I've been trying to factory reset my Windows 11 PC because I'm concerned there might be a virus on it. My antivirus hasn't flagged anything, but the reset process hasn't been going smoothly. The first time I attempted the reset, it got stuck at 64% during the preparing phase, so I canceled it. When I tried again, my PC ran into an issue and restarted. Now, it keeps telling me, 'there was an error resetting this PC, no changes have been made.' This has happened several times now, and I'm looking for a way to fully reset my system. Just for context, I have a 4080 graphics card and an i9-14900K processor, and I've had this setup for about a year without any major problems. Any help would be appreciated!
3 Answers
Using Windows 11's built-in factory reset feature can be problematic. A lot of users have reported issues with it actually messing things up instead of fixing them. I recommend doing a clean install of Windows from a bootable USB drive instead. This will wipe everything clean and ensure any hidden viruses are removed.
Yeah, the factory reset isn’t always reliable and could leave viruses intact. I’d suggest creating Windows installation media using a USB drive to install Windows fresh. This guide is really helpful if you want to check it out: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/create-installation-media-for-windows-99a58364-8c02-206f-aa6f-40c3b507420d.
Thanks! That looks useful.
Just curious, what antivirus are you using? Sometimes it helps to know because different programs have varying detection capabilities.
I'm using Norton (paid) and Malwarebytes (free).
Alright, thanks for the suggestion! I'll try that.