Any specific re-install process for HP 13'Envy x360 (4500U)? Planned re-install without bloatware...

Hi all, long time since I was posting here...

Just purchased an HP ENVY x360 13-ay0095AU (P/N 1B8Y5PAR) and I'd like to do a fresh windows install to remove bloatware.

Is anyone aware of any specific requirements for install order/ driver orders?

With thanks and regards from down under...

 

If it's a 4th gen most stuff should work, and you can get the individual drivers off HP's website. Even a 1st gen i3 Pavilion I only had to manually install the card reader driver. You have several options I've tried on several HP laptops, and bear with me as I'm not 100% sure on your specific machine. Good news is Windows key is in the BIOS so you have plenty of options. If it's not updated to Windows 10 already let us know, that's still doable for free and recommended.
1) HP Recovery Media, I'm really not sure when HP Cloud Recovery went in to efffect. It may not work on this machine and you'd have to pursue other methods of obtaining it on the support website. It's in the Microsoft Store if it's not installed. Not really recommended anyway as it will be the original out-of-box condition, in this case probably Windows 8 needing hours of upgrades and updates.
2) Create A Recovery Drive, then boot from that to rebuild. My personal preference, but it will install most HP utilities. This is usually the smoothest method.
3) Reset this PC, same sort of thing buts runs off the internal drive. My reason for preferring #2 is this can still leave the messy original Win 8 partition scheme on the SSD/HD, as well as not being totally sure about the quality of the existing install.
4) Windows media creation tool, do a full clean install. Can be tricky because with the key it has it may only take Windows 8. The HP keys aren't upgradable to Pro, if you get a Pro key this is the only way to install it. I have wound up with unlicensed 10 installs using this method and had to redo it by other means.

Once you decide on the method, here's how I would approach this in order: Use macrium reflect to image the existing install to an external HD, so you have a functional fall back. Get the existing install to updated Windows 10. Make the recovery drive (16/32GB USB stick). Make a separate Macrium reflect USB recovery drive. If it doesn't already have an SSD, this is a great time to upgrade it, that gen will prob be mSATA which you can still get. With the existing or new SSD installed, boot from the Windows recovery drive and do the full reinstall. If you're happy with the functionality, good. If the partition scheme is a mess, you may need to boot from the recovery drive in to command prompt and use diskpart to clear the existing partitions, then reinstall and let it rebuild automatically.

 

Thanks for the reply Burrick, it's the 2020 model and only just superseded I think.
My main concern is with bloatware and a little research has pointed at 3rd party security, booking, Amazon kind of apps in addition to some excessive HP apps.

I may just try to uninstall and clean them out, but always prefer fresh install.

 

Ah I misunderstood, thought you meant i5-4500U from 2014. I replaced keyboard/battery in a 2014 Spectre x360 last year.
I'd go with stock refresh, and the HP stuff isn't too hard to get rid off. Support Assistant, hphwdiag runs repetitively and loads the CPU, there's a few HP telemetry services that can be easily disabled. It's all pretty clearly labeled at least. Suggest Process Explorer to keep an eye on what's running. I always uninstall any AV first thing, and let Defender do its thing.

 

Thanks and NP mate, first AMD processor in house for years.
Cool, machine arrives next week after HP "refurbishment".
Should be reasonably easy process based on what you and others suggest and yes, my first task will be the AV.