Playing with the HP Stream mini

[kenzz]

Adding 4Gb of memory to my HP Stream Mini had an unexpected effect and I'm wondering what anyone else can recommend to fix the issue. After running the machine for a day or so, adding the software I needed, I ended up with about 5Gb of space free. I left the machine running updates overnight and it must have hibernated. The resulting space left on the machine was about 128Mb. Looks like the hibernation file which is set to 75% of RAM expanded to about 4.5Gb and filled up all the space. I thought Win 8.1 didn't use hibernation, and the option is unchecked in settings, but clearly its still creating the file. Anyone else come across this? Any advice on how to get back some space?

I'm no expert but I think 8.1 includes a hiberfil not only for hibernation but also as part of the fast-boot procedure. If you don't need hibernation you can delete hiberfil but you then probably have a slower boot. Alternatively I think you can reduce the % of ram figure but I'm not sure by how much. Also note that 6GB of ram probably results in an increase in the pagefile size so maybe you need to reduce that as well. Search for optimization of SSD's etc.

However, although HP calls this a desktop PC, I suggest you need to remember it's a ''mini'' desktop and it's not built to load up with stuff in the same way you cannot load up a mini car with as much stuff as a truck. So whether or not you have enough space on the SSD depends on how many updates to Win and other M$ programs and on how much other software you install/download. I have 6GB of ram and when I installed Office 2007 and set windows update to automatically download/install all important and recommended upgrades then, like you, I immediately ran out of space on the SSD.

So I re-set to factory settings; updated Windows Defender as anti-virus; set Windows Update to download/install only important updates and only for Windows. With all the current 8.1 important updates installed; hiberfil at 4.8GB and pagefile at 0.5GB my SSD used space is 13.3GB and free space is 8.3GB. I think I could probably re-install Office 2007 and still have free space if I refused to install the Office updates but I'm OK using portable LibreOffice and I have that and all the other software I need from portableapps on a 16GB SD card. However all that software comes to only about 1.5Gb so would easily fit on the SSD free space. So it's a ''mini'' desktop and I've found I use it as such. If I want to use it for heavy duty stuff then I'd need to upgrade the 32GB SSD.

 

[Dr_Bunsen]

Thanks for the reply Kenzz and the great advice. I guess I'll have to do the factory reset and set updates as you did since my daughter wants some additional software now. I'm surprised at how fast an external USB hard drive works on this (I have an 80GB external drive connected), so I will probably install all her software to that to try and keep the SSD as free as possible. I did find that the minimum hiberfil is 50% of installed memory, but I agree from additional research I had done that Win 8.1 probably needs it, I just don't have room without rebuilding the machine. I also had eliminated the pagefile in the settings as with 6GB RAM it was of no benefit from what I had read.

 

[clintchammer]

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

I have just ordered a Twin Mos M.2 128GB SSD in order to install Windows 10 when it is out later this week. Given the factory 32GB SSD will not suffice because Windows 10 has automatic updates I had to buy a larger drive.

Anyone tried Windows 10 yet on the Stream Mini and gotten all drivers to work?

 

[daswunderkid]

Finally had a minute to work on my tester Mini. I used Windows 7 Professional 64-bit OEM ($135). Thanks much to chippind for laying the groundwork! Make sure you make an HP USB recovery stick before wiping your original drive. If you're going the USB installer route for getting Windows on there, just drop the zipped driver package onto the root of it for convenience. I'm not completely sure everything is 100% accurate, but after some trial & error I was able to slim down the install package & knock everything off the missing Device Manager list.

Simple method to install Win7:

Win7 USB tool (ImgBurn if you need to make an ISO)
F10 @ boot to get into BIOS (Disable Secure Boot + Enable Legacy Support under Secure Boot Configuration)
F9 @ boot to USB
Install Windows (nuke all partitions)
Install driver package (499 megs zipped)

Missing drivers at initial install: (included in the package above, links provided for convenience)

