Sometimes, the most reliable of laptops can lose their smooth performance and experience technical issues. You can try refreshing the computer, but if the problems persist, it is time for a fresh start. While troubleshooting, you can find 2 solutions: Hard Reset and Factory Reset. Such formats for resetting laptops can help you fix various issues on your laptop without needing any professional help.
Remember that trying a hard reset is the first step that helps resolve any minor technical glitches your laptop is experiencing. Additionally, the factory reset is like a last resort that fixes significant issues with your HP device. This article will explain more why you need these resets, and we'll look at different ways of how to factory reset HP laptop.
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In this article
Part 1. Why Do You Need to Perfect a Hard Reset on Your HP Laptop?
Before diving into how to reset HP laptop, we need to understand why these resets are necessary for your laptop. Go through the following reasons and uncover the basic reasons to reset your HP laptop:
- Fix Serious Malware Detection: When the laptop experiences extreme malware detection that is difficult to remove through normal means, try hard reset.
- Recurring Software Errors: Some of the software errors do not get resolved with basic troubleshooting, so hard resetting the laptop helps fix it.
- Performance and System Shutdowns: You should reset HP laptop when experiencing frequent system shutdowns and crashes.
- Driver Conflicts: Sometimes, corrupted or incompatible drivers can cause hardware malfunction, leading to network and other issues, and for this, a hard reset is perfect.
- Resolving Booting Issues: If the laptop gets stuck during a startup, that usually indicates minor system errors, which can be resolved by hard resetting the laptop.
Part 2. The Efficient Steps to Hard Reset HP Laptop
A hard reset is one of the most reliable and effective methods that can resolve your unresponsive laptop with ease. Furthermore, unlike the factory reset, this process does not erase your personal data and helps quickly restore the functions of the laptop. Let’s try draining the power of the laptop and refresh its internal hardware with these hard reset HP laptop steps.
Step 1. First, turn off the HP laptop by pressing the “Power” button and disconnect the AC adapter from the laptop. After that, remove any memory cards from the “Card Reader” slots and disconnect any additional peripheral devices.
Step 2. Next, press and hold the “Power” button for at least 15 seconds and reconnect the AC adapter afterward. Once connected, click the “Power” button to turn on the laptop and see if the issue is resolved or not.

Part 3. How To Wipe an HP Laptop Properly?
If the problem and laptop glitches exceed beyond repair, wiping the HP laptop is your only option that can restore all its functions. Moreover, it is necessary to remove persistent system errors and severe malware to achieve a smooth performance. Consequently, follow these steps on how to wipe an HP laptop with a password and without a password:
With Password
The most straightforward method to factory reset HP laptops is by heading to the settings if you know the password of the laptop. Windows 10 and 11 have built-in settings where you can access the reset option with ease. Thus, follow these comprehensive steps and learn how to reset a laptop with accessibility to the password:
Step 1. Start by going to the Windows 10 “Settings” and accessing the “Updates & Security” option from the main interface.

Step 2. Head to the “Recovery” tab from the left panel, and click the “Get Started” button under the “Reset this PC” section to open a dialogue box.

Step 3. On the “Reset this PC” box, you can go on with 2 available options. First, click the “Keep my Files” option to proceed to the other available options.

Step 4. From under the “How would you like to reinstall Windows” section, choose any of the two choices: “Cloud download” and “Local reinstall.”

Step 5. This will lead to an “Additional settings” window, where you change the settings, hit the “Next” button, and “Reset” your laptop.

Step 6. Other than that, by selecting the “Remove Everything” option, head to the “Cloud Download” option to open “Additional Settings.” Here, click the “Next” button toggle the “Clean Data” option to enable “Yes,” on it and hit “Confirm.” Once the settings are set, press the “Reset” button.

Without Password
In case you don’t know the password of the HP laptop that is experiencing major glitches, you can try following these two methods and learn how to factory reset HP laptop:
1.Through HP Recovery Manager
The HP Recovery Manager is a built-in feature in an HP laptop where users can restore HP notebook to factory settings. This method is useful when you’re unable to access the device via a password. Therefore, by accessing this recovery window, you can perform a complete factory reset by following the given steps:
Step 1. To utilize the Recovery Manager to reset your laptop, first turn off the laptop and then press the “Power” button to start it. Next, either press the “F11” key or the “Esc” key from the keyboard to access the “HP Recovery Manager” screen.

Step 2. On the appeared “Recovery Manager” window, choose the “Windows Recovery Environment” option from under the “Help” section.

