reset pc issues

Question

I have tried every possible way to factory reset my laptop. Every time I try it tells me a problem occurred and nothing was changed. Ive backed everything up and put on my one drive and deleted everything i possibly could still nothing.

Answer 1

Hello

Is your C drive low with free space? If so, this can happen.

Or if the recovery image/environment is corrupted, this can happen too.

I think the easiest way, since you were going to reset anyway, is to do a clean install.

The following steps should be done on a working Windows computer (as long as your C drive is now extremely low on space).

Download the Windows Media Creation Tool from Microsoft's official website. https://www.microsoft.com/software-download/windows11 click on the "download now" button under "Create Windows 11 Installation Media"

Run the tool and select "Create installation media for another PC."

Choose "USB flash drive" as the media to use for the installation and select "Next."

Connect a USB flash drive with at least 8 GB of free space to your computer.

Select the USB flash drive you want to use, and then select "Next."

The tool will then download the required files and create the installation media.

=====================================================

Now these steps will  be done on your problematic computer:

Go to the computer's BIOS boot menu to have it boot from the USB drive.

Follow the on-screen instructions to install Windows 11, making sure to choose "Custom install" and select the option to delete all existing partitions.

Once the installation is complete, you'll have a clean installation of Windows 11 on your computer.

Answer 2

Since the built‑in reset keeps failing, use Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) and try both reset paths there. If those also fail, a clean reinstall is the remaining supported option.

1. Try reset from Settings (if not already done this way)
   1. Open Settings > System > Recovery.
   2. Under Recovery options, select Reset PC.
   3. Choose Remove everything (since data is already backed up).
   4. Choose Cloud download (more reliable if local files are damaged).
   5. Follow the prompts and let the process complete. The screen may stay black for up to 15 minutes; do not power off manually during this time.
2. If that fails, reset from Windows RE
   1. Boot into Windows Recovery Environment. Steps are described here: Access the Windows Recovery Environment.
   2. In WinRE, select Troubleshoot > Reset this PC.
   3. Choose Remove everything.
   4. Choose Cloud download or Local reinstall and complete the wizard.
3. If reset still fails If both in‑Windows and WinRE resets report a problem and roll back, system files or the recovery components are likely too damaged. At that point, the supported path is a full reinstall using external installation media (USB) or OEM recovery media, which performs a “bare metal” style recovery similar to Remove everything. Before doing that, confirm all needed files are safely backed up (for example to OneDrive or external storage), because a clean reinstall will remove apps and data on the system drive.

---

References:

• Reset your PC
• Push-button reset
• Troubleshoot problems with detecting and removing malware
• Plethora of issues relating to windows and possibly security. - Microsoft Q&A
• New laptop MSI won't go past update installation at first boot - Microsoft Q&A