How to reset any laptop to factory settings

Laptops are very comfortable, but at the same time capricious devices. This is especially true for older models with a hard drive on board. Laptop PCs often stop running the operating system one not quite fine day. When enabled, the brand logo appears (Lenovo, HP, Acer and others) and then everything freezes on a black screen with errors.

If you don’t want to solve such problems yourself, then check out our material about free repair of any electronics. However, in this situation, it is not so difficult to restore the laptop on your own.

How to fix Windows on a laptop

First, let’s look at the whole situation for this category of devices as a whole. The reasons when Windows stopped starting on a laptop can be different: from viruses to mechanical damage. The latter is especially critical for notebooks with classic HDDs. It is very easy to damage the storage on them by simply unsuccessfully throwing the computer onto the bed, from which it falls to the floor. If this happens, it is still possible to restore the operating system, but it is better to change the hard drive to a solid-state drive (read our material on choosing an SSD).

Sometimes it happens that the laptop completely stops seeing the storage. In this case, a factory reset may not help. In the case of an HDD, this usually means its death, but with an SSD, more “simple” problems often arise. We have already written about them .

One way or another, if your laptop has stopped running the operating system, then the most logical solution is to perform a factory reset . Every more or less modern laptop has a backup recovery capsule. You just need to start it and the computer will erase all data, including viruses, and then restore its state to its original state – as it was immediately after purchase.

Next, we will analyze the recovery procedure for various popular laptop brands.

IMPORTANT: remove all devices and flash drives from the ports of the laptop before resetting it.

Factory reset your Acer laptop

1. turn off your computer;
2. turn on again;
3. immediately after switching on, hold down the Altkey and press F10 until the recovery menu appears;
4. if the system asks for a password, enter 000000;
5. in the recovery menu, select Factory Resetand run;
6. follow the instructions of the recovery utility.

Factory reset Asus laptop

On laptops of this brand, you must first disable fast boot in the BIOS:

1. turn off your computer;
2. turn on again;
3. immediately after turning on, press F2until the BIOS boots;
4. go to the Boottab and set the value Disabled next to Boot Booster ;
5. exit BIOS with saving settings ( Save changes and exit).

After that, it will be enough just to turn off and turn on the laptop again with the F9 button pressed – the system will automatically carry out the recovery procedure.

Factory reset your Dell laptop

If the Windows operating system does not start, then you need to restart the computer several times until the recovery utility starts itself. In the main menu of the utility, you will need to select the Restore System item and follow the instructions.

Factory reset an HP laptop (Hewlett Packard)

1. turn off your computer;
2. turn on again;
3. press the F11key until the Recovery Manager utility starts ;
4. select System Recoveryand run the procedure;
5. reset to factory settings will take place in automatic mode.

Factory reset Lenovo laptop

Most laptops from this brand have a reset button with a curved arrow icon. It is located either next to the power button, or pressed with a needle (or toothpick) on the side of the case. You need to completely turn off the laptop, hold down the reset button for a few seconds and release. The computer turns on and launches the Special Startup Menu – select either System Recovery or Lenovo Factory Recovery .

If there is no reset button on a Lenovo laptop , hold down the F11 key while turning it on. Next – follow the instructions already mentioned.

Factory reset MSI laptop

1. turn off your computer;
2. turn on again;
3. press the F3key until the Windows Boot Manager utility starts ;
4. select Windows Setup [EMS Enabled]and press Enter ;
5. launch MSI Recovery Managerand follow the instructions.

Factory reset Samsung laptop

1. turn off your computer;
2. turn on again;
3. press the F4key until the Samsung Recovery Solution starts ;
4. go to the Restoresection ;
5. go to Complete Restore;
6. select the Computer Initial Statusrestore point and start the procedure;
7. reset to factory settings will take place in automatic mode.

Factory reset Toshiba laptop

1. turn off your computer;
2. turn on again;
3. hold down the 0key until the laptop starts beeping;
4. the recovery utility will start – follow its instructions.