BCM4314A0 (this is the Broadcom Bluetooth chip; streaming download and takes a LONG time to install)
Ethernet Controller (this is Realtek Gigabit Ethernet port)
Network Controller (this is Broadcom Wifi via a Lenovo-supplied driver & requires the offline .NET Framework 4.5.2 to be installed first)
PCI Device (this is the Realtek Card Reader slot)
PCI Simple Communications Controller (this is the Intel Management Engine software, a version I pulled from a compatible NUC for version 10; it requires the Kernel-Mode Driver Framework version 1.11 update from Microsoft to be installed first)
SM Bus Controller (this is the Intel Chipset driver)
Universal Serial Bus (USB) Controller (this is for the Intel USB 3.0 ports)

I also included an Intel HD graphics driver (4th-gen Haswell version here) in my ZIP kit so that it wouldn't read as a generic VGA adapter anymore (although it's not listed as a call out in Device Manager). The official Windows 8.1 drivers are available here if you need them for a fresh install of Windows 8.1 Professional using a full upgrade (instead of the Pro Pack upgrade...this method enables you to use a larger hard drive without having to resort to a torrented OEM image).

Progress recap:

Successful software upgrades:
OEM 8.1 with Bing (torrent only; removes WIMBOOT partition locking)
Windows 8.1 with Bing (stock, can be reinstalled externally using the HP recovery USB program from the factory install)
Pro Pack ($99 8.1 Pro upgrade with Windows Media Center)
OEM Windows 8.1 Pro (using official MCT ISO creator)
Win7 Pro 64b SP1 ($135 OEM)

Successful hardware upgrades:
RAM upgrade (up to 16gb)
HDD upgrade (up to 256gb)
M.2 USB adapter (for cloning)
Intel 7260NGW 802.11ac Wifi + Bluetooth (confirmed on an Amazon review)



Also, you should be able to add a 2.5" drive using a special cable (794966-001 - Cable - Prius SATA, L:65mm PR2), which unfortunately costs $75. I'm not sure if it takes over the M.2 port or acts as a second drive; I ordered a Pavilion Mini (includes a 2.5" drive) awhile ago to test with my Stream Mini with, but have not received it yet.

Sample business build: $655 (add an HDMI monitor with speakers for convenience)

$180 HP Stream Mini
$30 4GB (total of 6GB RAM)
$135 Windows 7 Pro 64-bit
$190 Office 2013 for Business
$120 256gb M.2 SSD

That gives you a pretty nice machine:

Windows 7
Office 2013
Dual-monitor output
Tiny size + quiet operation + low power
Dual-core CPU
6GB RAM
256gb SSD
Gigabit Ethernet + Wifi + Bluetooth
(4) USB 3.0 ports

Not an enormous cost savings over my typical $1k BRIX build (under $400 once you factor in VGA adapters if you're repurposing old monitors), which has an i5 (laptop chip, but has hyperthreading for an extra boost), but for what it is, not bad at all!

Greetings, I've been trying to install Windows 7 Pro 64-bit onto my new HP Mini Stream. I'm wondering if you had any issues as this device only has USB 3.0 ports and Windows 7 doesn't natively support USB 3. As I start the install process I get to the screen to start the installation and have no mouse or keyboard ability (I suspect as they are in USB 3.0 ports). I've attempted to slipstream the Intel USB 3 drivers into the Boot.WIM file but am still not having any luck.

If there is something I'm missing or something specific you where able to do to do this I would appreciate any help.

thanks!

 

[torak3x]

Successfully installed Win 7 32 bit. I bought a Adata SP900 128GB m2 ssd and installed Windows 7 32bit on this new ssd.

Drivers is an issue though, being 32bit makes the situation even worse.

Managed to get the wifi and card reader working, thanks to chippind's and Kaido's posts.

Now I am updating Windows Update before installing the rest of the drivers.. let's see how it goes.

Greetings, I've been trying to install Windows 7 Pro 64-bit onto my new HP Mini Stream. I'm wondering if you had any issues as this device only has USB 3.0 ports and Windows 7 doesn't natively support USB 3. As I start the install process I get to the screen to start the installation and have no mouse or keyboard ability (I suspect as they are in USB 3.0 ports). I've attempted to slipstream the Intel USB 3 drivers into the Boot.WIM file but am still not having any luck.

If there is something I'm missing or something specific you where able to do to do this I would appreciate any help.

thanks!

