Free up space on HP Stream

[Lindsaydavid]

I’m trying to restore to factory settings and I’ve erased everything I see that I can and it says I still need 2+ GB to restore. What can I do?!

[WAWood]

@Lindsaydavid 

You basically can't -- because the 32GB "drive" is not large enough to have the room needed even with all the personal stuff removed.  You would also have to remove Windows and then the PC would not boot anymore.

You have to use external media to do a full reset on the Stream.

If your PC is a 2016 model or newer, you should see if you can make a bootable USB recovery drive using the HP cloud recovery tool on a working PC.

The recovery drive can then be used to install Win10 and the HP drivers and utilities that originally came with your PC.

Here is the link: https://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c06162205

[Lindsaydavid]

thank you.  that stinks.  the computer works fine-so if i get an external drive then I can update it? Just using it for my son's school video conferencing I guess it doesn't technically need to be updated?

[WAWood]

@Lindsaydavid 

No -- you misunderstand. You're asking about two very different things.

The "drive" on the stream, while sometimes large enough to do Windows Updates, is not large enough to do a factory reset.  That is not an update; it is a complete rewrite of the entire drive.

The updates are often possible if you use a large (32GB) USB stick or SD card.  The resets can not be done using these.

The HP Cloud Recovery is used to do a factory reset, not to do an update.

[Lindsaydavid]

Oh that’s good to know. Because it keeps saying update failed since early 2019. So it can update. I was wondering why they would make a computer that doesn’t  enough space to update. Why does it keep failing? Any idea how to make it update?

[Lindsaydavid]

Can I screen share with someone to help me? Or offer any advice? Says not enough space to update. C Drive only has 27.8 GB free space. How is that??. I’ve deleted everything I know. And did disk clean up. 

[WAWood]

@Lindsaydavid 

Sorry, but we here are NOT HP Tech Support and have no way to walk you through performing any repairs.

Here is a thread one of our other Experts wrote about doing Windows Updates on the Streams:  https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebooks-Knowledge-Base/Updating-Windows-10-OS-on-an-HP-Stream-with-3...

[Huffer]

You are going to have to reload Windows using a thumb drive made from the Microsoft Media Creation Tool site as a download (free). Post back if you want more help with that. You have so little space left the computer is basically unuseable at this point unless you can get in and manually delete large files such as pictures, videos, music.

[Lindsaydavid]

Thank you. I do need help please. How big of a jump drive do i need? I can use the kind that is an USB drive or a bigger external drive? Please tell me where to find the free Windows 10 and how to completely clear the computer to reinstall. I really appreciate your help!!

[Huffer]

You need a 8 gig or bigger drive. Download here:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

Once you have made the thumb drive you put it in the computer and you boot from it instaead of the hard drive and follow screen prompts to reload clean Windows. All your apps, etc will be gone but drivers will be available here. Internet will work so you can reach the download page and get drivers. 

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4000735/windows-10-reinstall#:~:text=Use%20the%20installati....