How to Factory Reset a Laptop or PC: the Windows 11 and 10 Steps, and Every Brand’s Recovery Key
To factory reset a Windows laptop or PC, open Settings > System > Recovery > Reset PC on Windows 11, or Settings > Update & Security > Recovery > Get started on Windows 10. Pick Keep my files if you are keeping the machine, or Remove everything if it is leaving your hands. There is no single factory reset key: HP documents F11, Acer documents Alt + F10, Dell documents F12, Lenovo uses a pinhole button you press with a paperclip, and on an Asus the key is F2, which opens the BIOS rather than a reset.
Which one are you here for?
- Just show me the stepsWindows 11 and Windows 10. The fastest route
- What will I loseKeep my files still deletes your apps. What gets deleted
- Mine is an HP, Dell, Lenovo, Asus or AcerFive brands, five different routes. The key for each one
- I am selling it or giving it awayOne setting most guides never name. Do this instead
- I cannot sign inReset without your password
- It will not boot at allInterrupt the start twice on purpose. The way in
- It has been stuck for agesA black screen for 15 minutes is normal. How long it takes
- Will this even fix my problemWhen a reset is the wrong fix
We sell computers, so here is where we stand: there is nothing for sale on this page and no price from our own shop on it. The Windows steps are checked against Microsoft's documentation, and the recovery route for each brand was read on that manufacturer's own support site rather than copied from another guide.
- The fastest way to factory reset a laptop or PC in Windows 11 and 10
- What you lose when you reset a laptop to factory settings
- What to do before you reset your computer to factory settings
- How to factory reset an HP, Dell, Lenovo, Asus or Acer laptop
- How to factory reset a Windows laptop for a new owner
- How to factory reset a laptop or PC without your password
- How to reset a PC that will not boot
- How long does it take to reset a PC, and what if Reset this PC looks stuck?
- Is F11 or F12 the factory reset key?
- When a factory reset is the wrong fix
- What we would actually do
- Quick answers
A factory reset reinstalls Windows. It clears out software mess and gives you a machine that behaves like a new one. It will not repair a failing SSD, a broken charger, or a laptop that has no power at all.
Two things trip people up. The first is that Keep my files still deletes every program you installed. The second is that the recovery key printed in half the guides online belongs to one brand and not to yours. Both are below.
The fastest way to factory reset a laptop or PC in Windows 11 and 10
This is the route that works on any Windows machine, whoever made it.
On Windows 11:
- Open
Settings. - Go to
System. - Open
Recovery. - Under
Recovery options, chooseReset PC.
On Windows 10:
- Open
Settings. - Go to
Update & Security. - Open
Recovery. - Under
Reset this PC, chooseGet started.
Windows then asks you two separate questions. The first is what you want to keep. The second is where the fresh copy of Windows should come from. People often read them as one question, which is why the wrong option gets picked.
Question one: what do you want to keep?
| Option | Your personal files | Your apps and settings | Pick it when |
|---|---|---|---|
Keep my files | Stay | Removed | The PC is slow or unstable and you are keeping it |
Remove everything | Deleted | Removed | You want a completely clean machine |
Clean data (a setting inside Remove everything) | Deleted, then the drive is cleaned | Removed | You are selling, gifting or recycling it |
Question two: where does Windows come from?
| Option | What it does | Pick it when |
|---|---|---|
Cloud download | Downloads a fresh copy of Windows from Microsoft | You suspect the Windows files on the PC are damaged |
Local reinstall | Rebuilds Windows from the recovery files already on the drive | Your connection is slow or capped |
If the machine is plugged in and the internet is steady, choose Cloud download. Microsoft’s description is that it downloads a fresh copy of Windows from the cloud with all the latest updates, so it does not rebuild the system from files that may already be corrupted. That download is a full copy of Windows, so it is not the option for a metered or capped connection. Microsoft’s note on Local reinstall is that it may not include the latest updates.
What you lose when you reset a laptop to factory settings
Keep my files does not mean leave the PC alone. Microsoft’s wording is that personal files like documents and pictures should remain intact, but apps and settings will be removed. Every program you installed goes, and you reinstall them yourself afterwards.
Remove everything is the real wipe. Personal files, apps and settings all go.
Inside Remove everything there is a setting called Clean data. Microsoft describes it as removing your files and cleaning the drive, says it makes it harder for other people to recover files you have removed, and warns that it might take some time. That is the setting that matters when the machine is leaving your house, and it is the one most guides never mention.
