[SOLVED] Factory Reset on Laptop not doing anything

Mar 19, 2020
1
0
10
Hey guys might be a weird question but so far no googling has helped me.

Every 6ish months I like to factory reset my laptop giving it a clean slate. I generally do this between school breaks but for whatever reason my laptop has slowed down a lot. The better option would be to get a desktop or a new laptop but you have to work with what you got.

Ways I've tried so far are:
Settings > Update & Security > Recovery > Reset PC [Get Started]

Settings > Update & Security > Recovery > Advanced Startup [Restart now]

Windows Security > Device Performance and Health > Fresh Start > Additional Information > [Get Started]

All of which have done.... nothing.
What else can I possibly do to reset my laptop to new? Why can't it be as easy as resetting a phone?
 
Solution
Why can't it be as easy as resetting a phone?
Because the PC windows ecosystem is far more varied than a phone.

Instead of "Factory Reset", how about just a full wipe and reinstall of Windows.
Those are not the same thing.

USAFRet

Titan
Moderator
Why can't it be as easy as resetting a phone?
Because the PC windows ecosystem is far more varied than a phone.

Instead of "Factory Reset", how about just a full wipe and reinstall of Windows.
Those are not the same thing.

 
Solution

Colif

Win 11 Master
Moderator
Every 6ish months I like to factory reset my laptop giving it a clean slate. I generally do this between school breaks but for whatever reason my laptop has slowed down a lot. The better option would be to get a desktop or a new laptop but you have to work with what you got.

Fun fact, due to way Win 10 updates itself, every 6 months you get a new install anyway so if your schedule doesn't match theirs, you might find you actually getting a clean install every 3 months.

I would actually wait until April as unless CV stops Microsoft releasing the new build, it should be out about mid month. I have suggested this before and MS have delayed the version update, but I can't tell that future, just what should happen.
 

Colif

Win 11 Master
Moderator
Never do a factory reset. if you want to do it clean you format and reinstall
upsides to resets - they only touch C drive so if you have created additional partitions on the drive, you don't have to move all that info to another drive 1st
Factory resets under 10 won't take you any further back than the last version update and if you keep files/settings, you don't have to install that many updates.

Downsides
I seen it break windows, I seen it delete windows completely. I seen them BSOD... but then I only see the downsides and don't know the actual rate of failure of resets.
On older laptops its possible it will reinstall an even older version of WIndows and you have to reinstall win 10 again. Lots of time wasted. Also install old drivers that might cause errors in 10

I tend to clean install but then I only have windows + everything that needs to be reinstalled on my ssd, so it just wastes time. I don't lose anything. Only reinstalled win 10 twice and both times to fix problems that ended up not being windows anyway.
 

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