HP Stream 11 Recovery Manager (F11) error

[watchbird]

I wish to completely factory reset my HP Stream 11 but the Recovery Manager fails.

F11 fails to start Recovery Manager and displays the following:
Boot device not found
Please install an operating system on your hard disk
Hard Disk (3F0)

F2 System Diagnostiics

For more information please visit: www.hp.com/go/techcenter/startup

No disk errors were found using F2 Diagnstics check.
BIOS Defaults have been reset.

I created USB recovery media using the Microsoft Media Creation Tool for Windows 10.

I inserted the USB recovery media and then turned on power as follows:

Selected Custom install and after selecting "Install Windows" the following was displayed:

Where do you want to install Windows?

Name                                                              Total size          Free space       Type
Drive 0 Partition 1                                           260.0 MB        255.0 MB       System
Drive 0 Partition 2                                             16.0 MB           16.0 MB        MSR (Reserved)
Drive 0 Partition 3 Blue Stream C                 27.9 GB               8.3 GB        Primary
Drive 0 Partition 4 Windows RE tools       979.0 MB          666.0 MB       Recovery

Refresh                       Delete                    Format                   New
Load driver                Extend

Windows can't be installed on Drive 0 partition 1 (show details)

Windows cannot be installed to this hard disk space. Windows must be installed to a partition formatted as NTFS,

Windows cannot be installed to this hard disk space. The partition is an EFI system partition (ESP).

Using Recovery media created with Rufus tool (GPT UEFI) also fails as per the above.

I would appreciate advice as to how I can reset the HP Stream back to factory settings or, alternatively, complete a Windows 10 installation.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi:

Clean the disk during the W10 installation...

Note...Cleaning the disk will delete every partition on the drive.

Watch this video...

Windows 10 Install 2020 | DISKPART COMMANDS | HOW TO FORMAT HARD DISK FROM CMD - YouTube

[watchbird]

Thank you for your quick reply. Your answer sounds like the solution to the problem but before attempting a complete clean-off of the disk:.....

It appears that, when the operating system on the disk is corrupt / un-useable, the PC defaults to booting from the USB Windows Recovery media. I assume that this will continue to occur (BIOS / ROM). Is that correct?

[Paul_Tikkanen · Accepted solution]

You're very welcome.

Looking at the information you posted, Windows can't be installed on any partition but Drive 0 Partition 3 Blue Stream C                 27.9 GB               8.3 GB        Primary.

However, you can't just clean one partition.

If you want to install Windows on that partition without cleaning the disk, use the media you created with the Media creation tool.

But you will need to enable legacy mode and disable secure boot in the BIOS, since the partition is MBR and not GPT.

[watchbird]

Many thanks for that advice.

I will not be in a position to attempt recovery of the HP Stream 11 until February and will do a complete restore then, of Windows, as per your advice (video).

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Anytime.

Glad to have been of assistance.

You can also factory reset your PC by making bootable recovery media with the HP cloud recovery tool if your PC is supported.

Here is an info link for how to use that utility...

HP Consumer PCs - Using the HP Cloud Recovery Tool (Windows 10) | HP® Customer Support