The line most guides leave out. Microsoft says plainly that the data erasure in Reset this PC “is targeted at consumers and does not meet government and industry data erasure standards.” For your own laptop that is fine. For a work machine that held client records, regulated data or anything under a retention policy, a consumer reset is not the tool. That is a job for a certified erasure process or physical destruction of the drive.
What to do before you reset your computer to factory settings
Five minutes here saves you a bad afternoon.
- Back up anything you care about.
Keep my filesis not a backup, and a reset that stops part-way can leave you with neither your files nor a working Windows. - Write down the licence keys and logins for software you will need to reinstall. Your browser password manager is about to be wiped with everything else.
- Find your BitLocker recovery key before you start. If the drive is encrypted, Windows can ask for it during the reset, and it is stored in your Microsoft account at account.microsoft.com/devices/recoverykey. Getting to that page is much easier from a phone than from a laptop that will not go past the recovery prompt.
- Keep it plugged into the mains. Not a power bank, not a nearly-flat battery.
- Think about whether one change caused this. If the trouble started after a single driver, update or app, roll that back first. A reset is a large hammer, and if the machine is simply slow rather than broken there is a shorter list of things to try first.
How to factory reset an HP, Dell, Lenovo, Asus or Acer laptop
Here is where most advice online goes wrong. Guides tell you to hold a key at startup without saying which laptop that key belongs to, so you tap F11 on an Acer and nothing happens.
The five biggest Windows laptop brands each document a different route. We read each one on the maker’s own support site, and this is what they say.
| Brand | What the maker documents | Where it takes you |
|---|---|---|
| HP | Restart, then press F11 repeatedly straight away | Windows Recovery Environment, then Troubleshoot > Reset this PC |
| Acer | Press Alt + F10 as soon as the machine starts booting | Acer’s own restore, back to factory defaults |
| Dell | Tap F12 at the Dell logo, then pick SupportAssist OS Recovery from the One Time Boot Menu | Dell’s recovery environment, which can also repair or reset Windows |
| Lenovo (ideapad) | With the laptop off, press the Novo button with the tip of a paperclip | The Novo Button Menu, which includes System Recovery |
| Asus | Two documented routes: Shift and Restart into Windows Recovery Environment, then MyASUS in WinRE. Or F2 at boot for the UEFI BIOS, then Cloud Recovery | Cloud Recovery, which downloads a fresh image and erases the drive |
What that table means for you. The brand tool and the Windows reset are not the same thing. HP’s key and Dell’s key just open a recovery menu quicker than Windows would; the actual reset is still the Windows one. Acer and Asus point at their own restore tools, which wipe the drive and put the machine back to how it shipped.
Three practical notes. Asus’s F2 is the BIOS key rather than a reset key, and Cloud Recovery is one of the things you can start from inside the BIOS. Lenovo’s Novo button is a small hole with an upside-down U arrow beside it, usually on the side or next to the power button, and it does not exist on every model. Dell’s SupportAssist OS Recovery is only on certain Dell models that shipped with Windows 10 or 11 from the factory, and Dell says it starts on its own when the computer cannot boot even after repeated attempts.
If you cannot get any of these to fire, you have lost nothing. Go back to the Windows route, which works on all of them.
How to factory reset a Windows laptop for a new owner
This is the version to follow if the machine is being sold, gifted or recycled.
- Back up anything you want to keep.
- Open
Settings > System > Recoveryon Windows 11, orSettings > Update & Security > Recoveryon Windows 10. - Choose
Reset PC. - Pick
Remove everything. - Turn on the
Clean datasetting. This is the step most guides skip, and it is the one that cleans the drive rather than just emptying it. - Pick
Cloud downloadif the connection is good. - Leave it plugged in and let it finish.
- Go to account.microsoft.com/devices, find the device, and remove it.
- Unlink it as well, so it stops counting against your Microsoft Store device limit.
Step eight and step nine are two different actions on the same page, and Microsoft lists them separately. Most people do neither, then wonder why a laptop they sold last year still appears in their account.
How to factory reset a laptop or PC without your password
You do not need to sign in to reset a Windows machine. You need physical access to it, which is the whole security model here.
- Get to the sign-in screen.
- Hold
Shift. - Select
Power > Restart, keepingShiftheld. - Choose
Troubleshoot. - Choose
Reset this PC. - Pick
Keep my filesorRemove everything.
One thing can stop you: encryption. If BitLocker or Device Encryption is on, Windows asks for the recovery key before it will go any further, and no key means no reset. That is deliberate. It is also why a stolen laptop is not trivially wiped and resold.
