There are several instances on why you might wish to factory reset windows 10. Without password, the only method will be to perform a reset while you are log in to the admin account.
Once you are logged in, you can easy wipe the windows 10 computer and reset factory settings and wipe the computer clean. Free of software errors and virus!
Here a quick pictorial step by step guide to do factory reset windows 10. (If you intend to give this computer away after resetting)
- As usual, locate the “start” button, and type in “Reset“
- The option, “Reset this PC” will appear, click on it.
- The settings page will appear and bring you straight to the reset page. Select “Get Started“
- There are 2 options here, either to “Keep my files” or “Remove everything“. I prefer the option to backup my files myself, rather than to leave it to the PC. After backing up, i then select the 2nd option to cleanup everything in the PC and start afresh.
- Additional settings page prior to wiping of windows 10 PC: You have the option to configure additional cleanup options. Click on “Change Settings” if you are interested to do.
- Data erasure option appear. Set it to “On” if you are giving this computer away after performing a factory reset. However, it will take a longer period to reinstall as it will need to wipe the drive clean. Else select “Off”
- Final confirmation. Select the “Reset” button to initialise the wiping windows 10 from the computer.
- Allow this to finish and system should automatically proceed to reset it self back to factory settings. Follow the instructions on the screen to finish re-initialization of windows.
It is normal for the system to restart a few times by itself. Once the windows 10 factory reset is ready, you will arrive at a selection page. Choose the suitable settings to have a clean start of your windows 10 PC after the reset.
** Depending on your windows 10 version (yes, there are various versions of windows, To find out, click on start and type “winver“), you might see a slightly different interface from mine. However, the steps to reset are similar.
** Warning: Do not attempt to interrupt this process by performing a forced shutdown once this procedure has started. Doing so, might corrupt the windows installation and cause an permanent error where you are not able to boot into desktop again.
Additional troubleshooting while performing factory reset of Windows 10 without password.
You might encounter an issue where you see the screen or similar image when the system restarts for the first time. Simply select “Continue” to allow the windows 10 reset to proceed.
