Windows 10: Run Windows Recovery before selling PC

The laptop had windows 7 when I purchased it. I upgraded for free to Windows 10.

Question: If I run "Recovery" -> "Remove everything" will I end up with Windows 7 or Windows 10?

:)

 

Restore factory settings on Win 10

Hi,

Thank you for posting your question in the Microsoft Community.

As you are planning to sell this computer, you may “Reset your PC” and choose the option “Remove everything”. This reinstalls Windows 10 and any apps that came with your PC.

Recovery options in Windows 10: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-10/windows-10-recovery-options

Note: If you're planning to donate, recycle, or sell your PC, use this option and choose to fully clean the drive. Ensure to back up your data before you start this process. This might take an hour or two, but it makes it harder for other people to
recover files you've removed.

Keep us informed to help you further.

 

Selling computer

You should at least reset the machine first before selling it. Here is what you should do before selling a machine:

How to Safely Sell or Donate Your Old Windows 10 PC

 

Welcome to TenForums @HPF

I presume you mean the 'Reset this PC' option in Settings > Update & recovery > Recovery.

This will reinstall Windows 10 using the system files already on your PC as the source. The option to 'remove everything' removes all personal files and installed apps. This includes any OEM utilities. Only OEM utilities that came with a pre-installed Win10 would be reinstalled, so you'll loose any that came with its original Win7. You may be able to download them from the manufacture's site if you want to reinstall any of them.

More details in this tutorial:

Reset Windows 10

 

As part of "reset my pc", there are are two options - one to remove everything as you say, and one to remove everything and securely wipe drive for selling pc i.e. all data is nuked so it cannot be recovered by recuva etc. The latter option takes longer but is more secure.

 

Are you sure the secure erase of the hard drive is part of reset this PC options? Reset this PC from inside Windows uses files from the Windows folder itself to reset Windows, so if the drive was securely erased, how could it reset Windows from files that were on the drive that was supposedly securely erased? I've always known securely erasing a drive to be a two step process - you boot into the program that does the secure erase of the drive, and then you do a clean install of Windows from an external media source that contains the installation files.

 

Sure it is there - I guess it is clever enough to wipe anything that is not part of base OS.

I tested wipe option once and recuva found nothing.