Can I Install Win 10 from a USB Drive from HP?

xlook said:

I got a Win 10 on a USB pen drive that I received to reinstall Win 10 on an HP laptop. HP sent it to me 6 months ago when I had issues with my HP laptop.

But I got a desktop now with no o/s and I sold the laptop. Can I use the Win 10 on the USB drive that HP sent me to install Win 10 on my desktop?

Just to let you know, the size of Win 10 on the USB drive is 11 GB. But Win 10 downloads from Microsoft is 4 GB. I dont know if theres a difference though. Can I still install Win 10 from the USB drive on my desktop? I don't want to pay $100 for Win 10.

That USB is most probably only for HP laptops, with HP specific drivers, software bundle with third party apps and so on.

Even if you could install Windows from that USB (which I doubt), you'd still end up with a not activated Windows 10. To activate it you would need to buy a valid Windows 10 license.

It's better and easier to just accept that and buy Windows 10.

Kari

If there is a sources folder have a look in there for a $OEM$ folder. Remove that and it becomes stock media. If there is a PID.txt file in the sources folder remove that too. Or as advised, just wipe it and make a new one from a downloaded ISO.

xlook said:

Do you think the USB drive contains a product key? If so, can I use it to activate my desktop with?

It does not contain a product key which allows you to activate anything else than the HP laptop it was / is intended to.

xlook said:

Do you think the USB drive contains a product key? If so, can I use it to activate my desktop with?

No, and no. Product key should be in the BIOS on a Windows 10 OEM PC. And you can't use it on any other PC. It's unique to that PC. Try using it on another PC and it will most likely fail activation. Worst case scenario is it gets blacklisted and your HP will fail activation. Even if it isn't embedded in the BIOS, you still can't legally use it on another PC.

LMiller7 said:

The USB drive should really have gone with the laptop. It has no value to you. All you could do is format the drive and use it for other purposes but there is a good chance that won't work either.

If it's write protected, with no switch to turn it off, its a paper weight now.