If a PC or laptop with Windows 11 becomes unstable, giving errors and glitches, you can reset the system to factory settings. There are several options to restore your Windows 11 PC or laptop to its original state: Reinstall Windows from a local image to remove all files or keep them, and Reinstall Windows from the cloud to remove all files or keep them.
Resetting your Windows 11 PC/Laptop to factory settings
To return your Windows 11 to its original state, follow the steps:
- Go to ” Settings “> ” System “> ” Recovery “> ” Restore the PC to its original state ” and click ” Restart the PC .”
In the next window, you will choose ” Keep my files ” or ” Delete everything “.
- By uninstalling everything, the system will be reinstalled cleanly from the local image, removing all your files and installed programs.
- Choosing to keep files will reinstall Windows 11 from a local image, but leave your files on the desktop, documents folders, downloads, videos, etc. In addition, any installed UWP apps will remain (these are those downloaded from the Microsoft Store). Be aware this will not save your installed Win32 games and programs.
Cloud Download and Local Reinstallation – Which is Better? The best option is to download from the cloud if you have stable and high-speed internet, as the local image can be corrupted, and recovery will fail. But local reinstallation is the best option for quickly resetting your computer to factory settings since the speed will be higher than high-speed Internet. I recommend choosing a local reinstallation first, then downloading from the cloud if there are problems.
Download from the cloud: If you selected above “Save my files” and now “Download from the cloud”, then your files will be uploaded to the Internet for saving, then Windows 11 will be downloaded from the Microsoft servers and reinstalled after which your files will be available from the cloud. If you select “Delete All Files”, it will simply download the latest version of Windows 11 and reinstall it cleanly.
Reinstalling locally: If you choose to reinstall files locally, Windows 11 will reinstall from the image stored itself and preserve your files (this will not preserve the installed Win32 programs). If you choose to delete all files, Windows 11 will be reinstalled from the local image cleanly, with all the data on the disk where the system was deleted.
How to reset Windows 11 won’t boot
If you cannot boot to the desktop to return the PC to its original state, this can be done with advanced boot options.
- Suppose you encounter a BSOD error on a blue screen. In that case, an automatic recovery will work, where you need to click on ” Advanced options ” or ” Advanced recovery options ” to get into the recovery environment. If there is no ” Advanced options ” button, then restart the PC 4-5 times, reaching the error or the boot logo, after which the recovery environment will work automatically.
- In advanced options, navigate to Troubleshooting > Reset Computer.
