How to create an instance of System.IO.Stream stream

You have to create an instance of one of the subclasses. Stream is an abstract class that can't be instantiated directly.

There are a bunch of choices if you look at the bottom of the reference here:

Stream Class | Microsoft Developer Network

The most common probably being FileStream or MemoryStream. Basically, you need to decide where you wish the data backing your stream to come from, then create an instance of the appropriate subclass.