Bydefinition, a factory reset restores the target PC to the same condition it was in when it first left the factory. The action removes any settings, preferences and other customizations that users made after the device's arrival. Any applications that users installed will likewise no longer be present.
Not every device is ready to undergo a factory reset. You should keep a few considerations in mind before performing this action. Make an image-based backup before performing a factory reset on any Windows 11 PC, and make sure you have the tools necessary to restore such a backup.
Consider backup tools, such as Macrium Reflect, that create bootable media known as rescue media, which is typically stored on a USB flash drive. If anything goes wrong with the factory reset, you can boot to this media and then restore the PC to its pre-reset state.
A factory reset is usually needed in two circumstances. The first scenario is when a PC will be decommissioned for sale or transferred to another user. The factory reset removes all changes since the PC left the factory, which leaves it in a clean state for sale or handoff. Make sure to apply pending updates to the OS to make the PC current and secure. The reset goes back in time to the date it left the factory, which may be one or more feature upgrades behind current production levels.
The second scenario is when a PC exhibits noticeable performance, stability or behavioral problems. There's little that an in-place upgrade repair install can't fix in Windows 11, but sometimes even that maneuver won't restore a PC to normal operation. When that happens, a clean install or a factory reset is a potential next step toward Windows recovery. Thus, the factory reset can take the PC back to its earliest Windows state, possibly fixing whatever ails it.
You can also start the Reset PC operation from the sign-in screen or by using a recovery drive or installation media to enter recovery mode during boot-up. Press the shift key while selecting Restart to boot into local recovery mode.
From there, the screen will show two options (Figure 2). The option you choose depends on how you plan on using the PC after resetting it. If it's a last-ditch repair operation, it's easiest to select Keep my files. If you're prepping for sale or handoff, choose Remove everything.
Choosing Local reinstall will download the Windows install file from the current Windows files on your PC. This option is faster but not immune to local issues. Unless the local Windows drive is compromised, however, it should work. For best results, choose the Cloud download.
If you want to make changes, click Change settings. From there, you can clean the drive completely by toggling Yes under Clean data? or download Windows from the cloud by toggling No under Download Windows? (Figure 4).
Once you confirm your choices, a final confirmation screen will appear. After you select Reset, the process will begin (Figure 5). This is your final chance to cancel the reset. If you allow this step to proceed and don't click Cancel at any point, you can no longer reverse the reset process. You'll have to let it complete and then restore a backup to return to where you started.
The installer will run through a series of prompts to complete the install once the OS is in place. These include prompts for country or region, language, keyboard layout and privacy settings. Logging in to a Microsoft account completes the process. Once the out-of-box experience finishes, the Windows 11 desktop will be in the same state as when it left the factory. If you plan to sell or hand off the PC to someone else, it's ready to go. If you plan to return it to its original user, there's still substantial work left to restore the user's preferences and customizations.
I accidently moved the compilation report window (I think I clicked on the 'pushpin' button) and now it shows up like every other document. I tried to dock it at the bottom of the screen with no luck, the compilation report window would only dock with the ip catalog or project navagator. So I figured the next best thing would be to reset all of my windows and toolbars to the default setting. I found instructions for how to accomplish this with a version of Quartus from 4 years ago, which suggested to go to tools\toolbars ect. There is no menu item called toolbars under tools. So, How can I reset my window layout in Quartus 16.0?
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I'm having a hard time finding and answer to this. If I had to hypotheitcally remove the Windows license key from a VM that's been specifically setup for a partner, and it needs to be removed before the VM is handed over, how would I go about doing this? Naturally the built-in 30 day grace period has expired and I'm using an MSDN license key, but I need to remove the key before handing the VM off. The recipient can input their own license key. e.g. how do I reset the Activation Key Wizard's nagging?
If you (or someone you know) ever forget your Windows password, you'll be glad to know about chntpw, a neat Linux utility that you can use to reset a Windows password. For this how-to, I created a Windows virtual machine and set the password to pass123 on my user account, Archit-PC. I also created a Live USB with Fedora 27 using the Fedora Media Writer application.
Spotted a small glitch. Looks like the screenshot that supposed to illustrate the execution of a mounting command, sudo mount /dev/sda2 /mnt/Microsoft/, is wrong. For me it shows the result of the execution of a chntpw command, sudo chntpw -i SAM.
This only works if your Windows drive is not encrypted. If you have encrypted it using the storage option of Windows, you won't even be able to mount the volume correctly and edit its content from an external tool to clear the password stored in the SAM registry file, you first need the password.
It may also not work if the encryption password comes from the TPE module which won't allow you to boot from the external drive which was not first allowed to run as it was not signed.
But anyway it's good to signal users that their Windwos password is not a real protection for their data, and that it can be easily cleared in most cases: suppose your PC is stolen (or seized by the police/justice...), they know what they can do easily to enter your drive and get access to all the contents.
Also clearing a password this way may invalidate all access tokens that allow you to use some remote sites or storage that will need a new authorization, because the SAM database will no longer have the necessary access tokens.Your PC will then be "disconnected" from a secure corporate domain and you'll need to contact the domain admin to reauthorize your PC (and fbefore they accept to reconnect you they'll want to inspect your PC, and may force you to resintall it completely).
So don't do that to bypass the protections that have been set in a corporate domain against such personal use of a PC you don't really own and have no right to adminsiter yourself.
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The first option to factory-reset Windows 10 allows you to keep all of your personal files. However, all installed programs will be deleted. The principal requirement for resetting the operating system is that Windows 10 can be started properly, as it can only be reset via the system settings.
The Media Creation Tool is principally designed to create installation media. Of course, you can also reset to older versions such as Windows 7. You should ideally use the tool to create a so-called USB boot stick, though, from which you can install Windows on any PC you plug it into.
I am facing an issue while using the gcloud compute reset-windows-password command in Google Cloud. When I try to execute the following command with my main account, everything works as expected:
I've already verify both the connection and the system time and everything appears to be correct. At this point, I'm starting to suspect that the issue might be related to a lack of permissions associated with the service account. However, I'm unsure how to address this or troubleshoot further. Are there specific permissions or configurations required for a service account to successfully execute the reset-windows-password command?
You seem to be on the right path in resetting the password for instance2, to dig deeper you may need to check other factors like firewalls that may be blocking the communication between the Google Cloud Services and the VM. If possible you can try to do a restart and try again to check if the issue persists. I attached some helpful links for your use case.[1][2]
The tool is not compatible with Endpoint Privilege Management for Windows agent protection and Endpoint Privilege Management for Windows anti-tamper in versions of the Reset Adapter prior to 23.8, and is not usable on devices where agent protection or anti-tamper are enabled.
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