Resetting HP Stream Laptop

[Lindsaydavid]

Long story short, I bought a used HP laptop for my sons virtual schooling on marketplace. Didn’t find out until after I bought that he forgot his password. Said I could factory reset. When I do the F11 until the troubleshooting page comes up and I choose fully reset it thinks for a bit then says: “not enough space to reset. Free up some space and come back.” We’ll, I cant free up space because I can’t get into the computer. Any suggestions?!

[WAWood]

@Lindsaydavid 

I don't know who told you that you could do a factory reset on a Stream netbook -- but they were wrong because the PC does not have nearly enough disk space to do a built-in reset and there's no way to free up enough for that to happen.

If it is still working, then you can follow the instructions below to contact HP and they will help you reset the password -- that is not something we here are permitted to do.

For Admin password resets, you have to contact your regional HP Customer Support location directly for assistance.
https://www8.hp.com/us/en/contact-hp/ww-phone-assist.html

Good Luck

[Lindsaydavid]

When I click the link you sent it didn’t take me anywhere to call any one. I was able to see it isn’t under warranty-is that going to make a difference? I just need someone to help me get into this laptop. Is that going to be possible or did I just waste money? Thank you for your help. 

[WAWood]

@Lindsaydavid 

Sorry, but HP does not provide phone contact information for the U.S., so you have to go through some work to create a case number using their site and THEN, they provide a phone number.

I personally advise everyone AGAINST buying used laptops for this very reason -- you can't get past the password block and you have to jump through hoops to get it reset.

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