the XP partition and merged it with 7. But I'm always nervous doing things like that. I know that sick, sinking feeling you get in the pit of your stomach when an ominous blue screen comes up during partitioning that basically suggests "Doofus, you just fried your machine." That happened with the dual boot setup I mentioned. It hung at about 60% and stayed there for a long enough time for me to start getting worried. I was afraid to hard boot since the partitioning was unfinished. Someone in a forum said don't worry, go for it and when I did Win 7 booted up with all the partitions setup perfectly. I assumed just the screen froze but the process continued.

Thanks so much!