How I was able to install Windows 10 on HP Stream 13 (32GB SSD)

Question

I wanted to install windows 10 on my Stream 13 (only 32 GB SSD). With the recovery partition and windows 8.1 plus all updates i was left with not nearly enough space to install Windows 10.  After a few failures I was able to make this work and this is how. My solution to the problem. This is not to say that a easier one may turn up but this is the only thing that worked for me. *Compleate a fresh recovery to create as clean of a install as posible*Install all updates*use the Media creation tool to create a USB for the instal.https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10*On another USB I created a copy of the system recovery (because my goal was to delete the recovery partition after installing windows 10 and save some much needed space)*Click on the setup on the USB made from the media creation tool (dont boot in to it this time and run a full clean install or windows will not recognise your 8.1 key). follow the directions to upgrade your pc. *Somewhere here i was told that i didnt have enough space on my  computer but was given an option to select an additional drive or USB to compleate the upgrade. I used my micro SD but had the option to use a USB thumb drive as well.  Just plug one in with enough space, refresh and select the one you want.*once done I was running a upgraded version of windows 10. and all was well.  Now at this point my hardware was recognized for Windows 10 and I can reinstall all I want.*Personally at this point i didnt want the 7GB windows 8 recovery paertition just sitting there. *I now ran the USB made by the media creation tool to run a full clean install of windows 10. During that process I was able to format the C: drive and additionaly the recovery partition (but not remove it yet)  There are plenty of youtube videos on how to run this clean install with step by step help.*once windows 10 was back up I used DISKPART to remove the recovery partition and then went back in to Disk Management to expand the main partition to fill the remaining empty space on the SSD.  Again there are many great videos and posts on how to run DISKPART and Disk Management. Sounds rough but was very simple and done very fast. *Lastly ran all updates and followed a little guide from HP on how to make sure you have all the right GP drivers up and going on a Clean install. near the bottom you will see Steps to take after upgrading to windows 10. *Now DO NOT LOOSE that USB recovery tool you made because that can always get you back to factory settings.  http://h20565.www2.hp.com/hpsc/doc/public/display?sp4ts.oid=5071171&docId=emr_na-c04734799&docLocale=en_US  Sorry if any of this is unclear but when I was trying to get this to work I could nto find anything with the steps to take and I ended up having to use the system recovery USB i made time and time again to start again.       EDIT:  I have am HP Stream 13 that came with 8.1   The hard drive ont hese things is not large enough to compleate the upgrade to windows 10. So i preformed a clean install from a USB.  Now i have 10 and it is not activated.  NOW I read that you MUSST preform the upgrade first in order for windows to detect your hardware and register it as valis for the free windows 10.   BUT since upgrade was not posible I have a windows 8.1 key that is useless since there is no service to change the key to a windows 10 key..   This is insane. these laptops are being advertisd with the free upgrade to windows 10 yet are not able to be upgraded.  Not sure what to do now.    I am running a new HP stream 13 touchscreen with windows 8.1 I want to upgrade to windows 10 before I am back to school (before i have to install all kinds of software and files) Obciously the Stream does not have enough SSD left to preform the upgrade.  I have created a clean install USB thumb drive but am worried about using it.  From what i have read the recovery partition that is not deleteable houses files that the system accesses. When i do a Clean install wiping the C drive (but not the partition) will everything work? will i loose the use of that partition space forever?   and lastly I used a program to access my windows key since it is located in the bios not on a sticker but I want to know if anyone else has done this and did it auto detect? or did they run in to any problems.  Sorry if this is all posted somewhere else but i am not finding any information at all.  EDIT!   I do have a USB recovery that i can use if i must to windows 8.1    I installed 10 from a USB and it is workign fine other than it is now saying my KEY isnt valid for this clean install. How do i convert my 8.1 key to a key that will work for 10? I cant see myself buying a new key from microsoft when the laptop was sold with an advert saying free upgrade to 10.   It isnt posible to do a upgrade because of the space required for the upgrade to do its work. this is a real pain. 

Answer 1

OMG, what a pain in the neck.  I bought a brand new Stream 13, got it on saturday.  Fired it up, and it immediately wants to upgrade to Win10, which is great.  But, I run it through windows update and it fails, 5 times in a row.  Doesn't really give you an explanation, except update failed.  Thanks a lot So, I download Win10 from MSFT, and put it on a USB, but that fails too, first, the machine refuses to boot off of a USB drive.  If I run the update directly (setup.exe off of the USB, it fails too, but this time telling me I don't have enough drive space. So, i called HP support, remember this PC is 5 hours old at this point.  I got the runaround like i've never seen before.   I talked to 7 different people over a 95 minute perioud, none of whom could help me.  The last person wanted me to pay for a support subscription plan.  Yeah, I am gonna do that for a $200 laptop.
At one point it gives you the option to specify another drive to store the backup of the old OS on.  I tried that, but then later in the upgrade process it says to insert removable media, with an OK and Cancel button. I assume it is looking for that other drive...But it is in there, but apparently it can't find it. So, then i downloaded the ISO from MSFT and made my own USB.  Still won't boot off of it.  Tried running setup.exe but that fails too. Then I copied all the setup files to the micro-SD, and run setup from there.  One thing that the setup does is it asks to download additional updates.  I chose NO, and what do you know, I got one of the insider builds of windows 10 (10162) installed!  But, it is very broken, and can't even get to the store. So, I go to windows update to see if it will move to 10120 (the retail build), but no luck, it tells me my account isn't signed up for windows insider (this is my daughter's PC).  So, i sign her up, but now it won't find any new updates.  SO, I log to the laptop wil MY account, and now it finds 101240!!!! But, when I try to run it, it tell me I need more free space.  now mind you, i haven't installed a single thing, haven't copied a single file, but I am several hundred megabytes short.  I did try the option with storing the old OS files on a different drive, but got the "insert removable media - Ok/Cancel" again.  Arrgggghhhh.  I have removed my daughter's login from the machine, and have now reclaimed just barely enough space to make the upgrade happy. So, this is where I am at for the moment.  Next I will try DiskPart to add the 7GB of recovery space to the C drive, i bet it works then. I give this today only, and if I can't figure out, it goes back to HP, and I'll spend a little more money and get something with more than 21GB of HDD.  Really, shouldn't HP just put the recovery partition on a USB thumb drive and include that with the PC ???? Frustrated in Denver.