Electron backscatter diffraction was applied to investigate the broad aspects of the microstructure produced during laser powder beam fusion of 17-4 PH steel. It was found that the laser powder beam fusion process involved the d-ferrite-to-austenite-to-martensite phase transformation sequence. Remarkably, the solidification  +  fiber texture in d-ferrite was essentially inherited by the final martensitic phase, i.e., the texture-memory effect was observed. It was also revealed that the d-ferrite-to-austenite transformation involved a strict selection of crystallographic variants. This led to a pronounced crystallographic preference of 60°  boundaries in the austenitic phase. The core result of this study was an integral pattern of microstructural changes during laser powder beam fusion from a solidification stage down to ambient conditions.