If the machine is second-hand and you never had the account, the key sits with whoever set it up. Ask them, or expect to reinstall Windows from installation media instead.
How to reset a PC that will not boot
If Windows never reaches the sign-in screen, you can still reset it. Windows Recovery Environment lives on a separate part of the drive, and it does not need Windows to start.
Microsoft documents a deliberately blunt way in: interrupt the start twice on purpose.
- Turn the machine on and wait for the Windows logo or the maker’s logo.
- As soon as the logo appears, hold the power button until it shuts down.
- Do that a second time.
- Turn it on again. On the third start, Windows should boot into the recovery environment by itself.
From there choose Troubleshoot > Reset this PC and carry on as normal. Your brand may also have its own way in, which is the table above.
If Reset this PC itself fails, or the install is damaged badly enough that recovery will not load, the next step is a clean install from official Windows installation media on a USB stick. If what you are actually seeing is a repeating blue screen with a stop code, read the code first, because it often names the faulty driver and saves you the whole reset.
How long does it take to reset a PC, and what if Reset this PC looks stuck?
Microsoft does not publish a time, and anyone who gives you an exact one is guessing. What it does depend on is easy to state: the reset is quickest on an SSD with Local reinstall, slower on a mechanical hard drive, slower again with Cloud download because Windows has to fetch a full copy of the operating system first. Microsoft’s own note on Clean data is that it “might take some time”, because the drive is being cleaned rather than just emptied. Plan for a machine you will not be using for the rest of the afternoon rather than for a coffee break.
Now the part that costs people their machines. Microsoft’s own warning is worth quoting exactly:
“During the resetting process, it’s possible that your screen might go black for a long period of time (occasionally upwards of 15 minutes) and that your device might attempt to restart itself. Manually attempting to restart the device yourself during this process could cause the reset to fail.”
Read that again if you are fifteen minutes into a black screen right now. The screen going dark is expected. The machine restarting on its own is expected. Holding the power button because it looks frozen is the thing that breaks it, and Asus prints the same warning on its own support pages.
So what should you actually do? Check that the power light is on and the laptop is on mains power, then leave it alone for at least an hour before you decide anything is wrong. If the same screen is still there the next morning with no drive activity at all, then it has genuinely failed, and the way out is a clean install from Windows installation media rather than another reset attempt.
Is F11 or F12 the factory reset key?
Both, and neither. There is no Windows-wide factory reset key.
F11 is the key HP documents for its own laptops. F12 is the key Dell documents, and it opens a boot menu rather than a reset. On an Acer you want Alt + F10. On an Asus it is F2, which opens the BIOS, and Cloud Recovery sits inside it. On a Lenovo ideapad there is no key at all, just a pinhole button. Press the wrong one and you will usually land in the BIOS or the boot menu, which is harmless but not what you wanted.
The route that never depends on the badge is Settings > Recovery inside Windows, or Shift and Restart from the sign-in screen.
When a factory reset is the wrong fix
A reset clears software problems. It cannot repair hardware, and reinstalling Windows on a dying drive usually makes the day worse rather than better.
Do not reset if:
- The laptop has no power at all, or will not charge.
- The screen is cracked, blank with the backlight clearly off, or showing lines.
- The drive is making noises, or Windows keeps throwing file-system errors and disk warnings.
- The machine gets very hot and shuts down. That is cooling, not Windows.
- The problem started yesterday after one specific update, driver or app.
- You only want to repair Windows while keeping everything. Windows 11 has a separate tool for that at
Settings > System > Recovery > Fix problems using Windows Update > Reinstall now, which Microsoft says preserves your apps, files and settings.
Storage is the one worth testing before you commit. A drive that is failing will often let a reset start and then stall halfway, and now you have neither your files nor a working machine. Our guide to an SSD that is not detected covers how to check. If the machine turns out to be beyond saving, what to look for in the next laptop is a separate question with a separate answer.
What we would actually do
- Selling or gifting it:
Remove everything,Clean dataon, then remove and unlink the device from the Microsoft account. - Slow and cluttered but you are keeping it:
Keep my files, and accept that you are reinstalling your programs. - Windows 11 damaged but you want your apps: try
Fix problems using Windows Updatebefore a full reset. It reinstalls the same version and keeps your apps, files and settings. - It will not boot: interrupt the start twice, get into recovery, reset from there.
- Work machine with sensitive data: do not rely on
Reset this PC. Microsoft says it is not built to that standard. - Classic hardware symptoms: stop blaming Windows and test the hardware.
