How to Factory Reset Windows 11: From Settings, From Boot, Across a Fleet

Updated: October 2026

A laptop comes back from someone who left, or a PC is slow and broken in ways nobody can trace. Resetting it is usually faster than fixing it, as long as you pick the right option and have the BitLocker key in hand. Here's how to run a Windows 11 factory reset from boot, from Settings, and across a fleet of managed devices.

Before You Reset: Check These First

A reset is the last step, not the first. If the problem is corrupted system files, a repair keeps everything in place. Try the fixes in our DISM RestoreHealth guide before you wipe anything.

Then check three things. Back up anything the user needs, because a reset treats the user profile as disposable. Find the BitLocker recovery key, because Windows can ask for it the moment the PC boots into recovery. On a work device, it usually sits in Entra ID or Active Directory. On a personal one, it's in the Microsoft account the user signed in with.

Last, decide what the reset is for. Fixing a broken PC, handing it to a new hire and selling it are three different jobs. Each one points to a different option below.

How to Factory Reset Windows 11 From Settings

If Windows still starts, this is the easy route.

1. Open Settings, go to System, then Recovery.
2. Next to Reset this PC, select Reset PC.
3. Choose Keep my files or Remove everything.
4. Choose Cloud download or Local reinstall.
5. Review the settings, then select Reset.

Microsoft warns that the screen can stay black for up to 15 minutes during the reset. Leave it alone. Forcing a restart halfway through is how a routine reset turns into a reinstall from USB.

This walkthrough shows the same screens start to finish:

Keep My Files vs Remove Everything

Keep my files reinstalls Windows and keeps the user accounts and personal files. It removes every desktop app the user installed and every Store app they added. It also deletes the AppData folders, where many apps keep their data. Those folders land in C:\Windows.old, so you have a short window to rescue a settings file.

Microsoft's push-button reset documentation lists what survives: user accounts and group memberships, domain settings, Wi-Fi profiles, Windows Update settings and privacy choices. Files on other partitions are left untouched.

Remove everything deletes the user accounts, files, apps and settings. If the PC has more than one drive, Windows asks whether to clean only the Windows drive or all of them. It then offers Clean data, which overwrites the drive so the old files are much harder to recover.

Neither option rolls Windows back to the version it shipped with. The reset rebuilds the current version, with updates and current drivers, from files already on the PC.

Cloud Download or Local Reinstall

Local reinstall builds Windows from the component store already on the drive. It's quicker and needs no internet. If those local files are the problem, it can carry the problem forward.

Cloud download pulls a fresh copy of Windows from Microsoft. It takes longer and needs a stable connection, but it doesn't depend on files that may be damaged. When a PC is misbehaving in ways DISM couldn't fix, pick cloud download.

How to Factory Reset Windows 11 From Boot

When Windows won't start or nobody knows the password, reset from the Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE). There are several ways in. On the sign-in screen, select the power icon, hold Shift and select Restart. From a working desktop, use Settings, System, Recovery, then Restart now next to Advanced startup. Recovery media and some manufacturers' recovery keys also get you there.

You often don't have to do anything. Microsoft documents that WinRE starts on its own after two consecutive failed attempts to start Windows, or after two unexpected shutdowns within two minutes of boot. Power-cycling a stuck PC twice is the same trigger techs use on purpose.

Once WinRE loads, select Troubleshoot, then Reset this PC, and pick the same options as in Settings. If the drive is encrypted, this is where the BitLocker key prompt appears.

People regularly ask whether the Settings route and the Shift + Restart route do different things. They don't. Both run the same push-button reset, as the replies in this thread settle quickly:

Handing a PC On: What Clean Data Does and Doesn't Do

For a device moving to a new employee, Remove everything with Clean data is the normal choice. It clears the old user's files and makes casual recovery impractical.

It isn't a certified wipe. Microsoft states that the data erasure "does not meet government and industry data erasure standards." If the PC held regulated data, or it's leaving the company for good, use a secure erase from the drive maker's tool, a protected wipe from your MDM, or keep the drive and replace it.

Before any reset of a work device, also remove it from the old user's accounts. That means signing out of Microsoft 365, checking who holds local admin, and updating the device record. Our debloat guide covers what to strip once the fresh install comes up.

Resetting Managed Devices Across a Fleet

On Intune-managed PCs, don't walk desk to desk. Microsoft gives you three remote actions, and they aren't interchangeable.

Autopilot Reset removes personal files, apps and settings, then returns the device to a business-ready state. It keeps the Entra ID join, the Intune enrollment, Wi-Fi details, provisioning packages and SCEP certificates. You can trigger it remotely from Devices in the Intune admin center, or locally with CTRL + WIN + R at the lock screen once the Autopilot Reset policy allows it. It doesn't support Entra hybrid joined devices, which need a full wipe instead.

Fresh Start removes apps, including the manufacturer's preinstalled ones. With Retain user data on this device selected, it keeps the Home folder and the Entra join.

Wipe is the full factory reset. You can keep the enrollment state and user account, run a protected wipe that continues through power loss, or run a plain wipe. Microsoft warns that the protected wipe can leave some devices unable to start again, so keep it for corporate devices where you've planned recovery.

Hybrid environments make device reuse messy, as this r/Intune thread shows. The poster's wipe-and-reprovision process kept leaving stale Entra records behind:

One check saves a lot of failed resets. Autopilot Reset needs WinRE enabled, and it fails straight away with error 0x80070032 if it isn't. Run reagentc /info on each device and reagentc /enable where WinRE is off. OpenFrame can run that check as a script across a client's devices and collect the output, so you find the broken ones before the reset does. The Microsoft Intune review covers where Intune's remote actions fit in a wider toolset.

When to Reimage Instead

A reset rebuilds Windows from what's already on the machine, or from Microsoft's cloud copy. That covers most cases. Reimage from clean installation media when you suspect malware that could hide outside Windows, when the drive itself is failing, or when you need a known, standard image on every machine.

Reimaging also makes sense when a reset keeps failing. If Reset this PC stops with "There was a problem resetting your PC," check the WinRE state and try cloud download once. After that, a USB install is quicker than a third attempt.

Factory Reset Windows 11: The Short Version

Use Settings when Windows starts, and WinRE when it doesn't. Pick Keep my files to fix a PC for the same user, and Remove everything with Clean data to hand it to someone else. On managed fleets, use Autopilot Reset for reuse, Wipe for full resets, and keep certified erasure for devices that are leaving. Always have the BitLocker key before you begin.

For the steps that come after a reset, read our guide to debloating Windows 11.