HP
- You can factory reset an HP laptop using Windows Settings to revert the laptop to its original state.
- You can choose whether you want the reset to wipe out all personal files or only to reset Windows itself.
- If you can't boot your HP laptop, you can also reset it using Windows Recovery in Safe Mode.
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You won't need to factory reset your HP laptop often, but it's a good thing to do when you plan to sell or give away your laptop, or when you have especially difficult technical problems.
That's because a factory reset will revert your laptop back to the state it was in when you took it out of the box for the first time (though you generally have the option to keep your files and only reset Windows).
These days you can reset any laptop, including HP models, using the standard reset procedure in Windows 10. See our overview guide on how to reset any Windows 10 computer for more information.
How to keep your Windows drivers up to date to avoid a factory reset
To prevent the need to reset your HP laptop for troubleshooting or to clear out a serious problem, you should keep your computer's drivers up to date. The good news is that by default, Windows automatically updates many of your laptop's drivers as needed. But there may sometimes be drivers that need to be updated manually.
You can do that using the Device Manager - to get started, open the Device Manager from the Start button and then find the device that needs updating in the list of devices. Right-click and choose to update the driver. See our guide on how to update or reinstall drivers in Windows 10 for detailed instructions and further information.