New laptop? How to clean your old Windows PC before you get rid of it

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

You may be planning to pass on old equipment 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 an old device.

Before you do any of these things, your top three priorities should be to migrate your apps and files to your new device, delete your personal data from the old PC, and reset 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 a number of ways to accomplish these goals.

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

In this post, I’ll outline your options, as well as give some thoughts on when to choose each option. (Spoiler: The most important question is who you plan to give the PC to.)

But first, there are a few things you should do to prepare that old PC.

Step 1: Migrate your apps and files

Your new PC comes with a completely clean installation of Windows. Before you can accomplish any serious work, you need to install the apps you use regularly. You can use this opportunity to delete old apps you no longer use, or you can simply move everything and sort it later.

Start by running on an old PC windows backup appWhich is included with supported versions of Windows 11.

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

Too: How to Undo a OneDrive Backup and Restore Your Personal Files on 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 (old Windows desktop apps that are no longer available on the Microsoft Store). You can find a list of these programs by going to Control Panel > Programs > Programs and Features. Make sure you have any activation codes or installer files needed to reinstall apps on your new PC, and remove activation for any programs that require that option.

Also: 11 Microsoft apps I abandon on every new Windows install — and 11 I keep

Next, make sure that your important files are backed up. If you use a cloud storage service like OneDrive, Google Drive, or Dropbox, any data files you upload will be easy to transfer to the new PC. As an extra precaution, I recommend making an image backup of your old PC and 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 the lost file.

Step 2: Use encryption tools to erase old data

It’s worth noting that installing a new operating system does not automatically erase traces of old data. The bits and bytes that make up those erased files remain on the disk, potentially accessible by anyone with modest technical skills and disk recovery software. If you are 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 on BitLocker.)

Also: How to Upgrade from Windows 11 Home to Pro – Without Paying More

After wiping the PC, any data you previously encrypted will not be able to be recovered unless someone has your 48-digit recovery key. On a PC running Windows 11 Home, delete all important data files and then manually erase the unallocated disk space. Open a command prompt window and run this command:

Cipher /w:c:

If your old PC is still running Windows 10, it’s 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 the new owner

After those tasks are finished, it’s time for the new owner of their old PC to choose one of three options to install a fresh copy of Windows 11.

Option 1: Reset

This is the easiest 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 to download an entirely new set of installation files instead of using your current Windows system files.

Also: 6 Things I Always Do After Installing 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 process you will have to choose one of two options.

Don’t select the Keep my files option. Since you are giving this device to someone else, select Delete everything.

You also have the option to clean the drive. This precaution adds a lot of time to the reset and is not necessary if you are giving the PC to a family member or employee of your small business. But use caution if you’re selling or donating the PC to a stranger, who may be tempted to scour the deleted but not yet overwritten disk space in search of recoverable data files.

Also: I changed my Microsoft account password to Passkey – and you should too

The second step offers the option of cloud download or local reinstall. The only reason to choose the cloud option is if your PC is having some poor performance or reliability issues and you want to give its new owner a completely fresh start. If your old PC doesn’t have any underlying issues, skip the large download and opt to reinstall using the existing files.

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

When you reach the final confirmation screen, click Reset to start the process. After it completes, you will be at the initial setup screen for Windows 11. You can safely shut down the PC at that point and let the new owner complete setup and sign in with their personal account.

Option 2: Re-image

The built-in Windows 11 reset process works for most situations, but it falls short in one specific situation. If you have a Windows laptop or gaming PC that contains custom drivers and utilities to enable specific hardware features, you may prefer to reinstall the manufacturer-supplied factory image. 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 may be able to restore that image directly. Some OEMs also offer the ability to download a clean, updated 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 the option to restore a factory image, you’re in luck.

If that option is not available, you may be able to download a current recovery image from the PC manufacturer, 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 final recovery option for Windows experts is to perform a clean install of Windows 11 using bootable media. This option is suitable if a recovery image is not available and you want to completely reformat the system disk to remove all traces of your old data.

Before you start, 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 will need a bootable installation media. Use the Media Creation Tool to download the latest installation files from download windows 11 Create page and create a bootable USB flash drive.)

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

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

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