HP Notebook 15 users might face the need to create a bootable USB drive with Windows 10 to perform various tasks, such as system recovery or fresh installation. However, they may not have access to a working Windows computer. In such cases, they can use a Chromebook to create a bootable USB drive with the necessary drivers. In this article, we will cover the key concepts and steps to create a bootable USB drive for HP Notebook 15 on a Chromebook.
Requirements
To create a bootable USB drive for HP Notebook 15 on a Chromebook, you will need the following:
- A HP Notebook 15
- A USB flash drive with a minimum capacity of 8GB
- A Chromebook with an Internet connection
- Windows 10 installation media
- HP drivers (optional)
Steps to Create a Bootable USB Drive with Drivers on a Chromebook
Here are the steps to create a bootable USB drive with drivers for HP Notebook 15 on a Chromebook:
Step 1: Download the Required Tools and Drivers
Before we begin, let's download the necessary tools and drivers:
- Download the Rufus tool from https://rufus.ie/
- Download the Windows 10 installation media from https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10
- Download the HP drivers suitable for your HP Notebook 15 model from the HP official website.
Step 2: Create a Bootable USB Drive using Rufus
Follow these steps to create a bootable USB drive using Rufus:
- Plug in the USB flash drive to your Chromebook.
- Open Rufus and select the USB drive as the target device.
- Select the Windows 10 installation media ISO file.
- Under the "Partition scheme and target system type" section, choose "MBR partition scheme for BIOS or UEFI-CSM" and "UEFI: NTFS."
- Under the "Boot selection" tab, select "UEFI: Bootloader."
- Click "Start" to create the bootable USB drive.
Step 3: Copy HP Drivers to the USB Drive
Once the bootable USB drive is created, copy the HP drivers to the USB drive:
- Extract the HP drivers' downloaded archive.
- Copy the extracted files to the USB drive's root directory.
Step 4: Create a Bootable EFI Partition
To make the HP drivers accessible during the Windows 10 installation process, we need to create a bootable EFI partition:
- Open a terminal window on your Chromebook.
- Use the following command to identify the USB drive:
sudo fdisk -l
Identify the USB drive's device path, e.g., /dev/sdb.
- Use the following command to create a new EFI partition:
sudo mkfs.vfat -F 32 /dev/sdb1
- Mount the new EFI partition:
sudo mount /dev/sdb1 /mnt
- Copy the HP drivers' EFI files to the new EFI partition:
sudo cp -r /path/to/downloaded/drivers /mnt/EFI/HP
- Unmount the EFI partition:
sudo umount /mnt
Step 5: Reboot and Install Windows 10
Reboot your HP Notebook 15 using the bootable USB drive, and follow the Windows 10 installation process:
- During the installation process, press the F12 key to enter the UEFI boot menu.
- Select the USB drive as the boot device and press Enter.
- Follow the on-screen instructions to install Windows 10.
In this article, we covered the steps to create a bootable USB drive with drivers for HP Notebook 15 on a Chromebook. By following these steps, you can perform a Windows 10 installation with the necessary HP drivers on your HP Notebook 15, even without access to a working Windows computer.
References
- Rufus
- Windows 10 installation media
- HP official website - HP Drivers