Factory resetting laptop with broken screen

[Ali_47]

Hello
I currently have a lenovo y700 laptop with a completely destroyed screen. The only way to use the laptop is connecting it to a monitor. So i have someone who is trying to purchase the laptop off me but I need to remove all my files from the laptop before doing so. I factory reset the laptop but I am unable to see the display to continue with the reset setup. It simply wont display on the monitor no matter what I do. I have been using the windows+p option and fn+f4 (for my laptop) and nothing will let it display on my monitor. I tried to shut it down, turn it on and immediately close the lid but since I didnt go through the set up process (since i cant see the display), it automatically does a backup and Im back to how the laptop was with all my files on it. Is there any solution? thank you for your help!

 

[derekullo]

Doing a factory reset if the laptop won't permanently delete all the files.

Data recovery software can easily restore deleted files.

The only way to do this would be burn a cd with Darik's Boot and Nuke DBAN and have it low level format the hard drive.

It takes 5+ hours to low level format a hard drive.

Once the hard drive is low level formatted then you could reinstall the operating system.

As for the monitor issue, it should display the POST info on the second monitor when the computer boots.

This should allow you to do the above steps without having to deal with your current Windows installation.

 

[velocityg4]

You could just pull the hard drive and plug it into another computer. Then wipe it with CCleaner. If DBAN is too daunting or you can't get it to work. Entire Drive and 3 passes should be plenty in the CCleaner Drive Wiper options.

Although I like DBAN. I've found it can be quite finicky with newer computers. I use Hiren's BootCD now. Booting into the Linux environment. Then running Parted Magic. Using the nwipe option.