Resetting Your PC to Factory Settings

Reset with the Remove Everything option is very similar to running Reset with Save My Files except.

Warning:
Resetting with Remove Everything on your PC wipes out everything and forces you to start all over from scratch. You even have to enter new account names and passwords, and re-install everything, including Windows Universal apps. Your Microsoft account settings remain intact, as does any data you've stored in the cloud (for example, in OneDrive or in Dropbox). But the rest gets hurled down the drain.

In addition, when you're done, you'll have a factory fresh copy of Windows 10. If you're running one of the (many) Windows 10 PCs that ship with crapware preinstalled, all of it will suddenly reappear. (If you bought your PC from Microsoft's store, it won't have any crapware - that's the promise behind Signature Edition PCs. Microsoft won't sell anything that's sullied.)

If you're selling your PC, giving it away, or even sending it off to a recycling service, Reset with Remove Everything is a good idea. If you're keeping your PC, only attempt Reset with Remove Everything when you've run two or more Resets with Keep My Files, and they haven't solved the problem. Reset with Remove Everything is very much like a clean install. You're nuking everything on your PC, although you get your factory drivers back, along with all the factory-installed crud.

With that as a preamble, here's how to nuke, er, Reset your PC with Remove Everything:

1. Make very, very sure you understand that your PC will turn out like a brand-new PC, fresh off the store shelves. Also make sure that you have your 25-character Windows installation key.
   Absolutely nothing survives the wipeout.
2. Click or tap the Start icon, the Settings icon, and Update & Security.
3. On the left, choose Recovery.
   You see the Reset options.
4. Under the heading Reset This PC, tap or click Get Started.
   Windows asks if you want to keep your files, or obliterate everything.
5. Tap or click Remove Everything.
   Reset asks whether you want to merely delete your old files or whether you want to positively nuke them.
   • The Just Remove My Files option reformats the hard drive, but as you no doubt know, data can be recovered from a reformatted hard drive.
   • The Fully Clean the Drive option writes random data on every sector of the hard drive. Although, in theory, the NSA may be able to reconstruct what's on the hard drive, in practice, it'll be very difficult (but not impossible!) to retrieve anything.
   PCs with solid-state drives will be handled correctly, in accordance with your instructions.
6. Tap or click the Just Remove My Files option or the Remove Files and Clean the Drive option, depending on your intended disposition of the PC.
   The Just Remove My Files option takes about five minutes on a PC with a small hard drive. The Remove Files and Clean the Drive option can take hours. Many hours.
   

   Regardless of which option you choose, when Reset is finished, you end up staring at a screen that asks for your product key. Now that's a complete, scorched-earth install.

Starting Fresh

If the thought of losing factory-installed drivers doesn't phase you (typically, a quick run through Windows Update will get them all re-installed), and the thought of getting rid of all the manufacturer-installed junk thrills you, the Start Fresh option is for you.

Here's how to get a really fresh copy of Windows 10:

1. Click or tap the Start icon, the Settings icon, and Update & Security. On the left, choose Recovery.
   You see the Recovery options shown.
2. At the bottom, click the link under More Recovery Options to go to the Start Fresh website (which may change from time to time).
3. Download the Start Fresh tool and run it by double-clicking it.
   Microsoft shows you an End User License Agreement.
4. Read all 3,141 pages of the EULA, call your lawyer, and click Agree.
   Start Fresh displays the dialog box shown.
5. Do one of the following:
   
   • If you want to keep your files, select Keep Personal Files Only and then click Install. The files will be kept in the User folder, and in the root of the C: drive; see the description about Keep My Files in the "Resetting Your PC" section. Start Fresh proceeds much like a Reset with Keep My Files, except it uses a clean copy of Win10.
   • If you don't want to keep anything, select Nothing and then click Install. Again, Start Fresh proceeds as in a Reset with Remove Everything, except it's done with a clean copy of Windows 10. You are not given the option of reformatting your hard drive.
   In either case, when you click Install, the installer does exactly that. You don't have a chance to say "oops." If you're caught in the middle of a reset and don't want it - and you see this admonition in time - you can X out of the installation dialog and choose to halt.

No doubt Microsoft will tweak the Start Fresh utility from time to time. As it isn't part of Windows 10 itself, MS has much greater leeway for making changes.