[Fix] Windows 8 or 10 Doesn’t Boot in HP Stream 7 with Error 0xc000000f

So, you tried to upgrade to Windows 10 from Windows 8.1 with Bing on HP Stream 7. But things went wrong as Windows 10 didn’t work properly, as Microsoft is yet to roll out an update compatible with Stream 7 for Windows 10. So, the only option you have currently is to revert to Windows 8. But upon the reverting process, many users are reporting that they’re getting error 0xc000000f and then installation halts. Also, error 0xc000000f is very common for HP Stream 7 users and is one of the major startup issues. So, let’s fix this issue:

Fix Windows 10 Doesn’t Boot in HP Stream 7 with Error 0xc000000f

There are some pre-requisite to fix error 0xc000000f:

HP Stream 7 Error 0xc000000f

  • Powered USB Hub
  • OTG Cable
  • USB Mouse and Keyboard
  • Recovery USB

If you don’t have a Recovery USB, you can make one by downloading recovery image from this link. Instructions to make recovery USB are given in the zip file from link itself. In brief, i can tell you that it cleans the drive to FAT 32, set it to PRIMARY and Active. Then you just need to copy the files and folders from the image files to USB Drive. Be cautious while creating this.

Also, do not copy a generic Windows 8 or 8.1 ISO to USB drive using the Windows 7 USB/DVD tool or RUFUS. You must use WIMBOOT for this operation, or you’ll not get a compressed Windows and you’ll end up loosing more storage space than stock recovery.

You can install another edition of Windows 8.1 like Pro, assuming you have it and you’re making WIMBOOT image using that as source.

You can also install Windows Technical Preview if it get installed properly. (However i won’t recommend doing so)

  1. Connect the OTG Cable to USB Hub and Tablet and Power ON USB Hub only.
  2. Now connect the Mouse, Keyboard, and recovery USB to Power Hub.
  3. Now it’s time to turn ON Tablet and boot it directly to BIOS by holding down the Power + Volume Down button at the same time until Stream 7 shows you the Startup menu.
  4. Navigate to System Configurations > Boot Options by pressing F10. Now we require to revert these settings at default.
  5. If Secure Boot is disabled, then the first thing you need is to clear All Secure Boot Keys.
  6. Load HP Factory Default Keys to Secure Boot.
  7. Enable Secure Boot.
  8. Also, ensure that the UEFI boot order must be as follows:
    • OS Boot Manager
    • USB Diskette
    • USB CD/DVD
    • Network Adapter
  9. Now you need to reboot your Tablet and return quickly to the Startup menu. Hence, Save and exit Boot Options by pressing F10, and as soon as you press that, Tablet will restart. So, as soon as you press F10, hold the Volume Down button and then hit Yes.
  10. Assuming you’re back on Startup menu, Press F9 and select Boot from EFI File. Since you have the recovery USB already connected to Power Hub, you will be presented with two options, i.e. RECOVERY and Others could be SYSTEM or any label (can vary for users).
  11. Select RECOVERY and then select bootmgr.efi.
  12. Tablet will restart and would boot from USB and shall start the Windows Recovery process.
  13. If asked, select your Keyboard Layout and Navigate to Troubleshoot > Reset your PC using arrow keys. Now you’ll be presented with either of two steps i.e., Step 14 or 15.
  14. If the drive partition/boot manager is not damaged, it will ask for a recovery key. You can skip this step and hide the Numpad, revealing the option Skip this drive if you don’t have the recovery key anymore, or just really want to start anew.
  15. If the drive partition/boot manager is damaged, the Reset will proceed and will ask you to Select A Target Operating System. In my case, it was Windows 8.1.
  16. Now recovery would start, showing a screen of Reset Your PC. Hit Yes > Yes, Re-partition The Drives > Fully Clean the Drive > Reset.
  17. Tablet would go further and install Windows 8 or 8.1, whichever applies to you again.
  18. Upon completion, you’ll be greeted by a BIOS screen asking if you want to clear the TPM Keys? Select Yes, and a new Key for the re-installed operating system, and you’ll have an HP Stream 7 with factory default settings.

If later on, Your HP Stream 7 is stuck on boot. And then suddenly it starts “Preparing Automatic Repair,” but nothing really happens. Running System diagnostic finds no problem, but you might on a manual check on the “System Information” screen that the “Born on Date” is “00/00/0000.” The primary battery date is “current/date.”

