New laptop? How to wipe your old Windows PC clean before getting rid of it

Follow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google.

Are you starting the new year with a new PC? What are you going to do with the computer it’s replacing?

You might be planning to hand down the old device to a family member or reassign it to another employee in your small business. Perhaps you’ll donate it to a local charity, put it up for sale, or take advantage of an offer to trade in the old device.

Before you do any of those things, your top three priorities should be migrating your apps and files to your new device, expunging your personal data from the old PC, and resetting the operating system on the device you plan to recycle, so the new owner can be productive right away. As with all things Windows, there are multiple ways to accomplish these goals.

Also: How to upgrade your ‘incompatible’ Windows 10 PC to Windows 11 now – for free

In this post, I’ll outline your options, along with some thoughts on when to choose each one. (Spoiler: The most important question is who you’re planning to give the PC to.)

But first, a few things you should do to get that old PC ready.

Step 1: Migrate your apps and files

Your new PC comes with a squeaky-clean installation of Windows. Before you can get any serious work accomplished, you need to install the apps you use regularly. You can use this opportunity to weed out old apps you no longer use, or you can simply transfer everything and sort through it later.

Start on the old PC by running the Windows Backup app, which is included with supported versions of Windows 11.

It uses your personal Microsoft account to back up Windows settings as well as a complete list of apps you’ve installed from the Microsoft Store. It also gives you the option to back up your personal folders (Documents, Pictures, and Desktop) to OneDrive storage so you can transfer them from the cloud to your new PC.

Also: How to undo OneDrive Backup and restore your personal files to your Windows 11 PC

Run Windows Backup on your old PC to save its current state to the cloud. Then go to the new PC and sign in with the same Microsoft account; as part of the initial setup process, you’ll get the option to restore your new profile using the backup you just saved.

Back on the old PC, you’ll need to take an additional inventory of legacy software (older Windows desktop apps that are not available from the Microsoft Store). You can find a list of these programs by going to Control Panel > Programs > Programs & Features. Make sure you have any activation codes or installer files you need to reinstall the apps on your new PC, and remove the activation for any programs that require that option. 

Also: The 11 Microsoft apps I ditch on every new Windows install – and the 11 I keep

Next, make sure your important files are backed up. If you use a cloud storage service like OneDrive, Google Drive, or Dropbox, any data files you’ve uploaded will be easy to transfer to the new PC. As an extra precaution, I recommend creating an image backup of your old PC, saving its contents to a removable hard drive. (For instructions, see “Windows 10 how-to: Create a full image backup using this hidden tool.” Don’t let the title fool you; this ancient utility works with Windows 11, too.) That backup file contains everything on your old PC. In a pinch, you can mount the backup image on your new PC to recover a lost file.

Step 2: Use encryption tools to wipe the old data

It’s worth noting that installing a new operating system doesn’t automatically wipe out traces of the old data. The bits and bytes that make up those erased files remain on the disk, potentially accessible by someone with modest technical skills and disk recovery software. If you’re concerned that the next owner of your PC might try to recover your old files, you should take extra precautions.

The simplest solution, on a PC running Windows 11 Pro, is to enable BitLocker Disk Encryption and set it to encrypt the entire disk. (For details, see my complete guide to BitLocker.)

Also: How to upgrade from Windows 11 Home to Pro – without overpaying

After you wipe the PC, any data left behind that you previously encrypted will be unrecoverable unless someone has your 48-digit recovery key. On a PC running Windows 11 Home, delete any important data files and then manually wipe the erased disk space. Open a Command Prompt window and run this command:

cipher /w:c: 

If your old PC is still running Windows 10, this is an excellent time to upgrade to Windows 11, which still has a long and productive life ahead of it.

Step 3: Prepare the old PC for a new owner

With those chores out of the way, it’s time to choose one of the three options to install a new copy of Windows 11 for the new owner of your old PC.

Option1: Reset

This is the simplest way to remove your existing installation and replace it with a clean copy of Windows 11. You don’t have to mess with bootable media, and you can choose the option to download a completely fresh set of installation files instead of using your current Windows system files.

Also: 6 things I always do after setting up Windows 11

To get started, go to Settings > System > Recovery. Under the “Recovery options” heading, click the Reset PC button. For the first step of this procedure, you have to choose one of two options.

Do not choose the Keep My Files option. Because you’re passing this device along to someone else, choose Remove Everything.

You also have the option to wipe the drive clean. That precaution adds a significant amount of time to the reset and isn’t necessary if you’re passing the PC along to a family member or an employee in your small business. But do take this precaution if you’re selling or donating the PC to a stranger who might be tempted to rummage through the deleted-but-not-yet-overwritten disk space in search of recoverable data files.

Also: I replaced my Microsoft account password with a passkey – and you should, too

The second step offers the choice of a Cloud Download or a Local Reinstall. The only reason to choose the cloud option is if your PC has some nagging performance or reliability issues and you’d like to give its new owner a completely fresh start. If your old PC has no underlying issues, skip the big download and choose the option to reinstall using the existing files.

After making those choices, you’ll need to confirm your decision to reset the PC twice more. The first confirmation offers you one final chance to change your mind about the cloud download and data wipe options.

When you get to the final confirmation screen, click Reset to begin the process. After it’s complete, you’ll be at the initial setup screen for Windows 11. You can safely power the PC down at that point and let the new owner complete the setup and sign in with their personal account.

Option 2: Reimage

The built-in Windows 11 Reset process works for most situations, but there’s one specific circumstance where it falls short. If you own a Windows laptop or gaming PC that includes custom drivers and utilities to enable specific hardware features, you might prefer to reinstall a factory image supplied by the manufacturer. This option is especially useful if the PC is still covered under the manufacturer’s warranty.

Also: Your Windows 11 upgrade not working? Try my 5 favorite troubleshooting tricks

If the recovery image is available on your PC, you might be able to restore that image directly. Some OEMs also offer the capability to download a clean, up-to-date image as part of the recovery process. To get started, go to Settings > System > Recovery. Under the “Recovery options” heading, click “Restart now.” If you see an option to restore the factory image, you’re in luck.

If that option’s not available, you might be able to download a current recovery image from the PC maker, which you can use to create bootable recovery media. For details and download links for Dell, HP, Lenovo, and Microsoft Surface PCs, see “How to get a free Windows (or Linux) recovery image for your OEM PC.”

Option 3: Reformat and clean install

The ultimate recovery option for Windows experts is a clean install of Windows 11 using bootable media. This option is appropriate if a recovery image isn’t available and you want to reformat the system disk completely to remove all traces of your old data.

Before you begin, go to Settings > System > Activation. Confirm that your copy of Windows is properly activated. If you see any activation errors listed, resolve them before continuing.

To begin the reset process, you’ll need bootable installation media. Use the Media Creation Tool to download the latest installation files from the Download Windows 11 page and create a bootable USB flash drive.)

Also: Microsoft said my PC was ‘too old’ to run Windows 11 – how I upgraded in 5 minutes anyway

Next, find the right combination of keystrokes and/or incantations to boot directly from that drive into the Windows Setup program. Use the built-in tools to reformat and/or repartition the target drive. Don’t skip the formatting step, or all your old files will remain on the drive in a Windows.old folder that will be accessible to the new owner.

Finally, install Windows 11. Because you’re doing so on hardware that’s previously been activated, you can skip past the part where you’re asked to enter a product key; Windows will install the correct edition and activate automatically after the new owner signs in for the first time.