Playing with the HP Stream mini

[Kaido]

Some notes about upgrading to Pro Pack:

1. I've upgraded plenty of Bing computers with it, without issue. None have rejected the 8.1 Pro upgrade key. However, they all restore back to 8.1 with Bing (non-Pro) if you use the Windows restore, because that's what is on the recovery partition.

2. The HP is the only one I've tried re-installing on; it would not take my key after a fresh install. Well, it said the key was accepted, then had me accept the ToS, then it just said error. No number to call or anything. I tried doing a phone activation using "slui.exe 4", but all it did was re-arm my existing 8.1 with Bing activation, not the Pro Pack. Spent approximately 4 hours with Microsoft's Indian tech support crew (very difficult & frustrating phonetically) but they were able to get it resolved; apparently ALL Windows Updates are required before updating to Pro Pack, and somehow mine were getting corrupted after a fresh install (despite doing a fresh install twice). At any rate, may I present 8.1 Pro with WMC on an HP Stream Mini using a $99 Amazon Pro Pack instant-delivery key: (available for $75 via mailed keycard at the time of this posting)

3. We did a screenshare so I could show them what was going in. Interestingly enough, they used MSDT, which kicked off a Logmein session. Didn't realize Logmein was providing their support structure, interesting.

 

[Kaido]

I'm trying to figure out how to do a fresh install using the 8.1 Pro Pack. Don't know if it's possible. So far, it requires that 8.1 be activated, which requires the HP Bing installer (HDD recovery or USB installer, or else an OEM 8.1 with Bing image off torrents) if you want to use your stock key. Microsoft has unfortunately not released an official Bing installer with MCT or any other method that I am aware of. My HP key doesn't work with 8.1 Single Language from MCT. I did try 8.1 Pro from MCT (with my Pro Pack key), but that wouldn't take my key either. You must have an activated 8.1 base install copy. Until M$ releases a Bing MCT version, I'm not comfortable using a "from the Internet" version for units I'm installing into businesses, so I guess we're stuck with HP's file structure for legitimate use.

Be sure to make a backup of the Mini's install using HP's recovery tool before starting anything (lets you make a full USB reinstaller of the original install), that way you can reset it back to factory stock as needed. To install another 8.1 OS, boot into the BIOS (F10) & disable Secure Boot and enable Legacy Boot. Then boot up to your USB stick (easiest way is ESC > F9 for Boot Device options > Legacy Boot Sources > Hard Drive > whatever your USB stick brand is, sometimes booting into F9 straight up would make the HP logo hang for me); you'll see the blue Windows flag logo if installation begins properly. Just wipe all of the partitions & install. You'll need a temp key to install, or else you'll have to modify a config file to bypass the license key installation requirement. It is missing drivers:

BCM43142A0
PCI Device
PCI Simple Communication Controller
SM Bus Controller

Side note, you can grab your OEM key from the BIOS using RWEverything: (ACPI > MSDM > Data)

http://rweverything.com/download/

Again, only works on OEM Bing or HP Bing (haven't tried it myself on OEM Bing yet). Also note that the Amazon Pro Pack digital keycode I got did include a baked-in license for WMC (had the Indian tech confirm that for me, as evidenced in the screenshot in my previous post). Anyway, I'd imagine there are a few tricks out there for getting the base to activate in such a manner that the Pro Pack can be activated, but I don't currently know of any legitimate methods of doing so. So we're basically stuck using HP's installer with the Pro Pack license key to upgrade (or else downloading an OEM version of Bing).

 

[jugsta]

What are the negatives associated with pro pack upgrade? Is it installing over the old OS or is it served as a windows update? I don't mind the latter.

Also, I don't really mind the recovery partition. I have a NAS where I will mount and store my media. Gaming and video will be streamed.

Thanks for all the legwork!

 

[Kaido]

What are the negatives associated with pro pack upgrade? Is it installing over the old OS or is it served as a windows update? I don't mind the latter.

Also, I don't really mind the recovery partition. I have a NAS where I will mount and store my media. Gaming and video will be streamed.

Thanks for all the legwork!

