How to Wipe a HP Laptop of Windows 11/10/7 Efficiently

Before you recycle your old HP laptop, it’s important to wipe it clean to avoid leaking personal data. Read this article to learn how to erase everything on HP laptop efficiently.

By @Lily Last Updated January 2, 2025

User case: How do I wipe my HP laptop?

“Hey, I have an HP Pavilion laptop running Windows 10, and I want to wipe it clean before selling it. Is there a good way to completely erase everything, including personal data? I don’t want anyone recovering it later. Any advice, plz?”

– Microsoft Community

If your HP laptop is too old and you want to sell it and buy a new one, there is a very important thing that needs to be done beforehand: remove everything on your laptop. How to do it? Please read on.

🔔Precaution: Backup data before wiping HP laptop To avoid losing important files after wiping your laptop, you may use an external hard drive, cloud storage, or a network-attached storage (NAS) to back up all your essential data such as documents, photos, and videos. Pick reliable Windows backup software to help you.

How to reset a HP laptop with built-in features

To restore your HP laptop to factory settings, you can use the “Reset this PC” feature in Windows 11/10 or “Recovery Manager” in Windows 7. Follow the detailed steps below:

Note: The following steps are for when the computer is bootable. If your computer cannot start now, try to access WinRE by one of these methods:

  • Power on your laptop and press the F11 key repeatedly as soon as the HP logo appears.
  • Force shut down your laptop during startup three times. (only for Windows 11/10)
  • Boot from a recovery disc or Windows installation media.

Reset HP Windows 11/10 laptop

1. Navigate to Reset this PC.

  • In Windows 11, go to Start > Settings > System > Recovery and click Reset PC in the Reset this PC section.

reset pc

  • In Windows 10, go to Start > Settings > Update & Security > Recovery and click Get started under Reset this PC.

Get Started

2. Choose Remove everything to remove all your personal files, apps and settings.

3. Choose Local reinstall to reinstall Windows from this device.

4. Check your current settings and click Next. You may click Change settings as necessary.

5. Click Reset to begin the reset process.

Reset HP Windows 7 laptop

1. Go to Start > All Programs and choose Recovery Manager under the Recovery Manager folder.

2. In the Recovery Manager window, click System Recovery in the first section.

3. Click Yes to confirm factory reset and click Next.

4. Your laptop restarts and opens another Recovery Manager window. Click System Recovery again and follow the on-screen instructions to restore your HP laptop to its factory settings.

How to erase everything on HP laptop via powerful tool

If you want to erase everything on your HP laptop including the operating system, try the best disk wipe software - AOMEI Backupper Professional.

AOMEI Backupper
Best Disk Wipe Software

  • It lets you wipe an entire disk or a specific partition, and you can also erase unallocated space if needed.

  • The software supports wiping a variety of storage devices, including HDDs, SSDs, USB drives, and SD cards.

  • There are no brand limitations—whether you are using HP/Dell/ASUS/Lenovo laptop, or any other brand, you can use it to erase data.

  • You can create a bootable USB to wipe a hard drive when Windows fails to boot.

Download Demo Windows 11/10/8.1/8/7
100% Secure

Download AOMEI Backupper and follow the instructions below to erase a HP laptop easily:

Note: If your laptop refuses to boot, you can download and install AOMEI Backupper on another working computer and create a bootable USB drive. Then boot your HP laptop from the bootable USB and AOMEI Backupper will load up automatically.

Step 1. Install and launch AOMEI Backupper. Click Tools and choose Disk Wipe.

Step 2. On the Wiping Type page, choose Wipe Disk and click Next.

Step 3. Select the hard drive on your HP laptop that needs to be wiped and click Next.

As the disk contains OS, you will be prompted the operation needs to be executed in reboot mode. Click OK to confirm.

Step 4. On the Wiping Method page, choose one method based on your need and click Start to proceed. There are four methods available:

  • Fill sectors with Zero (Safe, Quick)
  • Fill sectors with random data (Safe, Quick)
  • DoD 5220.22-M (Very Safe, Slow)
  • Gutmann (35 passes, Very Safe, Very Slow)

To sum up

That’s all for how to wipe a HP laptop of Windows 11/10/7. If you want to restore your laptop to factory settings without deleting Windows, you can use built-in features “Reset this PC” or “Recovery Manager”. If you want to wipe your laptop clean with nothing preserved, try professional disk wiper AOMEI Backupper.

Actually, AOMEI Backupper is also comprehensive backup and restore software. You may install it on your new laptop and use it to backup system and important data regularly.