Step 3. Now, click the “Troubleshoot” option from the “Choose an Option” blue screen and proceed with selecting the “Recovery Manager” option.

Step 4. After that, a “System Recovery” window will appear, where you need to choose “Back up your Files First (Recommended)” and click “Next.” This will restart the laptop, and you can now log in to the new laptop with a new MS password and set up the necessary information.

2.Using Windows Recovery Environment
Windows has a recovery environment system that can be accessed by restarting the laptop. You can use this method to reset your HP device without needing a password. This alternative method can be learned by following these steps on how you can perform the HP laptop reset without password:
Step 1. First, turn off and on the laptop and as the Window icon screen appears, continue pressing the “F11” key from your keyboard. Press the key until the “Enter the Factory Recovery” message appears at the bottom left of your screen. Now, click the “Troubleshoot” option on the opened “Choose an Option” screen.

Step 2. Upon doing so, press the “Reset this PC” option on the “Troubleshoot” screen.

Step 3. Next, pick any of the 2 available options on whether to “Keep my Files” or “Remove Everything.” Once you’ve selected one, “Reset” the HP laptop.

Part 4. How To Recover Important System Data from Your HP Laptop?
The previously discussed methods will help you reset HP laptop and resolve any minor or major errors in the process. However, it is highly recommended that you back up your essential files and data before resetting your device. If you’ve forgotten to do so and lost some of your important documents, try using Wondershare Recoverit. This recovery software successfully retrieves all of your lost files, regardless you’ve reset the device.
With this tool's intelligent ability to identify the core reason for lost files, it can facilitate seamless system data recovery. Moreover, users can restore all types of data from the reset device, such as images, files, videos, emails, and more. You can quickly recover any lost files from different hard drives, SD cards, and USB devices. This software is seamlessly accessible on Windows, Mac, and other devices with the same advanced restoring features.
Key Features
- Preview Window: With Recoverit, you can preview the restored files and data before downloading them to ensure everything is intact and accounted for.
- Excellent Recovery Rate: The precision of this software to restore your lost or deleted files is extremely high, making it highly efficient and reliable.
- Advanced Search Feature: Users can search for their lost files by utilizing the filtration options and sort the search by Image name, type, size, and tag.
- Secure Recovery: This tool is 100% safe to use as it has various patented technologies that seamlessly recover lost files.
Easy Guide on How to Recover Lost System Data Using Wondershare Recoverit
Restoring lost system data is a straightforward process that we’ll explain using the following steps:
Step 1. Launch Recovery Software and Choose a Drive
Download the software on your HP laptop and launch it to access the main interface. Now, in the “Hard Drives and Locations” tab, choose the desired drive and begin the scanning process.

Step 2. Search for the Files During Scanning
During the scanning process, look for the required lost file type from the left panel under the “File Location” tab.

Step 3. Preview Files and Recover
Once selected, open the “Preview” screen, go through every bit of the data, and hit the “Recover” button to save it on your laptop.

Conclusion
This article explained why the hard and factory reset is the perfect solution for your HP laptop. These resets completely remove and fix any underlying minor and major issues from the laptop and offer you a fresh start. That’s why we explored the 4 best methodologies on how to factory reset HP laptop, which has both methods for resetting a laptop with and without a password.
Notably, there are chances that you accidentally lose any essential information during the reset process. So, to restore your system data, use the Wondershare Recoverit to retrieve them. This tool is equipped with an advanced scanning mechanism and filtration options to make it easy for users to find their lost files safely.
FAQs
1. What is the difference between a Hard Reset and a Factory Reset?
The Hard Reset is the process that clears temporary data by disconnecting all power sources from the laptop. It helps resolve issues like unresponsive screens, boot failures, and more by refreshing the system’s hardware components without affecting personal data. In comparison, the Factory Reset is a more comprehensive reset that erases all data, settings, and installed programs.2. Will factory reset remove Windows from my laptop?
No, a factory reset reinstalls Windows and removes all your personal and professional files and programs, but not the operating system itself.3. Can I recover data after a Factory Reset?
A factory reset erases all data, making recovery difficult. However, with Wondershare Recoverit, you can recover over 1000 file formats from 2000+ storage devices. It seamlessly recovers your lost files with its advanced search and scanning system that you can preview and save.4. Can I cancel a factory reset once it starts?
If the reset process starts, it is not advisable to cancel it as it may corrupt the operating system, leaving your laptop unusable. Any step before the reset button can easily cancel your factory reset without disrupting anything.