Downsides:

1. It costs money ($75 - $100 depending on the sale)
2. It uses more space (already limited to 19 gigs free stock)
3. HP does not allow you to delete the recovery partition; the unit will not boot without it

It's basically just a Windows upgrade, not a fresh install. They called it a Feature upgrade. You don't replace the Windows key; you click on the add features link in the Computer properties page, enter the key there, and then it pulls in the additional files for the upgrade (can take a couple hours for downloading & installation - all automatic though). I just got my other Mini in & I'll screw around with that in a bit.

 

[B-Riz]

Everyone knows that getting more memory for this is almost a given, but, I don't see that anyone has explicitly mentioned the tech behind it.

Intel has had dual channel since the socket 775 launch; if you put a 4 GB module in, it runs in Flex Mode, which after a certain point, can be a bit slower than getting a 2 GB module for true dual channel performance.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/intel-stakes-vision-pc-future-775-launch,830-28.html

All the Mini reviews show the huge gains from memory changes, but I never thought about the tech behind it.

I have always run the matched dual channel with the desktop stuff, just because that's what you do.

But I never read the Intel docs on memory configs and Flex Mode until this past weekend.

Edit: I have been using the Mini configured as is right now, user experience is not as dire as one would think with 2 GB installed. (Less the McAfee AV install)

 

[jugsta]

Everyone knows that getting more memory for this is almost a given, but, I don't see that anyone has explicitly mentioned the tech behind it.

Intel has had dual channel since the socket 775 launch; if you put a 4 GB module in, it runs in Flex Mode, which after a certain point, can be a bit slower than getting a 2 GB module for true dual channel performance.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/intel-stakes-vision-pc-future-775-launch,830-28.html

All the Mini reviews show the huge gains from memory changes, but I never thought about the tech behind it.

I have always run the matched dual channel with the desktop stuff, just because that's what you do.

But I never read the Intel docs on memory configs and Flex Mode until this past weekend.

Edit: I have been using the Mini configured as is right now, user experience is not as dire as one would think with 2 GB installed. (Less the McAfee AV install)

Thanks as well. I purchased 4gb to combine for 6. It wouldn't be too much trouble to match the 4gb stick for another $25-30 a little later on.

 

[Kaido]

Got my USB 3.0 to M.2 reader in today (yay!). It's CRAZY fast on USB 3.0! The HP master image (Macrium cloned off a factory-fresh drive) is 6.85gb; it cloned & restored it in under 3 minutes each. It actually restored faster to the 128gb Trascend (under 2 minutes!). I'm going to have to figure out how to tweak the partitions to bypass the HP partition layout security system (aka won't boot if you nuke the recovery partition); hopefully there's a way to do that to regain the space. Initial tests were not good; simply moving the recovery partition kicked it into recovery mode (which of course doesn't work since the partition map is nuked).

On the flip side, it's only $34 more for a full Pro license if I have to go that route for business usage, so I could install say a 256gb card ($120) on a Mini ($180) with an extra 4GB RAM ($30) and Win 8.1 Pro OEM ($134) for a total of $464. Getting a little pricey for a dual-core Celeron, so I'll have to cost it out again a NUC or BRIX to see what the cost difference is. But using a standalone Pro key would let me make images easily, so if I do end up rolling out 20 or 30 of them, it'd be a piece of cake...literally a day's worth of work including desktop install.

Also, I tried out an HDMI to VGA adapter, worked fine. So both DP to VGA & HDMI to VGA work. I also tried both VGA adapters at the same time - it picked up the second monitor automatically right away, no problems. So you can recycle legacy VGA LCD panels that don't have any kind of digital input (no DVI/Displayport/MiniDisplayPort/HDMI/etc.). Great for giving new life to hardware & repurposing it; I have a lot of customers with old analog LCD monitors hanging around that could be put to use with these :thumbsup:

 

[B-Riz]

I used Windows to make the recovery USB drive, so when I get around to trying 7 I can go back to 8, but I am going to make a few system images to store across different backup HDDs.

The 8 GB USB drive had very little free space left after the backup.

Glad to hear about the display adapter, I was curious about them.

The one thing the reviews never mentioned is how this would be great for people that are still on WinXP but have a limited budget and do not want / need a new monitor or go all-in-one touch screen desktop.