Quick answers
Neither is universal. F11 is HP's documented key and F12 is Dell's, which opens a boot menu rather than a reset. Acer uses Alt + F10, Asus uses F2 to reach the BIOS, and Lenovo ideapads use a pinhole Novo button and no key at all. The route that works on every brand is Settings > Recovery > Reset PC.
Choose Remove everything, then turn on the Clean data setting so the drive is cleaned rather than just emptied. Let the reset finish without interrupting it. Afterwards, go to account.microsoft.com/devices and both remove and unlink the device from your Microsoft account.
From the sign-in screen, hold Shift and select Power > Restart. That loads Windows Recovery Environment, where Troubleshoot > Reset this PC works without signing in. If the drive is encrypted you will be asked for the BitLocker recovery key first, and without it the reset cannot continue.
Only if you choose Remove everything. Keep my files keeps your documents and pictures but still removes every installed app and resets your settings. Even Remove everything with Clean data turned on is, in Microsoft's own words, aimed at consumers and does not meet government or industry data erasure standards.
Microsoft does not publish a figure. It is quickest on an SSD with Local reinstall, slower on a mechanical hard drive, and slower again with Cloud download because a full copy of Windows has to be downloaded first. Microsoft says Clean data "might take some time" on top of that. Treat it as an afternoon, not a coffee break.
No. Microsoft warns that the screen can go black for upwards of 15 minutes and that the device may restart itself, and that forcing a restart during that time can make the reset fail. Check it is on mains power and leave it for at least an hour before treating it as failed.
What most people mean by a hard reset is Reset this PC with Remove everything selected. A true hardware reset, holding the power button to force a shutdown, does not wipe anything and is not a factory reset.
Use Cloud download if you think the Windows files on the machine are damaged, or if you want the newer image. Use Local reinstall if your connection is slow or capped, and accept that it may not include the latest updates.
It puts back the version the machine is running, so a Windows 10 PC resets to Windows 10. Microsoft ended support for Windows 10 on 14 October 2025, so a reset machine will run but will not receive free security updates from Windows Update.
How we know
Every step and every key on this page was read from the manufacturer's own support documentation on 11 August 2026, not from memory and not from other guides. The Windows steps, the Clean data description, the data-erasure caveat and the black-screen warning are quoted from Microsoft Support. The recovery routes for HP, Acer, Dell, Lenovo and Asus come from each company's own support page, listed below.
We checked the brand pages deliberately, because the single most common error in factory-reset guides is presenting one manufacturer's recovery key as though it were a Windows feature. It is not. Of the five, only Acer documents a key that goes straight to a factory restore. The others open a recovery environment, a boot menu or the BIOS, and Lenovo does not use a key at all.
Sources
- Reset your PC | Microsoft Support: the
Keep my filesandRemove everythingdefinitions, theClean datadescription, theCloud downloadandLocal reinstallwording, and the black-screen warning quoted in full. - Recovery options in Windows | Microsoft Support: what survives a reset against what survives a reinstall.
- Windows recovery environment | Microsoft Support: the automatic-repair behaviour, and the documented trick of interrupting the boot twice to force recovery on the third start.
- Before you recycle, sell, or gift your Xbox or Windows PC | Microsoft Support: the order of operations for a machine you are selling, and the two separate steps of removing and unlinking the device.
- Fix issues by reinstalling the current version of Windows | Microsoft Support: the repair reinstall that keeps your apps, files and settings.
- Reinstall Windows with the installation media | Microsoft Support: the route when the reset itself will not run.
- HP PCs – Reset the computer | HP Support: the
F11key, in HP’s own words. - How to Restore Windows on my Acer Computer Using Alt + F10 on startup | Acer Answers, last updated 8 October 2025: the
Alt + F10route. - Repair and Restore your Computer Using SupportAssist OS Recovery | Dell Support:
F12at the logo, the One Time Boot Menu, the model limitation, and the fact that it starts on its own after repeated failed boots. - Introduction to NOVO button – ideapad | Lenovo Support: where the pinhole is, the paperclip, and what the Novo Button Menu offers.
- Cloud Recovery within MyASUS in WinRE | ASUS Support: the
Shiftand Restart route into MyASUS in WinRE. - Cloud Recovery in UEFI BIOS | ASUS Support: the second Asus route,
F2at boot into the UEFI BIOS. - [Windows 11/10] How to Reset (Reinstall) the Operating System | ASUS Support: Asus’s own warning that a reset takes a considerable time and must not be interrupted.
Photographs. All three are from Pexels, used under the Pexels License, cropped to 16:9 by us.