If you disable secure boot in the Stream's UEFI, it should work. Hold F10 to enter the UEFI while it is booting.

 

[ravicc]

Hi,

I found a SATA cable that works with stream mini

I just got "HP Envy 17 Series 6017B0421501 HDD Cable" from ebay and cut the little notches of the end to make the cable fit.

Take a look at the auctions on ebay to see what I mean.

It is a SATA connector at one end and a flex cable that goes into the connector on the motherboard in stream mini. I added a 2.5" SSD and it is detected properly by the UEFI and Win 8.1

Here is the exact cable I used

http://www.ebay.com/itm/191307469982?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

ravi c

 

[clintchammer]

Hi,

I found a SATA cable that works with stream mini

I just got "HP Envy 17 Series 6017B0421501 HDD Cable" from ebay and cut the little notches of the end to make the cable fit.

Take a look at the auctions on ebay to see what I mean.

It is a SATA connector at one end and a flex cable that goes into the connector on the motherboard in stream mini. I added a 2.5" SSD and it is detected properly by the UEFI and Win 8.1

Here is the exact cable I used

http://www.ebay.com/itm/191307469982?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

ravi c

Thank you for the great news. I am going to order this

 

[kenzz]

I have limited knowledge therefore I'm OK if anyone wants to tell me I'm talking nonsense ..... but I've been trying to understand how windows and all the other installed software fits on the 32GB SSD.

Rounding off figures, of the 32GB out of the box there's a 7.5GB recovery partition and 22GB otherwise available. Of that 22GB, factory re-set results in 8GB used and 14GB free. I'm aware that M$ possibly prepared this type of Windows to fit on a 32GB SSD to compete with Chromebooks and it works by having links that allow 8.1 to boot using the recovery partition. However, even then I don't understand how 8.1 plus hiberfil and pagefile plus all the installed software such as McAfee, Office 365 demo and Windows Apps can fit into that 8GB used of the 22GB C: drive partition. It seems to me there must be links between this 8GB used C: portion and the 7.5 recovery partition i.e. the McAfee software is installed in the 7.5GB recovery and, when needed, a link is activated from the 8GB used section of the C: drive. Similarly, much of the 8.1 software must be activated by a link from the C: drive to the recovery partition ... not just for booting.

What I also don't understand is why that 8GB used portion blows out to about 14GB used when installing only the first 72 important updates for 8.1. The 72 updates download is about 2GB but it results in an additional 6GB used on top of the original factory re-set of 8GB.

 

[clintchammer]

I have limited knowledge therefore I'm OK if anyone wants to tell me I'm talking nonsense ..... but I've been trying to understand how windows and all the other installed software fits on the 32GB SSD.

Rounding off figures, of the 32GB out of the box there's a 7.5GB recovery partition and 22GB otherwise available. Of that 22GB, factory re-set results in 8GB used and 14GB free. I'm aware that M$ possibly prepared this type of Windows to fit on a 32GB SSD to compete with Chromebooks and it works by having links that allow 8.1 to boot using the recovery partition. However, even then I don't understand how 8.1 plus hiberfil and pagefile plus all the installed software such as McAfee, Office 365 demo and Windows Apps can fit into that 8GB used of the 22GB C: drive partition. It seems to me there must be links between this 8GB used C: portion and the 7.5 recovery partition i.e. the McAfee software is installed in the 7.5GB recovery and, when needed, a link is activated from the 8GB used section of the C: drive. Similarly, much of the 8.1 software must be activated by a link from the C: drive to the recovery partition ... not just for booting.

What I also don't understand is why that 8GB used portion blows out to about 14GB used when installing only the first 72 important updates for 8.1. The 72 updates download is about 2GB but it results in an additional 6GB used on top of the original factory re-set of 8GB.

I spent a good few hours past midnight trying to figure this out when I got my unit.

It seems that once downloaded the Windows updates expand i.e. files get extracted I believe to the winsxs folder.

This is why you run out of space.

I just turned off Windows Updates on my unit.

Now I have purchased a 128GB m.2. unit as well as the sata cable above so that I run Windows 10 on this unit.

 

[kenzz]

I spent a good few hours past midnight trying to figure this out when I got my unit.

