stream 14 - no storage - what to do ?

[Whyohwhy75]

Hi all, 

all my googling and investigations tell me that HP shouldn't have sold stream laptops without severe warnings on updates and space.

Anyhoo - i'm happy to throw the laptop in the bin or try to go for factory reset but my storage won't allow.

In very simplistic terms how can i delete the storage to reset ?

Thanks

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi:

I bought one of those notebooks in used condition on eBay just so I could try and help folks such as you.

I agree.  Terrible idea and HP no longer sells the notebooks with 32 GB eMMC drives.

They have upped the storage to a whopping 64 GB, but at least you have a little wiggle room.

OK, so what you can do...

Try this first:

Use the HP cloud recovery tool with another PC running W7 64 bit or newer and a 32 GB USB flash drive to create a bootable USB recovery drive that will reinstall W10, the drivers and the software that originally came with your notebook.

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

HP Consumer PCs - Using the HP Cloud Recovery Tool in Windows 11 and 10 | HP® Customer Support

Since you have to install the recovery tool on another PC, after you launch it, you will need to enter your notebook's product number in the tool's search window to proceed.

Your notebook's product number is: 3RN85EA#ABU

If method 1 doesn't work, your only other option is to clean install W10 by making a bootable USB installer with the media creation tool from the link below.

Download Windows 10 (microsoft.com)

Boot from the installation media.

When you get to the part of the installation that asks 'Where do you want to install Windows,' delete every partition on the drive, leaving just one partition of unallocated space (should be around 28 - 29 GB).

Click Next, and W10 will install.

After the installation is completed, you can install the drivers and available software from the support page.

HP Stream 14-cb000 Laptop PC Software and Driver Downloads | HP® Customer Support

Using the second method you will have the latest build of W10 and can probably use the notebook for another couple of years before you have to reinstall the OS again.

You have to be dogmatic about cleaning junk files constantly.

If you use the second method, you can delete the SWSetup folder which was created when you installed the driver packs.

I also like this free utility which I use in conjunction with the Windows disk cleanup app.

Wise Disk Cleaner - Free Disk Cleanup and Defrag Tool (wisecleaner.com)

[Whyohwhy75]

Thanks very much for the reply, is there any chance this is available on youtube to follow step by step or is there an idiots guide for those of us who struggled with BBC computers in the 80's ?

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.

If you use the cloud recovery tool the written instructions and a video are on the link I posted.

If you want to do a clean install, there are you tube videos you can watch from various folks.

You don't need to change any settings in the BIOS as shown in the introduction on the video I posted below.

All you need to do is to turn on the PC, immediately press/tap the ESC key to get the menu of options.

Select the F9 boot options menu and from that select the USB flash drive and press the Enter key.

The PC should boot from the flash drive, and you can follow the rest of the instructions.

You will also not need to enter a product key.

You want a custom install, and you do want to delete all the partitions and just have that one partition of unallocated space.

How to Clean Install Windows 10 - YouTube