My HP Pavilion with Windows 8 recently experienced a hard drive failure and I replaced it with a Samsung SSD. I have a usb drive with the recovery saved on it but I can't get the computer to boot from it.
How to install Windows 8 to a blank hard drive from the Windows 8 recovery USB flash drive.
If you have created a Windows 8
recovery USB flash drive by selecting the option "
Copy the recovery partition from the PC to the recovery drive" (see screenshot below).
Normally, you do not need to change the UEFI firmware (BIOS) settings. For example, you do not need to change the boot order of drives, or disable Secure Boot, or enable Legacy BIOS (aka CSM) boot mode. But on some computers, you may need to enable the boot menu before you can access it.
- Connect your Windows 8 recovery USB flash drive.
- Restart the computer.
- Press the correct key to enter the boot menu (
see this link for help). Or, if you have a Lenovo laptop, you can also press the
NOVO button when the computer is turned off and then select "Boot Menu".
- Select your USB flash drive from the boot menu.
- Select your language and keyboard layout (if displayed).
- Select the "Troubleshoot" option.
- Select the
Reset your PC option.
When you see the question "
Do you want to repartition the drives on your PC? All your files will be removed." (see screenshot below), click on "
Yes, repartition the drives".
But if you receive the following error message: "
Unable to reset your PC. A required drive partition is missing." or "
Unable to reset your PC. The system drive cannot be found.", then the Windows 8 recovery USB flash drive is not able to automatically install Windows 8 to a blank hard drive.
Other instructions.
- How to download and clean install
Windows 8.1 if you have an OEM computer with UEFI firmware (BIOS) embedded
Windows 8/8.1 product key. ->
link
- Here is info about
UEFI Boot Mode (installing using the
GPT partition style) and
Legacy BIOS Boot Mode (installing using the
MBR partition style). ->
link