Borrowings (Details) (USD $)									3 Months Ended
	Jan. 31, 2012	Oct. 31, 2011	Jan. 31, 2012 Commercial paper	Oct. 31, 2011 Commercial paper	Jan. 31, 2012 Current portion of long-term debt	Oct. 31, 2011 Current portion of long-term debt	Jan. 31, 2012 Obligation related to notes payable to banks, lines of credit, uncommitted line of credit and other debt	Oct. 31, 2011 Obligation related to notes payable to banks, lines of credit, uncommitted line of credit and other debt	Jan. 31, 2012 Credit facility expiring May 2012	Jan. 31, 2012 Credit facility expired February 2015
Notes Payable and Short-Term Borrowings
Amount outstanding	$ 5,438,000,000	$ 8,083,000,000	$ 520,000,000	$ 3,215,000,000	$ 4,341,000,000	$ 4,345,000,000	$ 577,000,000	$ 523,000,000
Weighted average interest rate (as a percent)			1.40%	0.40%	2.00%	2.40%	2.90%	2.90%
Deposits associated with banking activities							366,000,000	355,000,000
U.S. commercial paper authorization			16,000,000,000
Subsidiaries' commercial paper authorization			1,000,000,000
Subsidiaries' commercial paper authorization, available for Hewlett-Packard International Bank PLC			500,000,000
Term of credit facility (in years)									P5Y	P4Y
Amount available under credit facility	7,500,000,000								3,000,000,000	4,500,000,000
Available borrowing resources, other than 2009 Shelf Registration	$ 17,300,000,000		$ 16,000,000,000				$ 1,300,000,000