Restore PC to factory settings after it has been partitioned
SolvedMFC17250 Posted messages 848 Registration date Status Membre Last intervention -
Hello,
I retrieved my brother-in-law's PC, a Dell desktop (I don't have the exact model) with a basic Windows system.
He had partitioned it to also have an Ubuntu system on it. Upon starting the computer, an "EFI" interface (I believe that's what it's called?) asks to choose the operating system, Windows or Ubuntu.
I would like to restore the computer to its factory state, so to erase everything including the Ubuntu system, and end up with a fresh Windows only.
Will restoring via Windows (I saw your help page here: https://www.commentcamarche.net/informatique/windows/123-restaurer-un-pc-a-l-etat-d-usine/) delete Ubuntu?
Or do I need to manually uninstall everything related to Ubuntu first, as well as this boot EFI?
Thank you in advance for your responses
4 réponses
Hello,
Provided that the recovery partition has not itself been deleted (which is rare), a factory reset will, by definition, restore the PC to the state it was in when it was purchased, by fully formatting the disk beforehand, thus only with Windows and on a single partition.
The only risk is that the syntax of this operation is faulty and targets only the C: partition instead of the entire physical disk (unlikely, as it should go through Diskpart which addresses the physical disk), in which case UEFI would retain the Ubuntu boot sector and Ubuntu itself in its partition.
If in doubt, uninstall Ubuntu properly beforehand as follows:
https://lecrabeinfo.net/desinstaller-ubuntu-linux-pc-dual-boot-windows.html
But while we're at it, I don't see the point of a factory reset; we will lose all the Windows updates made since then; we can simply delete unnecessary documents and programs and change the login ID and password.
Thank you very much for the reply!
I'll see what I can do in that case. I would have preferred to attempt the restoration directly, because I saw that if things weren't done correctly and the Windows MBR wasn't recovered, it was a real hassle... I want to avoid any issues if possible.
And to answer the question, I want to reset the PC to factory settings because my brother-in-law wasn't very careful, there are several hundred GB of buggy software that can't be uninstalled, he's had some viruses, etc. I prefer to start with a clean slate, even if it means spending some time reinstalling all the updates. :)
The boot sector only acts up when Ubuntu is removed haphazardly without being properly uninstalled, where it indeed becomes a hassle if you don't have a bootable external installation media; otherwise, no worries (unless you create an MBR installation key for a UEFI PC or vice versa).
There is also a downside to factory reset: on a "brand-name" PC, it also resurrects all the junk that was pre-installed, trial-version software, "utilities" from the manufacturer that are useless, but you can always uninstall them later; if the PC is a bit old, it will also restore an old version of Windows, and you might end up spending forever updating it.
Behind someone who is not careful, indeed, the cleanup of documents and programs will leave a bunch of files registered in the system partition.
One alternative is to properly uninstall Ubuntu as indicated and then format its empty partition; I wouldn't touch this partition at first; I always think it's a good idea to put data there rather than on the system partition; you can always merge it with C: later if needed.
We will then invest in a USB key if we don't have one (let's say a basic 16 GB model, preferably sold without any junk software on it) and create an installation media for the version corresponding to the one we want to reinstall in GPT mode for UEFI (even if you're going through the reset, do it anyway; you should always have that on hand).
Just boot from the key; preferably, rather than repair, format the C: partition and reinstall Windows.
https://www.malekal.com/creer-une-cle-usb-bootable-avec-rufus/
I’m not focused on what I’m doing; today I forgot the intermediate step, which is faster and more practical: instead of doing a factory reset (which usually involves a function key F at startup depending on the brand), we perform a Windows reset without keeping the data, after having addressed the case of the Ubuntu partition, but we can do that later:
https://www.malekal.com/reinstaller-windows-10-gratuitement/
Hello Lucie,
Perhaps a less extreme solution is to properly uninstall Ubuntu using OS-uninstaller if you have doubts about the MBR.
Note that in the past, installing Windows would overwrite the MBR (I'm not sure if that's still the case with recent versions), so reinstalling Windows on the entire hard drive would allow you to start from scratch.
Good luck
Hello mamiemando .....
► I completely agree with your solution + that of MFC17250 from post #1, which unfortunately ended up with a -2 that I restored to 0 because I can't do more ► Everything is "said" in a single sentence that just needs to be read carefully (Read carefully...implying what's written in the link), open your link and reinstall or reset W10 using Microsoft's Media Creation Tools without keeping anything.....that is to say, a clean new installation, without applications and personal documents....and in principle everything should be clean....!
Cheers
Since I know nothing about live USB sessions, I preferred not to use OS-uninstaller.
For now, I have reset Windows through the "Update and Security" menu, as it seemed better than a factory restore, since I believe the computer was originally running Windows 7. This saves me from having to redo the entire upgrade.
I was hoping this would remove the Ubuntu partition and eliminate the dual-boot EFI, but that wasn't the case.
I then manually removed the boot EFI using the Windows command prompt, as indicated here: https://lecrabeinfo.net/desinstaller-ubuntu-linux-pc-dual-boot-windows.html
This worked well, my PC now automatically boots into Windows.
All that's left is to delete the Ubuntu partition (I plan to follow the same tutorial from lecrabeinfo), but I'm having trouble identifying it. Especially since there are a number of partitions... Could you provide some guidance? Here is a screenshot:
