[HELP] I would like to factory reset my LAPTOP

I got bumped into this one video on YouTube which says that I should do before using a new laptop. It introduces me to Macrium Reflect. New laptop users should always save a snapshot of the factory-configured laptop (without windows updates) so you could always start fresh when you feel that your laptop is already sluggish.


So, I've been searching if there are available snapshots for the same unit and model of my laptop. I would like to factory reset it. It doesn't perform well now. Last year, I loved to play CS: GO. My FPS back then was 250+ in my low-medium settings, 4:3 aspect ratio. And just last week, I tried to update CS: GO and played it again, same settings, I barely get 90FPS and stables at 60FPS, and it is bad. FPS gets worse when lots are happening in the game.


I tried using DDU for both Intel and Nvidia graphics drivers, thinking that re-installing it will fix my FPS issues, but nothing happened.


My current version: 2004 (OS Build 19041.329)


Here is my Laptop model and specs:

• Acer Aspire E 15 (E5-576G) / (E5-576G-50EN)
• Intel i5-8250U
• Nvidia GeForce MX150 2GB
• 8GB DDR3L RAM
• Samsung SSD 860 Evo 500GB
• Realtek HD Audio
• Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 3168
• Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller

So all I could do now is format my laptop then.

Is there any difference between clean formatting a PC to "Reset PC"? Which can be found on Windows Settings under Windows Recovery.

A "repair install" keeps all programs, data, and most settings.

I think a "reset" deletes all programs and settings. It's quite similar to a "clean install".

A clean install deletes ALL partitions, so it's just like installing onto a new drive you just bought today that has never had Windows on it.

Your Acer probably has some type of "recovery" mechanism that will restore it to the way it was the day you bought it---if you used that mechanism, your data and any programs you have installed since then would be lost unless you independently backed them up in some way.

You need to find out if your Acer has a "recovery" partition to do the factory reset. Post a screen shot of Windows Disk Management.

Shnxxx said:

Is there any difference between clean formatting a PC to "Reset PC"? Which can be found on Windows Settings under Windows Recovery.

ignatzatsonic said:

I think a "reset" deletes all programs and settings. It's quite similar to a "clean install"....

...Your Acer probably has some type of "recovery" mechanism that will restore it to the way it was the day you bought it---if you used that mechanism, your data and any programs you have installed since then would be lost unless you independently backed them up in some way.
You need to find out if your Acer has a "recovery" partition to do the factory reset. Post a screen shot of Windows Disk Management.

A clean install with the media provided by Microsoft will have none of the OEM customisations or utilities, so it is not the same as a factory reset.

OEM Windows 10 machines generally do not need a recovery partition to do a factory reset. All the OEM utilities and drivers are in a Provisioning Package in C:\Recovery\OEM and will be applied when performing a Reset. So on an OEM machine using Reset does not just remove all your installed apps and reinstall Windows, it also reinstalls the OEM customisations. That's why an OEM W10 machine does not need an OEM recovery partition to do a factory reset.

Add OEM Provisioning Package to clean install

The OEM provisioning package will also be included in the system files on a usb recovery drive, so if you make one on an OEM machine you'll have a factory reset drive specific to that make/model. That can be used to do a clean install that will be a 'factory reset'.

Create Recovery Drive in Windows 10

Any OEM recovery could be years out of date so its not even worth considering there could be 1,000 of updates and it could be insecure

Samuria said:

Any OEM recovery could be years out of date so its not even worth considering there could be 1,000 of updates and it could be insecure

A restore from an OEM recovery partition would certainly be out of date, but not a factory Reset.

A Reset should use the WinSxS component store of the currently installed Windows 10 as the source files for reinstalling Windows, applying any OEM Provisioning Packages it finds in C:\Recovery\OEM. So it will be a 'factory reset' but with the currently installed version of Windows.

1) Open administrative command prompt and type or copy and paste:
2) sfc /scannow
3) dism /online /cleanup-image /scanhealth
4) dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth
5) sfc /scannow
6) chkdsk /scan

7) When these have completed > right click on the top bar or title bar of the administrative command prompt box > left click on edit then select all > right click on the top bar again > left click on edit then copy > paste into the thread

8) Open administrative Powershell and copy and paste this script > click OK > post a share link into this thread using one drive, drop box, or google drive

Windowsupgradetroubleshooting.zip

zbook said:

3) dism /online /cleanup-image /scanhealth
4) dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth

What is the reason for doing scan health as a separate step before doing restore health? This is from the dism help file:

Use /ScanHealth to scan the image for component store corruption.
Use /RestoreHealth to scan the image for component store corruption, and then perform repair operations automatically.

That seems to be saying that the scan health step is redundant because restore health is going to do the scan first anyway.

In response to post #2 and making a USB flash drive with the media creation tool:

After making the flash drive with the media creation tool, you can then make a folder on the same drive for hardware drivers, and then export your proprietary hardware drivers to the flash drive using the dism /online /export-driver command.