 

[B-Riz]

On the flip side, it's only $34 more for a full Pro license if I have to go that route for business usage, so I could install say a 256gb card ($120) on a Mini ($180) with an extra 4GB RAM ($30) and Win 8.1 Pro OEM ($134) for a total of $464. Getting a little pricey for a dual-core Celeron, so I'll have to cost it out again a NUC or BRIX to see what the cost difference is. But using a standalone Pro key would let me make images easily, so if I do end up rolling out 20 or 30 of them, it'd be a piece of cake...literally a day's worth of work including desktop install.

If you are buying a quantity of these for a customer, do you think HP would give you any kind of discount?

 

[Kaido]

I used Windows to make the recovery USB drive, so when I get around to trying 7 I can go back to 8, but I am going to make a few system images to store across different backup HDDs.

The 8 GB USB drive had very little free space left after the backup.

Glad to hear about the display adapter, I was curious about them.

The one thing the reviews never mentioned is how this would be great for people that are still on WinXP but have a limited budget and do not want / need a new monitor or go all-in-one touch screen desktop.

Yeah, I'd like to try:

1. XP
2. 7 64b Pro
3. 8.1 Pro (full)
4. ESXi

Not sure if XP can handle the 64b UEFI, but with Legacy enabled - maybe! (and if drivers exist) As far as the VGA adapters go, the Displayport version is much better. The HDMI has some, I dunno, light streaking horizontally. I'll have to mess with them a bit more to see what's up with that. Also, ran across a storage trick for the partition here:

http://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebo...to-remove-the-recovery-partition/td-p/4699546

I'm not familiar with WIMBOOT presently, but here's some interesting reading:

http://www.howtogeek.com/196416/wimboot-explained-how-windows-can-now-fit-on-a-tiny-16-gb-drive/

It appears that parts of Windows are compressed & loaded from the recovery partition, which explains why it explodes when you try to do anything to it. Not great news here:

http://community.acer.com/t5/Ultra-...ows-8-1-Recovery-Partition/td-p/316526/page/3

As soon as you do that, you break the way Windows was configured to boot. That partition and those files are there for a reason. You can setup the partitions the way you want, re-install Windows yourself, but you should be on your own at that point and it will cost you more in drive space in the end.

Here is the documentation regarding WIMBOOT. http://blogs.windows.com/itpro/2014/04/10/what-is-windows-image-boot-wimboot/

"So let’s assume the WIM file (INSTALL.WIM) is around 3GB and you are using a 16GB SSD. In that configuration, you’ll still be left with over 12GB of free disk space. How does that compare to a non-WIMBoot configuration? Well, on that same 16GB system there might be only 7GB free after installing Windows – and then only if you don’t set up a separate recovery image."

So at this point, my concern isn't so much deleting it (if in fact it is a creative Windows installation, which I wasn't aware of at all), as much as reclaiming the space from the upgraded drive. I really would prefer a single large C: \ using the extra space rather than a 19-gig C: \ and a 90-gig G: \ or whatever the leftover works out to. I'll dig into this a bit & see what I can find...

 

[BarkingGhostar]

One of the things I noticed in using the HDMI port is that my 1920x1200 monitor leave the lower 120 horizontal lines with video 'weirdness' until it makes it to the initial splash screen. Then it is fine. I really think this product is designed for a television.

 

[B-Riz]

I'm using HDMI to the PC monitor until I scrounge up the DP cable.

Some text looks kinda off on some web pages, and the Intel graphics settings "see" the monitor (Asus VG248QE) as a TV device.

I installed Intel Power Gadget this morning, set Max processor state to 50% in Power Options and it shows the cpu using 1 - 2 watts.

Graphics was set to Max Performance and package temp reports 39*C - 40*C, this is only light usage.

I may load up an older game and log temps over a half hour or so.

 

[Kaido]

On this afternoon's project list: Zotac Pico, HP Stream Mini, i5 BRIX, i5 BRIX Pro, and an i7 BRIX Pro.

 

[Dahak]

I had only glanced through the last page of this thread but Kaido, you many want to look more into the WimBoot process which is most likely how the hp stream is setup.

I believe I read that you can update that image so when you do the recovery it will be what it was and not was the factory image was.