It seems that once downloaded the Windows updates expand i.e. files get extracted I believe to the winsxs folder.

This is why you run out of space.

I just turned off Windows Updates on my unit.

Now I have purchased a 128GB m.2. unit as well as the sata cable above so that I run Windows 10 on this unit.

I've investigated further and agree, the winsxs folder is the issue. But it is an even bigger issue for this type of windows installation on a small 32GB SSD which uses the WIMBoot system supposedly to save space. To quote M$ ..........
In a standard Windows installation (without WIMBoot), every file is written to disk at least twice: once in the compressed form for recovery, and once in the uncompressed form in the applied image. When the push-button reset feature is included, the compressed image remains on the PC. Having both the Windows installation and recovery image on the device can take up a lot of disk space.

When installing Windows with WIMBoot, you write the files to the disk only once, in compressed format. Next, you apply a set of pointer files into the Windows partition that point back to the compressed files in the Images partition. When the user adds files, apps, or updates, they’re added into the Windows partition. In WIMBoot, your WIMBoot image is also used as the recovery image, saving disk space.

My understanding (and I may be wrong) is that not all the windows updates are additional files; many updates are new files to replace existing. The old superseded files are backed up in the winsys folder and kept for 30 days to check if the new files work OK - if so then windows automatically deletes the backups from winsxs. Therefore a windows installation does not necessarily get larger and larger over a period of time. However, with the WIMBoot system, the superseded old files cannot be deleted from the Images partition and consequently the overall size of windows increases at a faster rate than a conventional installation. Also, presumably, there may be substantial changes to the pointer files in the Windows partition in order to point to the new files in the Windows partition instead of the old files in the Images partition.

Possibly that's the reason why there's a sudden lose of space on the ssd when installing only the first 72 of windows important updates. Out of interest I did a factory reset. It's sometimes necessary to put your own interpretation on figures for folder sizes etc but this is what I found.

Factory reset
Images D : drive 7.5GB full
Windows C: drive 6.7GB used, 15GB free
hiberfil+pagefile+swapfile 5GB
Windows folder overall expanded size 14.2GB; approx assume this is made up of actual size of 1.7GB on C: drive plus the equivalent of 12.5GB on the compressed D : drive
WinSxS folder included in the Windows folder expanded size was 6.4GB; approx assume this was made up of actual 1GB on C: drive and equivalent of 5.4GB on the compressed D : drive.

Factory reset plus download and install 72 important Windows updates (2GB)
Images D : drive 7.5GB full
Windows C: drive 13GB used, 8.7GB free
hiberfil+pagefile+swapfile 5GB
Windows folder overall expanded size 20.5GB; approx assume this is made up of actual size of 8GB on C: drive plus the equivalent of 12.5GB on the compressed D : drive (as above for Factory reset)
WinSxS folder included in the Windows folder expanded size was 11.2GB; approx assume this was made up of actual 5.8GB on the C:drive and equivalent to 5.4GB on the compressed D :drive.

Those figures don't add up precisely but it illustrates that factory reset plus installing the first 72 important windows updates (total 2GB) increases used space on the ssd Windows C: drive from 6.7GB to 13GB i.e. installing 2GB of updates results in an increase of 6.3GB of space used. Probably at least 5gb of that increase was due to the increase in size of the WinSxS folder.

Looking at my laptop with a HDD, a full size Windows 8.1 is about 19GB including important updates. My HP mini uses 13GB on the C: drive and 7.5GB on the compressed D : drive, total 20.5GB, to achieve the same purpose. I accept that the HP mini includes a recovery ability and McAfee and Office 365 demo in that 20.5GB but it would seem this WIMBoot system has no space saving advantage in practice.

I'm interested if anyone has found whether it's going to be possible to update to windows 10. Windows 8.1 with Bing qualifies for Windows 10 Home but I assume it's not possible to update the compressed Images partition through the M$ system therefore perhaps HP is going to have to produce their own new Images partition for download?

 

[Hugh R]

Hi,

I found a SATA cable that works with stream mini

I just got "HP Envy 17 Series 6017B0421501 HDD Cable" from ebay and cut the little notches of the end to make the cable fit.

This is quite exciting. And it's your first post.

