A reader’s having an issue installing Windows 11 on a laptop without much hard drive space.
“You asked about the “How the new update to Windows 10 working out. So far working smoothly. The only challenge was getting to load on my HP Steam laptop. It’s a great budget laptop but there really isn’t a lot of room. I have started to load portable apps on a flash drive. Is it possible to load a flash drive with Windows 11 and use it as the OS for the laptop? Will Windows update go to the flash drive? I really enjoy your website and have appreciated the help you have provided over the years with my PC woes. Thanks for sharing your knowledge.”
The challenge of an inexpensive laptop with very little disc space like the Stream is making sure there’s enough room for everything. You won’t be able to run Windows 11 from an external drive, but I do have some suggestions for clearing up space on your Stream.
Remember, a stream is designed as a WiFi appliance more than a laptop. Storing documents, photos, and music in the cloud or on an external drive can clear up a lot of space. Keeping portable apps on an external drive can do the same. Remember, you can uninstall any Windows store apps you aren’t using at the moment and then re-download them if you need them.
A smart move to make before a major update on the Stream, might be to remove as many apps as possible. Especially space hogs like Microsoft Office. You can always reinstall when the update is complete.