Windows 10 fresh installation on the HP Stream Laptop

[kyle_b]

I performed a fresh clean installation of Windows 10 on my Stream 11 laptop and it worked well. I posted the procedures I used below. One warning is that you have to first upgrade the original Windows 8.1 with Bing installation "in place", letting Windows 10 activate before wiping the disk clean and installing Windows 10 fresh. If you do not do this, Windows 10 will not activate when it is installed fresh.

If Windows 10 tells you that you do not have enough room to upgrade, you may have to restore the laptop back to the factory configuration using the recovery media. Other reports indicate you can complete the upgrade by pointing to an external drive for additional space. If you recover, you do not need to apply any Windows 8.1 updates after the recovery, you can upgrade using the Windows 10 USB drive immediately after the laptop is restored to the factory configuration.

First make a recovery USB drive of your existing Windows 8.1 with Bing installation.  If you read the posts here, many have regretted skipping this step.

Download the Windows 10 64-bit ISO file and burn it to a USB drive.

Updating Windows 8.1 to Windows 10 on the HP Stream Laptop
- With Windows 8.1 running, start the setup program from the Windows 10 USB drive.

- I declined getting updates.
- Accept the license agreement.
- When it prompted: "Change What To Keep", I selected "Nothing".
- Click the Install button, the upgrade took around 30 minutes on my Stream 11.
- When the upgrade finishes, add a WiFi connection and go to the Start button => System and make sure it says "Windows is Activated".

You can stop here if you have enough disk space and do not want to do a fresh install. The 7 GB recovery partition from Windows 8.1 can be deleted now since Windows 10 creates its own 450 MB recovery partition for WIMBoot. Unfortunately it seems the C: drive cannot be extended to include the 7 GB of space so an additional drive letter (such as "D:") will need to be created to utilize it.

Deleting the 7 GB Windows 8.1 recovery partition (only do this if you have upgraded to Windows 10, Windows 8.1 will not boot without this partition.)
- Attach the Windows 10 USB drive and USB mouse.
- Press F9 on the keyboard as the laptop powers up to enter the boot menu.
- Select the USB drive to boot from.

- Select language, time and currency, keyboard.
- Select "Install Now".
- When prompted to enter the product key to activate Windows, select "Skip".

- I selected Windows 10 Home.
- Accept the license terms.
- Select: "Custom: Install Windows only (advanced)".
- Delete the 7 GB Recovery partition.
- Do not delete the 450 MB Recovery partition, Windows 10 created this for WIMBoot and it will not boot without it.

If you want to do a fresh Windows 10 install, you can also wipe the drive completely clean at this point. This will provide the greatest amount of available disk space for the C: drive (19.2 GB free of 28.5 GB following the fresh install).

Fresh installation of Windows 10 on the HP Stream Laptop
- Make sure Windows 10 has already been upgraded from Windows 8.1 and is activated.
- Attach the Windows 10 USB drive and USB mouse.
- Press F9 on the keyboard as the laptop powers up to enter the boot menu.
- Select the USB drive to boot from.

- Select language, time and currency, keyboard.
- Select "Install Now".
- When prompted to enter the product key to activate Windows, select "Skip".

- I selected Windows 10 Home.
- Accept the license terms.
- Select: "Custom: Install Windows only (advanced)".
- Delete all partitions.
- Click the Next button, the install will take around 20-30 minutes.
- When prompted for a product key, select "Do this later".
- Add a WiFi connection.
- I selected Customize Settings.
- For some unknown reason, I was prompted to repeat the product key and Customize Settings steps again here.
- When Windows boots for the first time, right click the Start Button => System and check that it says "Windows is Activated".

Install all the intel chipset drivers available from hp.com for your specific model laptop.  The touchpad did not work until I installed these.  The touchpad gestures also did not work for me until I installed the Windows 8.1 Synaptics touchpad driver.   Other models of the Stream may require additional drivers.

[CherylG]

Nice tutorial Kyle!

[fifi3220]

Thanks to all for your direct help. I just opened a new HP Stream 11.6 notebook from Walmart. Soooo...which do I install first? The Office 365 personal or the Windows 10?Of course it comes with 8.1. I've never done this before, and don't wish to damage or lose anything. God bless you all for taking time for this.

[kyle_b]

Hi, I never installed Office 365 on my Stream 11 so I cannot advise when it should be installed in the Windows 10 upgrade cycle.  Maybe someone else here can comment.

[fifi3220]

Oh, thank you Kyle. Office 365 was part of the package so I will ask for help from my nephew. He's tech savvy, however, I don't want him to put the cart before the horse and cause any losses. Your blog helped me to interpret some vital questions to my nephew. Enjoy your day!

[davidal]

Thank You very much. That was the best step by step instructions I've seen so far. 

I just have one question: How big should these USBs be? 

[kyle_b]

Hi, thanks, a 8 GB USB is required for the Windows 8.1 recovery media and a 4 GB USB is required for the Windows 10 installation media.

[IT_Rael]

thanks, i  would love to try this. and this is very detailed which is so helpful enough

[IT_Rael]

😞 my hp stream wont install the operating system after i formatmat the drive 3 (drive 1 and drive 2 are system reserved) that drive 3 was the windows drive.  but after formatting it for clean install. it says it cannot install to that drive due to something like gpt.

[kyle_b]

As noted above, delete all partitions for a fresh install:

- Select: "Custom: Install Windows only (advanced)".
- Delete all partitions.