Windows 11 Factory Reset to Fix Performance Issues

Let’s learn how Windows 11 Factory Reset to Fix Performance Issues. You can also check whether Windows 10 performance issues can be fixed by factory reset options. The Windows 11 / Windows 10 factory reset should be the one of the last options to fix the performance issues.

You don’t need to reset the PC to fix the performance issue for Windows 11 or Windows 10 PCs in my recent experience. You need to initiate the Windows 11 Factory Reset. Read on to have more details.

I will give you a walkthrough of different options available with Factory reset options with Windows 11 and Windows 10 PCs in this post. You also have cloud download and reset options available with the factory reset options of Windows PCs.

Do you see performance issues with Windows 11 or Windows 10 PCs? Windows 11 troubleshooting options are the first fix for the performance issues. There could be a possibility that the latest Windows updates are causing performance issues.

Patch My PC

If the Windows 11 performance issues are happening after Microsoft’s latest Cumulative Update patch, you can try to confirm this by uninstalling the patch. You can use the following method to Remove Windows 11 Update Patch Latest Cumulative Update and test.

What is Windows 11 Factory Reset?

Your Windows 10 or Windows 11 PC isn’t working well, and it’s been a while since you installed an app, driver, or update. One of the options is to perform a factory reset to fix the issue.

Factory Reset means Resetting reinstalls Windows 11, but the reset workflow lets you choose whether to keep your files or remove them and then reinstalls Windows. You can reset your PC from Settings, the sign-in screen, or by using a recovery drive or installation media.

Launch Windows 11 Factory Reset Wizard

The Windows 11 performance issues can be fixed with a Factory reset of the Windows PC. As mentioned above, this should be tried as the last resource. There are many other troubleshooting steps that you can follow to understand the root cause of the Windows 11 performance issues.

Adaptiva

Let’s get into the details of Windows 11 Factory reset options. You can initiate the Windows 11 factory reset from the Settings app.

  • Click on Start Button and Select Settings app.
  • Navigate to Setting System – Recovery.
  • Click Reset PC button from the Reset this PC option.
Windows 11 Factory Reset to Fix Performance Issues
Windows 11 Factory Reset to Fix Performance Issues of Windows 10/11

You have two options to reset the PC to fix the performance issues. The first option is to keep the files, and the second one is to remove everything.

Keep the Files option – Reinstall Windows 11, keep your personal files, and Remove apps and drivers you installed. This also removes changes you made to settings. But it has an option to restore the apps installed by the PC manufacturer if you want.

Remove Everything – Remove all your personal files, apps, and settings. The change settings options available with the remove everything option is important – Data erasure ON and OFF options are important removes files and clean the drive.

In this scenario, to fix the performance issue, it’s better to select the Keep my Files option.

Windows 11 Factory Reset to Fix Performance Issues of Windows 10/11
Windows 11 Factory Reset to Fix Performance Issues of Windows 10/11

Windows 11 Reset with Keep My Files Option

Now, let’s have a deep dive into Windows 11 Reset with Keep My Files options. It might take a few seconds to load the next Reset this PC wizard screen screen. The next question is, how would you like to reinstall Windows?

I normally select Cloud Download because this will get you the updated image from the Microsoft Cloud to reinstall the Windows 11 PC. However, it’s going to download around 4 GB of data. So, the better option the better option for some of the scenarios is to use the Local Reinstall option.

In this scenario, I decided to go with Cloud Download, and I have good internet connectivity as well.

Cloud Download Windows 11 Reset with Keep My Files Option
Cloud Download Windows 11 Reset with Keep My Files Option

You can still change the selected option using the Change Settings link from the Wizard. Click on the Next button to continue.

Cloud Download Windows 11 Reset with Keep My Files Option
Cloud Download Windows 11 Reset with Keep My Files Option – Windows 11 Factory Reset to Fix Performance Issues

This is the last page of the wizard, where you get the summary of the options that you have selected. It gives all the details, such as the duration of the Windows 11 Factory reset, how much data will get downloaded because of the Cloud Download option (more than 3.6 GB).