Now this could be just the Windows Updates and not the Pro Pack upgrade or I could be mis-remembering completely

 

[Kaido]

I had only glanced through the last page of this thread but Kaido, you many want to look more into the WimBoot process which is most likely how the hp stream is setup.

I believe I read that you can update that image so when you do the recovery it will be what it was and not was the factory image was.

Now this could be just the Windows Updates and not the Pro Pack upgrade or I could be mis-remembering completely

Yeah, I haven't found any way to modify it. I did a bunch of reading the other day but aside from the M$ docs, there's not a whole lot of data on modifying it. Closest I've found is this post from ZIPmagic:

http://www.zipmagic.co/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=71#p209

More info here:

http://www.zipmagic.co/forums/viewt...24cff9f8f33f7f6d997d6347828a77a&start=10#p276

DoubleSpace 2 automatically relocates the OEM Windows Recovery Environment for you to the main partition (the small recovery environment, not the large recovery image - you don't need the large image, since DoubleSpace 2 creates a new WIM image file for you anyways); and then deletes the OEM partition automatically - so you enjoy, in one step:

1) Freed space from the large OEM partition (deleted OEM partition, plus extended main partition to include that space),
2) Preserved Windows Recovery Environment, complete with your drivers, so you enjoy access to all peripherals in DoubleSpace 2 boot mode,
3) All the extra space you need with superior disk compression; in addition to all the space freed from step #1 above!

If you manually deleted the OEM partition, you lose your own custom Windows Recovery Environment, in addition to manual finagling on the command line, which is tedious and error-prone. You could manually relocate your Windows Recovery Environment and re-register it Windows too, but that's a lot of work.

The DoubleSpace 2 feature seems like the way to go, otherwise you're stuck doing everything command-line: (which I have yet to come across, instruction-wise)

http://www.zipmagic.co/doublespace.html

Downside is it costs $30 a license. Especially if you're upgrading to Pro Pack, you can use that $30 to simply buy a full OEM Pro version of 8.1 instead of the upgrade version, so it's not really cost-effective unless you're (1) staying with the Bing version, (2) not willing to torrent the MS Bing OEM installer, and (3) don't want to upgrade the stock SSD (or do want to, but are willing to pay thirty bucks to reclaim the space). So for my purposes (adding a larger SSD & upgrading to 8.1 Pro to put in businesses), it makes more sense to simply buy the OEM 8.1 Pro version instead of Pro Pack. Otherwise, ZIPmagic's DoubleSpace feature seems like the way to go if you want to fix the problem on a one-off machine.

 

[jugsta]

Finally unboxed and tried to setup the HP Mini:

• 
  Added RAM install took about 5 minutes- Super Easy

• 
  Hardware-wise, its a really cool little unit. Super snappy with added RAM, didn't check it out at 2gb.

• 
  I'm setting this up on an old 720p Television. I am surprised at how nice Windows 8 displays on this unit. Text in IE looked pretty nice as well.

• 
  For my purposes, I was really thankful for the mouse and keyboard because...

• 
  ...Windows 8.1 is a giant PITA :thumbsdown:
  -You can't disable UAC for standard user in Windows 8.1
  -UAC renders my wifi mouse (mobile mouse pro) useless. I planned to use exclusively for launching WMC/Steam/Navigating/Etc.
  -The admin account wasn't able to login without a password which means the mouse server can't launch which means I can't login on the non UAC account (admin) without a physical mouse (I may have set my account up incorrectly, will double check this weekend, also need to look at WoL feature of the mouse).
  -When the physical mouse isn't plugged in I can use the wifi mouse but the cursor is invisible on the screen. This was never an issue in Windows 7!:twisted:

I discovered all of these things and then was summoned for baby-duty. Unfortunately I haven't had time to dig further into these issues but I am certainly disappointed with my first exposure to Windows 8. I guess it is irony that its front end looks incredibly suited for living room accessibility but the structure it rests on is very cumbersome. I sure hope I can find workarounds for each of these issues.

By the way, I saw mention of a $25 Windows Store voucher with this purchase. Is that in the box? I didn't get a chance to look for it and certainly don't want to miss it.

