Moose Loc: North Carolina

When trying to restore my Lenovo laptop to factory settings I accidentally erased the Windows Operating System. I understand there is a way to create a startup USB from another computer to use to load to the laptop and getting it running again. Has anyone done this and how did you do this? Thanks for your help.

BebuLamar

Which version of Windows? Windows 10 or 11?

BebuLamar

Go to Lenovo.com and on the support tab you can download windows to create a USB drive to reinstall windows.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Right! I've done that with a couple of computer builds. You download an ISO and take it from there. You will need a valid key number, though.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=download+and+install+windows+10

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Many laptop manufacturers put a sticker on them with the Windows license key. I had to re-load a Dell, once, and used the data on that sticker to get it going.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

I've never noticed that.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

They are usually on the bottom of the case, and contain a hologram to ensure authenticity.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

I know about the sticker, just not the number on it.

JoeBiker Loc: homebase: Houston, TX

In my experience with name brand computers (Dell, HP, etc), the License key is store (somewhere) in non-volatile storage, and you don't even need to enter it.

Merlin1300 Loc: New England, But Now & Forever SoTX

I think Lenovo has a recovery partition on the data drive that will restore your computer to factory condition.
Of course - you MAY lose all your data by doing this. I'd recommend getting an external program that will CLONE your HDD to an external drive (Macrium Reflect would do this - but I think the free version may have been withdrawn - although if you can find a copy, you can still install it) before you do ANY attempts at restoring the OS! Likewise doing a 'clean install' with a Windows installation disk will require re-installation of all of your programs, as you've deleted the registry files with the OS. This is why I clone my system drive frequently.

BebuLamar

I don't think you need a number any more. The license is tied to the serial number of your CPU. So Windows would recognize that the particual CPU is licensed.

Laramie Loc: Tempe

If you have a key, you can download Windows 10 (maybe only 11?), from Microsoft.

worldcycle Loc: Stateline, Nevada

I have reinstalled Windows 10 several times. You can download it on a thumb drive and use that to install. Yes you will lose everything and yes, once started, it takes a longgggg time. Well worth it if you have to do it because you’ve got a nice new machine. No number needed, it is now imbedded somewhere on you CPU. I hope you have backed up your data. Programs can always be upgraded and reinstalled but your data is gone forever.

Merlin1300 Loc: New England, But Now & Forever SoTX

ViceVersa Pro (will duplicate / delete / add) to create an exact copy
EaseUS Todo Backup Enterprise (Lifetime) - will create Full, Differential, Incremental sets, no fee updates.
Macrium Reflect (excellent program - but have not evaluated their full feature set).
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Evaluate the above and pick the one that works for you.
I currently run Todo Backup enterprise lifetime (I can restore for any day within the most recent calendar week of the most recent month of this year). Of course this is my choice. IF I had the space, I could restore for any day since the program was installed. Hopefully Easeus will update their cleanup routines so I can auto-delete unneeded files.
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The only problem with keeping an exact copy of your files is - - if the file is corrupted, or encrypted by malware, then the same happens to your exact copy. If you are only worried about your main system's hardware failure, then keeping an exact copy is a reasonable choice.
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I have a separate system / program drive, cache / swap file drive, and Data drives. I back up the System drive twice weekly, and the data drive every night using a Grandfather (monthly full) / Father (weekly differential) / Son (daily incremental) scheme.
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My system drive is a 2 TB Samsung 980 Pro SSD with about 200 GB used. Data drive is 24 TB (3 x 12 TB Seagate IronWolf NAS certified in RAID5) with 3.5 TB used. Backups are saved to a 24 TB NAS with system and data files in their own folders.