You can also check and confirm the list of apps that will get removed as part of this Windows 10 or Windows 11 factory reset option. Also, the Bitlocker encryption will be suspended during the reset process.

NOTE! – This factory reset will remove Intune enrollment and all the other configurations on this PC.

Click on the Reset button to start Windows 11 Factory reset process to fix the performance issues.

Windows 11 Factory Reset to Fix Performance Issues 1
Cloud Download Windows 11 Reset with Keep My Files Option

The Windows 11 Reset this PC wizard shows the status of the process, as shown below. It says preparing to reset. The Status indicates that Downloading (Cloud Download of Windows 11 image) is completed 30%. The PC will get automatically restarted as part of the reset process.

Windows 11 Factory Reset to Fix Performance Issues
Windows 11 Factory Reset to Fix Performance Issues

Secured Remove Everything Factory Reset Option

Now, let’s check the Secured Remove Everything Factory Reset Option. This option reinstalls Windows 11 and removes your personal files. It also removes apps and drivers you installed along with settings changes you made.

Removes any apps your PC manufacturer installed. If your PC comes with Windows 11, apps from your PC manufacturer would be reinstalled. You won’t get this reinstall of apps option if your PC is upgraded to Windows by you.

When you select the Remove Everything option from Reset this PC wizard, you will get two change Settings options to choose the secure erase option during the factory reset of Windows 11 or Windows 10 PC.

Windows 11 Factory Reset to Fix Performance Issues - Secured Remove Everything Factory Reset Option
Windows 11 Factory Reset to Fix Performance Issues – Secured Remove Everything Factory Reset Option

an option to Clean Data. Two options are available with clean data as part of a factory reset.

  • NOJust Remove your files. This is quicker, but less secure. This is Data erasure Off, this takes less time to complete.
  • Yes – Clean the Drive. This may take hours, but will make it harder to recover the files. This is the more secure option if you are givign away your Windows PC.
Secured Remove Everything Factory Reset Option
Secured Remove Everything Factory Reset Option

Factory Reset to Fix Performance Issues of Windows 11

Now let’s see how to perform Factory Reset to Fix Performance Issues of Windows 11. Or do you need to perform a factory reset to fix the performance issues? In my experience, the answer is NO. But it depends on the specific scenario.

So I’m not in a position to confirm whether this will work every time or not. In my scenario, the Reset this PC got stuck at 79%. I waited around 1 hour to get resetting this PC status to the next step. But somehow, the factory reset got stuck at 79%.

I switched off the laptop (force switch off) and started again. It showed me undo changes message during the bootup screen. I logged in back to the Laptop, and it seems that did the trick! The massive performance issues went away. The laptop is smooth again!

NOTE! – I will monitor this for some days and update the post if I see any reoccurrence of the performance issues.

Windows 11 Factory Reset to Fix Performance Issues -  Factory Reset to Fix Performance Issues of Windows 11
Windows 11 Factory Reset to Fix Performance Issues – Factory Reset to Fix Performance Issues of Windows 11

Author

Anoop is Microsoft MVP! He is a Solution Architect in enterprise client management with more than 20 years of experience (calculation done in 2021) in IT. He is Blogger, Speaker, and Local User Group HTMD Community leader. His main focus is on Device Management technologies like SCCM 2012, Current Branch, and Intune. He writes about ConfigMgr, Windows 11, Windows 10, Azure AD, Microsoft Intune, Windows 365, AVD, etc……………

1 thought on “Windows 11 Factory Reset to Fix Performance Issues”

  1. If you forced the Windows 11 upgrade onto a non-compatible laptop (replacement of appraiserres.dll), use of the version 11 built-in reset may cause loss of critical drivers! Be sure to have a Windows 10 install flash drive on hand for that scenario, as you might lack wifi/internet.

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