 

[UNhooked]

Working on upgrading the ram to 8GB and a better Wifi card. For now it's acting like a frontend for my Steam In home streaming and box to watch Hulu and Netflix.

I found it strange that I was unable to activate remote desktop on this. That entire section is missing.

 

[Kaido]

By the way, I saw mention of a $25 Windows Store voucher with this purchase. Is that in the box? I didn't get a chance to look for it and certainly don't want to miss it.

It's in a mini pamphlet with the documentation. iirc there's also a 200-gig OneDrive voucher as well, and some gigs free for a few months on Dropbox or something.

 

[chippind]

Here's how I installed Windows 7.

Make Bootable Windows 7 x64 Flash Drive or Use USB DVD Drive with Windows 7 x64 Disk
Push ESC while starting computer.
Choose BIOS
Change Security - Secure Boot Configuration, Disable Secure Boot, Enable Legacy Support
Change boot order to your boot device (USB Hard Drive in my case)
Enter Password for change ( The Software prompts you with the password )
Boot to USB drive or CD Drive
Run Windows Installer
Delete Existing Partitions
Format drive ( I ended up with about 11GB of free space from the 32GB SSD after installing Windows 7 Ultimate )
Install Windows 7
After installation install Dell Realtek driver (for ethernet support) 3011_Network_Driver_JWFH5_WN_8.018.0621.2013_A00.EXE
Install Lenovo Broadcom Wireless Driver (for WiFi support) wLAN 155W7
Install HP Stream Mini Driver SP68201 HP Support Assistant
Install HP Stream Mini Driver SP68399 Bluetooth Driver
Install HP Stream Mini Driver SP69840 UEFI
Install HP Stream Mini Driver SP69852 PCIE Card Reader Driver
Install HP Stream Mini Driver SP69853 Intel Chip Driver
Install HP Stream Mini Driver SP69854 Intel Graphics Driver
Install MS Kernel Mode Framework 1.11 KMDF 1.11 Win 6.1 x64
Install HP Stream Mini Driver SP69855 Engine Interface Driver
Install MS .NET Framework 4.5.2 NDP452-KB29019-x86-x64-AIIOS-ENU.exe
Install HP Stream Mini Driver SP69857 Intel Rapid Storage Technology Driver
Install HP Stream Mini Driver SP70170 Realtek HD Audio Driver
Goto Device Manager and find “PCI Simple Communications Controller” with the warning symbol, right click and have Windows search for driver. Have Windows the install driver.
Install Intel_USB_3.0_eXtensible_Host_Controller_Driver_3.0.5.69
You should be good to go after those installs without any warnings in device manager.

Edit...Correction: Install Lenovo Broadcom Wireless Driver (for WiFi support) wLAN 155W7 after installing MS .Net Framework 4.5.2

 

[Kaido]

Here's how I installed Windows 7.

Make Bootable Windows 7 x64 Flash Drive or Use USB DVD Drive with Windows 7 x64 Disk
Push ESC while starting computer.
Choose BIOS
Change Security - Secure Boot Configuration, Disable Secure Boot, Enable Legacy Support
Change boot order to your boot device (USB Hard Drive in my case)
Enter Password for change ( The Software prompts you with the password )
Boot to USB drive or CD Drive
Run Windows Installer
Delete Existing Partitions
Format drive ( I ended up with about 11GB of free space from the 32GB SSD after installing Windows 7 Ultimate )
Install Windows 7
After installation install Dell Realtek driver (for ethernet support) 3011_Network_Driver_JWFH5_WN_8.018.0621.2013_A00.EXE
Install Lenovo Broadcom Wireless Driver (for WiFi support) wLAN 155W7
Install HP Stream Mini Driver SP68201 HP Support Assistant
Install HP Stream Mini Driver SP68399 Bluetooth Driver
Install HP Stream Mini Driver SP69840 UEFI
Install HP Stream Mini Driver SP69852 PCIE Card Reader Driver
Install HP Stream Mini Driver SP69853 Intel Chip Driver
Install HP Stream Mini Driver SP69854 Intel Graphics Driver
Install MS Kernel Mode Framework 1.11 KMDF 1.11 Win 6.1 x64
Install HP Stream Mini Driver SP69855 Engine Interface Driver
Install MS .NET Framework 4.5.2 NDP452-KB29019-x86-x64-AIIOS-ENU.exe
Install HP Stream Mini Driver SP69857 Intel Rapid Storage Technology Driver
Install HP Stream Mini Driver SP70170 Realtek HD Audio Driver
Goto Device Manager and find “PCI Simple Communications Controller” with the warning symbol, right click and have Windows search for driver. Have Windows the install driver.
Install Intel_USB_3.0_eXtensible_Host_Controller_Driver_3.0.5.69
You should be good to go after those installs without any warnings in device manager.

