Upgrading HP Mini to Windows 10

[Anonymous]

With the demise of Windows 7 due at the end of 2019, I'm trying to upgrade my HP Mini 210 to Windows 10. When the new OS first came out (and I received the invitation from Microsoft to upgrade) I tried to update the Mini 210. However, at that time, I got a message saying that the Mini 210 graphics were not capable of working with Windows 10.

I understand that may no longer be the case today. I have downloaded Windows 10 1809 to the Mini 210, but when I tried to install it I got a Microsoft message saying: "We couldn't update the System Reserve partition" - so I have been thwarted once again. Is there a way to fix this problem?

I have Windows 10 Home (v. 1809) on a DVD and I have a product key for it that I can use if necessary, but I would prefer to upgrade from Windows 7 if at all possible to save the 'burden' of re-installing all the applications.  I hope someone will know how to do it, other wise this nice little PC (which I mainly use when away from home) will soon have to go to the scrap heap!

[iomare]

Hi,

I would perform a clean install with the latest version of Windows 10 on the PC using the DVD or a bootable pendrive. In my experience updating from 7 to 10 seems to often give problems. You will probably save time in the long run (even if you need to reinstall all your software)

The clean install will also give a fresh start to the system which will make it faster. Once installed, let Windows completely update and find the drivers. You can follow this by going into settings > Security and update > click on Verify for updates

You might need to reboot a couple of times. Once completely updated, install your software.

hope it helps,

David

[Anonymous · Accepted solution]

Many thanks for the prompt reply David. A couple of question:

1. If I do a clean install will the Microsoft install wipe (i.e. format) the disk and get rid of (or re-format) the reserved partition? I know the way HP set up the disk, there are several smaller partitions (recovery for Windows 7 & HP Tools)  etc) that won't be needed with Windows 10. Obviously, if these are left behind, they will waste space on the disk. (It's no problem putting the data back if that gets wiped too as there's only limited data (mainly email) on it anyway, and this is all backed up on my primary desktop PC.).

2. Have you heard of successful upgrades on the Mini 210 given the earlier comment from Microsoft that the graphics sub-system on the 210 wasn't capable of being driven by Windows 10?

I'll post back here after I have tried to upgrade!

[iomare]

Hi,

Just looking at the specs of the Mini 210 it is not going to run Windows 10 very well. What amount of RAM do you have? I guess you could try the Windows 10 32 bit edition with 2GB of RAM. You can always try without inserting the product key and see how it runs on the PC. Do you have installation media for Windows 7 in case it does not work with a clean install of Windows 10?

You could also try running a free Linux OS such as Linux Mint or similar which would probably run better.

[Anonymous]

Hi again

Well, the HP Minit doesn't run too well with Windows 7 SP1, so surely Window 10 can't be any worse!  I 'upgraded' the unit some time ago, increasing the RAM to 8GB and changing the HD for an SSD. As mentioned previously, it is essentially a 'holiday' PC for keeping up with email & the occasional web surfing rather than being used for anything too serious.

I have the installation media (and a valid product key) for doing a 32-bit Windows 10 Home installation, so I could try that. (I also have a complete up-to-date image of the Windows 7 install in case I need to go back to that for now.)

Although I spent much of the1990's working with Silicon Graphics Irix machines, I've never 'touched' Linux. What's the best URL for downloading Linux Mint? Also, how compatible is it (if any) for running Windows applications?

[Anonymous]

Well, I'm truly amazed! First I tried to upgrade Windows 7 to Windows 10 on my HP Mini 210, but the install process reported that the System Partition wasn't big enough. (It's only about 31MB), so then I reformatted the System Partition and performed a 'clean' install as recommended by David. This went without a hitch and the machine runs much faster than it had done previously with the  Windows 7 OS. I then set about trying to Activate Windows 10. I previously had Windows 7 Home on the Mini. The key for that didn't work, but then I tried the original key (For Windows 7 Starter) and that did - truly amazing!

I would certainly recommend any other users of the HP Mini 210 to upgrade it to Windows 10 before the end of 2019 and Microsoft support for Windows 7 stops 

[iomare]

Glad it worked out. Just wanted to add that if you have 8GB of RAM you should install the 64bit version of Windows. The 32bit version will only recognize max 4GB of RAM.

All the best,

David

[Anonymous]

Hi again

Old age must be getting the better of my memory! I just ran Speccy on the HP Mini 210 and it reports that it only has 4GB of RAM, so I must have upgraded it from 2GB to 4GB several years ago. I'm not sure if it can even be upgraded to 8GB, thinking about it. However, it runs a lot better than it did when it was running under Windows 7. Now I must try not to put too many tools on it, otherwise, they will slow it down again. 

The biggest deficiency with the 210 is the screen size: a working resolution of just 962 x 600 pixels. I have found several applications (particularly IObit Malware Fighter & IObit Advanced System Care) where the minimum application window size is too big (too tall) for the screen. Even if you put the Task Bar on the right-hand side of the screen, you can't see all the window. If you try to move it up with your mouse (to enter the activation code for example - the box for which is right at the bottom of the window), as soon as you let go of it, the window bounces back down so that you can't get to the bottom of it.  If you know of any key combinations that will let me hold it up whilst I enter the code at the bottom, please let me know!

[SunTzuTech]

The Atom chip can only address 4GB of RAM.   <Depends on the chip.  The one I have in my mini can only get 2GB.>  I have an old micro-atx but those are later chips which can access 4GB.

I just installed 7 Premium 64 on it (having replaced the 160GB Sata with a 128GB SSD), and it's suffering with 1GB of RAM through the first set of W7 updates.  (like 5 hours) I'm going to test it with a 2GB DDR2-800 200pin SODIMM after the reboot.  

Not sure whether the 64-bit version of Windows will be any faster than the 32-bit, and I may go back and reinstall as 32-bit, since the Windows 10 upgrade is still free.  There's also the fact that HP never made any of the special drivers for WIn7 in 64-bit.

After reading this, i'm going to reinstall 32-bit

https://ctl.net/blogs/news/microsoft-windows-7-64-bit-operating-system-on-intel-atom-based-computers...