The only solution till now known is by Resetting CMOS. All you need to do is to leave the Tablet, till it runs out of battery. You can also drain the battery faster by running diagnostic tests in the UEFI startup. Navigate to

This shall drain the battery faster. Another way of spending battery quickly is by inserting USB Hub on the Tablet and don’t give Power to USB Hub. Connect Keyboard, mouse, and any USB drive with it. This shall too drain the battery fast.

Now, when you Power it back ON, Tablet will show a message of “Resetting CMOS“. It should now work fine, but the last thing you need to do is to update the EFI firmware to the latest version. This shall stop the startup errors to repeat again.

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9 COMMENTS

  1. Hi, I am trying to recover my HP Stream 7 tablet. I have followed your instruction word by word (downloaded the Recovery image from your link) but as soon as I select the bootmgr.efi the HP logo appears with some spinning dots and after a few seconds tablet just turns off. What am I doing wrong?

    Also I don’t understand this bit “Also, do not copy a generic Windows 8 or 8.1 ISO to USB drive using the Windows…”. Does that mean that after downloading the recovery file and putting it on the usb drive I still need to copy Windows files onto it? (I din’t, thought the recovery file included the original Win 8.1 with Bing).

    Kind Regards,

  2. Thanks, this worked great.

    One question:

    How does one “update the EFI firmware”, as mentioned in the final paragraph, because I have the issue where the device won’t restart properly. It goes into an Automatic Repair ‘loop of doom’.

    Is the EFI firmware update a file I should download from somewhere?

    Or do I click through the BIOS menus and tell it to execute an update, or something?

    Cheers!

    Thanks, and all the best. 🙂

  3. Or do I get some files from somewhere, put them on a USB stick, and boot with the stick, or something?

    I don’t want to get it wrong, so a little description of that process would be much appreciated. 🙂

  4. I am seriously having no luck with this.

    I thought I was all sorted. Had Windows 8.1 set up really great, installed all my favorite apps.

    But I cannot RESTART the device, it goes to the Automatic Repair loop of doom.

    Running the device flat did prompt the “CMOS RESET” white text on a black screen, but it didn’t seem to help.

  5. OK! I FIXED MY STREAM 7!

    In the end (after a lot of mucking around), all I had to do was…
    * Hold down Power and Volume Down when powering on, to get into the STARTUP SETTINGS.
    * Go into BIOS (F10).
    * Disable “Boot from CD”.

    Done. Now it works!

    I initially was given the device with Windows 10 on it, but got stuck in the “Automatic Recovery” loop, never able to boot into the OS. (I probably could have fixed all my issues right back then by doing my steps above, for all I know).

    But I ended up downloading the Windows 8.1 files and making the USB stick, and installing Windows 8.1. So now I’m gonna stick with Windows 8.1, as I find it quite zippy and nice.

    That is all. Happy ending to the story. Yay!

    Not sure why no one else has mentioned this very simple solution, perhaps it’s just me, and other people have a different sort of problem. Also, my problem may have been resolved by the above steps, but in combination with any of the miscellaneous things I’ve tried over the past few days.

    But honestly, I think it was just the device trying to boot off the wrong drive (perhaps the hidden System volume that you can see in DiskPart from the command prompt), but whatever the case, I think that fixed it!

  6. Along the way, I did also (perhaps only incidentally)…

    * Tried to update the BIOS, had some trouble, but ended up just rolling back from F.07 to F.06. (Probably not relevant).

    * I did run the battery totally flat, then power on the device, it gave the CMOS RESET message, so I quickly unplugged the power cable, and plugged in my OTG cable with keyboard attached, and pressed ENTER to restart (not exactly sure how that process is meant to be done, and wasn’t even sure if it had executed the reset, no confirmation). I DO find now that the time in the BIOS is correct. Previously, when I was using Windows 10, the time and date were wrong. [So THIS step may well have been useful or relevant. But also, may not have been necessary to getting the tablet booting into Windows.]

    * I also mucked around in Command Prompt (via the troubleshooting startup area) and typed in various things like…
    bootrec /fixmbr
    bootrec /fixboot
    bootrec /scannow
    chkdsk /f

    [But I honestly don’t know if any of those things even really found problems, or made fixes, etc.]

    Those are my findings! Your mileage may vary. 😀

    All the best out there everyone!

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