Wow nice, thanks! I'll have to give this a try next week, and see about slipstreaming the drivers in.

 

[jugsta]

Wow nice, thanks! I'll have to give this a try next week, and see about slipstreaming the drivers in.

Seconded! I'm still going to play around with Metro and see if it would be beneficial in the long run. But this is very nice to know.

 

[chippind]

INTEL USB 3.0 driver
https://downloadcenter.intel.com/do...Intel-8-9-Series-and-C220-C610-Chipset-Family

Net Framework 4.5.2
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=42642

Kernel Mode Framework 1.11
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=38423

Dell Realtek Ethernet Driver RTL8151
http://www.dell.com/support/home/fo/en/fobsdt1/Drivers/DriversDetails?driverId=JWFH5

Lenovo Broadcom Wireless Driver for Broadcom BCM43142
http://support.lenovo.com/us/en/downloads/ds038295

 

[BarkingGhostar]

BTW, I finally felt confident that I could my the HP Stream mini from my normal workspace to a lounge space (living room). I had the unit connected via HDMI to a Samsung 24" HDTV using 1920x1200 native resolution and no issues. Upon relocation, it is connected to a Panasonic flat panel television via HDMI and the overscan is a b!tch.

I alway enable the Hide Taskbar feature and in doing this I can usually see a single row of pixels on the Samsung. On the Panny it is completely invisible. Even when I move the mouse cursor down to the bottom to get the taskbar to pop up I only get a single a single row of pixels to indicate it had popped up.

I increased the taskbar (at the bottom of the screen) to two rows and was able to see it, and noticed the Start button (Classic Shell) was 67-75% chopped off and tray area was too. I know this is a Panasonic issue in overscan, but surely if HP is going to market a product 'pro-HDMI' they would have thought of this and provided some sort of contingency, no?

BTW, only on my old Vizio flat panel is there an option to turn overscan off. But this is a bummer.

 

[VirtualLarry]

BTW, I finally felt confident that I could my the HP Stream mini from my normal workspace to a lounge space (living room). I had the unit connected via HDMI to a Samsung 24" HDTV using 1920x1200 native resolution and no issues. Upon relocation, it is connected to a Panasonic flat panel television via HDMI and the overscan is a b!tch.

I alway enable the Hide Taskbar feature and in doing this I can usually see a single row of pixels on the Samsung. On the Panny it is completely invisible. Even when I move the mouse cursor down to the bottom to get the taskbar to pop up I only get a single a single row of pixels to indicate it had popped up.

I increased the taskbar (at the bottom of the screen) to two rows and was able to see it, and noticed the Start button (Classic Shell) was 67-75% chopped off and tray area was too. I know this is a Panasonic issue in overscan, but surely if HP is going to market a product 'pro-HDMI' they would have thought of this and provided some sort of contingency, no?

BTW, only on my old Vizio flat panel is there an option to turn overscan off. But this is a bummer.

Sorry, but I feel the opposite way. AMD by default, overscans on HDMI, and it requires installing their proprietary drivers, and then adjusting overscan back to zero, to get a "normal" picture.

I much prefer not having to do that much extra work, thank you.

Intel does not overscan by default. Which is the way it should be.

 

[chippind]

Sorry, but I feel the opposite way. AMD by default, overscans on HDMI, and it requires installing their proprietary drivers, and then adjusting overscan back to zero, to get a "normal" picture.

I much prefer not having to do that much extra work, thank you.

Intel does not overscan by default. Which is the way it should be.

Not sure since I downgraded to Windows 7 but I went to the control panel for Intel graphics and chose custom and there was adjustments there for both width and height.