Just got my PC back from tech support (needed a hardware replacement)

They reinstalled windows and updated several drivers. The manufacturer's windows installation contains specific programs that come directly loaded (eg dolby home theatre among others) and once removed by re-installing windows, there's no way to get them back.

I just bought an ssd that I want to use as my boot drive.

How do I go about "resetting" that preserves all the necessary drivers and software?

Should I install windows 10 first using the media usb? Then do some kind of transfer?

How do I ensure that they did not install some kind of malware or software that eases remote access beyond doing a virus scan?

Search “Clone Windows 10 to SSD” after you clone your main drive you can simply reformat the original drive.

Otherwise do a full re-install by making a windows 10 media installation USB.

As for the later, leave it, is they did you can enjoy a nice paycheque by suing them.

If you search for the PC you purchased the manufacturer should have the pre-installed stuff available for you online.

This post was edited by Definite on Apr 3 2020 09:44am

Thanks. Unfortunately, HP is terrible about maintaining a database of the specific software available for your machine. Some of the drivers on their website break functionality. That's part of the reason I had to get it repaired.

I need to specifically use the versions and software that came preloaded. Is there no way to transfer them?

You can ping HP Support to see if they can provide the cabinet file for your machine version, then extract the drivers and install them that way.

Side note - why do you want the OEM software? A lot of that stuff is bloatware and is unnecessary.

If they are still on the drive do as I said and Clone the drive.

There's a piece of software called Omen command center that controls all kind of hardware tweaks like overclocking and lighting. Simply installing the newest version seems to take away some of these features... There's other software that's useful as well.






For security purposes, I'm a little skeptical about copying and restoring a system image. For the sake of argument, let's just say HP put some kind of malware (intentionally or not) on my computer whether to track my behavior for ad purposes or to make remote access easier or anything (doesn't matter). How do I go about doing a fresh windows 10 install and then copying just the essential drivers and software over?

honestly, i can't help you, HP cannot legally do what you just said, and they would not.

I've given you the suggestions I recommend. As for your version of Omen Command Center, usually you can find archived versions on HP's website under your computer model.

Who has the original hard drive? when they "Fixed" your system did you get the defective drive back or did they offer to dispose of it for you?
Does the current drive in the unit contain a recovery partition? If so use clone zilla Live and migrate the hidden partition if above is true.
Then do a factory reset, get all your "software" then proceed to "upgrade" to windows 10.
Alternatively one can dig through the hidden partition and extract the installers for said software as well but there's no assurity that it will work for windows 10.

This post was edited by King Atrhur on Apr 3 2020 10:13pm