Resolved Reset to Factory

A friend gave me a 4 year old HP Laptop as she replaced it with a new desktop. She left all her programs and data on and asked me to clean all her data off. It appears to me that a Factory Reset is the way to go as it would remove all her information and start me off with a fresh unit which is what I would like.

I have never done this. Do I need any external discs or is the recovery built in to the unit. The laptop was upgraded to W11 from W10 a year or so ago. Will the factory reset restore to W10 or W11. If it restores to W10, will I be able to do the upgrade. back to W11?

Or - should I just clean her data off and continue to use the unit as is with W11? I use both W10 and W11 on other computers I have and don't really have a preference between the two.

 

Hi Robert, I would Right click Start > Settings > System > Recovery > reset this PC > Reinstall Windows and don't retain files.
It will install W11 without problems. Go for it.

 

I think that there is less likelihood of W10 showing up Steve, as the upgrade was over 12 months ago.
Even if W10 does install, it should be able to upgrade to W11 anyway.

 

Robert, Your Thread reads:
It appears to me that a Factory Reset is the way to go as it would remove all her information and start me off with a fresh unit which is what I would like.
As I understand it, there is no "Factory Reset" with computers.
The process as I stated earlier works.
Does the laptop have a partition with a "Recovery OS''?

A number of years ago, I had a laptop with such a partition and there was no problem upgrading the Drive from W8/8.1 to W10.
There is usually a Failsafe process to follow to access that Recovery partition.
That Partition is still on the laptop HDD.
I would imagine that W11 should be the answer as MS have stopped support for W10.

P.S. Should probably have used the word "Foolproof".

 

I'm still here - haven't faded away. Trying to come to grips with all the options that I appear to have. I have some more questions:

• RL - Regarding your initial post, when I get to System, there is no "Recovery" option. I checked Advanced Setting but didn't find anything that gave me an option to reset or recover.
  
• RL and Steve - I had the same question about the reset going back to 10 rather than 11. I would assume it shouldn't make a lot of difference - If it goes to 10 then I would think I could then do the upgrade to 11. Am I correct on that.? Not a big deal because I can use it in 10 configuration - although I would prefer 11.
  
• Evan - I am still looking at your suggestion regarding a fresh install of 10. Your link offers up a couple of options and a number of possibilities. I still need to look at the options closer. Will be looking at that later today. Been teaching an Internet Class and just finished so I can concentrate on this a bit more.

Thanks for all of your inputs.

 

One other question. During all this, will I need a Windows Activation Key or is it stored somewhere on the unit so Windows knows where to find it? I don't have any of that available from the lady who gave me the laptop.

 

Sorry Robert,

This process is in W11.

In W10 > Settings > Windows Update & Security > Recovery > Reset etc.

 

Evan - decided to go with Option 1 - Clean Install. I am now creating a flash drive installation media. I was given the option of upgrading the machine directly or creating an installation which is what I am doing. Is it better to use the installation media or just do the upgrade?simply do the other o

 

Hit Post Reply too soon. Ignore all after the question mark. Also, I created an installation flash drive.

 

Windows 10 is up and running. I think I will run it a while using 10 before I look at upgrading to 11.
I used the boot-able flash drive and it only took about 15 minutes. Now running W10 updates.
Thanks to all who responded to my thread. Lifetime subscription to WindowsBBS still remains as one of the best investments I have made.