Can you post a picture of the notches you had to make?

Thanks again!

 

[ravicc]

This is quiet exciting. And it's your first post.

Can you post a picture of the notches you had to make?

Thanks again!

Yeah, i was watching this thread for a long time to see if anyone has any idea on where to get the cable but took it up on myself to find a cable that looks similar.

If you look at the 2nd picture in the auction, you will see small white colored tabs on both side of the cable. All you need to do is remove those tabs so that the cable will actually slide in to the connector we have.
You will have to do it carefully so you do not cut or damage the ribbon cable itself.

I used a small scissor.

 

[clintchammer]

Is this correct?

[/IMG]

 

[Hugh R]

Yeah, i was watching this thread for a long time to see if anyone has any idea on where to get the cable but took it up on myself to find a cable that looks similar.

Thanks!

Is the connector "keyed"? Is it symmetric? In other words, is it easy to tell how to plug it in with the correct orientation?

 

[ravicc]

@clintchhammer, yes those are the tabs that you need to remove.

@hughr, Connector is not keyed. The cable will go in both ways. However, the contacts you see on the connector are only on one side.

There is a white locking mechanism on the connector, the contacts you see on the cable should face away from the white locking mechanism. I don't think you will break anything by inserting the cable wrong way, it just won't work.

I am traveling at the moment. But will try to take some pictures when i get home.

ravi c

 

[Kaido]

If anyone is still in the market, I just got a price drop alert. The blue HP Stream Mini is in-stock on Amazon & on sale for $178 shipped:

http://www.amazon.com/HP-Stream-200-010-Mini-Desktop/dp/B00R7R1GWK

 

[kenzz]

Interesting that a cable's been found and that it works with an SSD. However perhaps it should be noted that there may be problems if trying to use it with an HDD unless another OS is installed. The compressed WIMBoot system used for 8.1 on the mini is only advised for SSD's.

 

[clintchammer]

I got my Twin Mos 128GB m.2 SSD. Will give Windows 10 a shot tonight!

 

[jim20111]

I had reserved my windows 10 copy and just got a new 128GB m.2 ssd I need to install. Is the best thing to create the USB installation media from my existing setup and then replace the HDD and attempt to install using the USB installation?

Thanks!

 

[clintchammer]

I removed my 32GB m.2 SSD and stuck in the 128GB m.2 SSD and installed Windows 10 using USB boot media.

So far so good as it is at the "Getting ready" stage.

 

[jim20111]

I removed my 32GB m.2 SSD and stuck in the 128GB m.2 SSD and installed Windows 10 using USB boot media.

So far so good as it is at the "Getting ready" stage.

Thanks! Did it pick up the product key automatically from the bios?

 

[clintchammer]

Thanks! Did it pick up the product key automatically from the bios?

Nope it did not. I went to product activation and it was not activated.

I will get my official enterprise key on Aug 1 through my corporate account on MS Volume Licensing Centre.

BTW I did a clean install and not an upgrade so maybe that's why. BTW Windows 10 will chew up all the space on the 32GB m.2 SSD :'(

 

[clintchammer]

After fresh install of Windows 10 drivers being downloaded are:

Intel Corporation - Graphics Adapter WDDM 2.0
Realtek PCIE card reader
Realtek High Definition Audio

 

[jim20111]

Nope it did not. I went to product activation and it was not activated.

I will get my official enterprise key on Aug 1 through my corporate account on MS Volume Licensing Centre.

BTW I did a clean install and not an upgrade so maybe that's why. BTW Windows 10 will chew up all the space on the 32GB m.2 SSD :'(

Hmm... I'm hoping that I can retrieve the windows 8 product key from the bios with the use of this Windows OEM Product Key Tool. I found out about it from here.

That should work when it asks for the product key during install I would think.


Edit: Reading online, it seems that maybe I should try upgrading to Windows 10 using the existing SSD if it has enough space. Then when it's done, the activation of windows 10 is tied to my microsoft account and I don't need a key. I can do a fresh install with the new SSD in.

 

[clintchammer]

This is needed from Intel:

https://downloadcenter.intel.com/do...phics-Production-Driver-for-Windows-10-64-bit