4 Méthodes pour réinitialiser votre ordinateur Windows
Les réinitialisations d’usine sont la solution nucléaire à de nombreux problèmes Windows. Si votre ordinateur est beaucoup plus lent qu’il ne l’était auparavant, si vous avez une infection malveillante que vous ne pouvez pas supprimer ou si vous envisagez de vendre votre machine, une réinitialisation est l’option la plus pratique.
En fonction de votre configuration et de la version installée de Windows, vous disposez de plusieurs méthodes pour réinitialiser un ordinateur portable ou de bureau Windows en usine. Nous allons vous montrer comment réinitialiser un ordinateur Windows 11, 10, 8 ou 7 aussi facilement que possible.
Avant de réinitialiser Windows, assurez-vous de sauvegarder !
Avant de voir comment réinitialiser Windows en usine, vous devez vous assurer que vous disposez d’une sauvegarde récente de vos données. Effectuer une réinitialisation d’usine effacera tous vos programmes installés et, dans certains cas, vos fichiers. Vous ne voulez rien laisser derrière vous.
Assurez-vous de savoir quoi sauvegarder à partir de votre ordinateur, puis découvrez comment sauvegarder votre PC Windows sur le cloud. Une fois que vous avez une copie sécurisée de tout, vous pouvez procéder à la réinstallation de Windows.
1. Comment réinitialiser les paramètres d’usine de Windows 10 ou Windows 11 à l’aide de la méthode intégrée
La réinitialisation d’usine de Windows était autrefois un processus peu pratique, mais Microsoft a introduit un moyen beaucoup plus simple de le faire dans Windows 8. Ceci est également inclus dans Windows 10 et Windows 11, et constitue le meilleur moyen de réinitialiser un ordinateur Windows en usine dans la plupart des cas.
Pour accéder à cette option de réinstallation de Windows sur Windows 10, accédez à Paramètres > Mise à jour et sécurité > Récupération . Vous verrez un en-tête Réinitialiser ce PC ; cliquez sur le bouton Commencer en dessous pour commencer.
Si vous utilisez Windows 11, rendez-vous dans Paramètres > Système > Récupération . Cliquez sur Réinitialiser le PC à côté de Réinitialiser ce PC pour commencer. Les étapes à partir d’ici sont les mêmes pour Windows 11 et Windows 10. Si vous avez besoin de plus d’aide, découvrez comment réinitialiser Windows 11 en usine sans mot de passe administrateur.
Conserver vos fichiers ou tout supprimer ?
Vous aurez le choix entre deux options initiales lors de la réinitialisation d’usine de Windows 10 ou 11 de cette façon : Conserver mes fichiers ou Tout supprimer .
La sélection de Conserver mes fichiers rétablit les options par défaut de votre système d’exploitation et supprime toutes vos applications installées (telles que les navigateurs, Microsoft Office et les jeux), mais conserve vos fichiers (comme les documents et la musique).
True to its name, Remove everything is a full factory reset: it puts all options back to factory defaults and removes your files and apps. Afterward, Windows will be like it is on a brand-new computer.
Though the Keep my files option will retain your personal data, you should still back up before using it in case something goes wrong.
Cloud Download vs. Local Reinstall
On modern versions of Windows 10, and on Windows 11, you’ll next have to choose how you want to reinstall Windows. There are two ways: Cloud download or Local reinstall.
Local reinstall uses files on your current system to construct a fresh copy of Windows. While it saves you from having to download any files from the internet, it also won’t work if your Windows installation is corrupted.
With Cloud download, the process will instead download a fresh copy of Windows from Microsoft over the internet. This reinstalls the version of Windows 10 or 11 you’re currently running (plus any minor updates), so it won’t upgrade you to a newer feature update.
Downloading Windows takes several gigabytes of data, so take care if you’re on a limited connection. If you have a speedy internet connection, though, this option can be faster than the local reinstall.
Options When Resetting Windows 10 and 11
Next, you’ll see an Additional settings menu that has a Current settings section, containing a summary of what you’ve chosen to do so far. There’s also a Change settings link you can click for more options.
If you chose Keep my files earlier, you’ll have two options under Change settings. One is a redundant Download Windows? toggle for cloud or local reinstall.
The other appears in Windows 11 and the latest versions of Windows 10: Restore preinstalled apps? Turn this off and your factory reset won’t include any apps that came with your initial setup. Disabling it is a good way to avoid Windows bloatware from your hardware manufacturer.
There are additional choices when you pick Remove everything. Enabling Clean data? will obliterate everything on the drive to reduce the chance of someone recovering it later. Though this process takes some time, you should use it if you’re getting rid of your computer. It’s not necessary if you’re keeping your machine.
Turn on Delete files from all drives? to erase everything on all drives you have connected to your computer. This includes external hard drives and recovery drives. Because you probably have backups and other important files on those drives, you shouldn’t use this unless you want to permanently erase everything associated with your computer.
Confirm the Windows Factory Reset Operation
Click Confirm when you’re satisfied with the options above. The final screen before you start the factory reset is titled Ready to reset this PC.
You’ll see a list of actions that the process will perform. Click View apps that will be removed if you want to double-check which apps are affected by this process.
Finally, confirm the operation by clicking Reset, then wait for the process to complete. If you’re factory resetting a laptop, make sure you plug it in to avoid losing power during the operation. You’ll need to walk through the Windows setup procedure again once it’s done.
Make sure you take the recommended steps after reinstalling Windows 10 if you’re sticking with that OS.
2. Reinstall Windows Manually Using Windows Installation Media
If you’re not using Windows 10 or 11, want to factory reset Windows 10 or 11 without the Settings menu, or don’t want to use the other methods above for some reason, you can always factory reset Windows using installation media. This allows you to install a fresh copy of Windows on your computer and wipe out everything currently on it.
Windows 11 users should follow our guide to creating a Windows 11 bootable drive, which you can then install a new copy of Windows from.
For Windows 10, see how to install Windows 10 from a bootable USB drive. This will walk you through the process of loading the Windows 10 installer on a flash drive, booting from it, and erasing your current installation with a fresh copy. This is free and easy, as long as you have a spare USB drive.
If you want to reinstall Windows 8.1 from scratch, you can use Microsoft’s Windows 8.1 download tool. This lets you download an ISO to burn onto a flash drive or DVD so you can reinstall Windows. Simply insert the USB drive or disc containing your install media, then boot from the removable device. You’ll be greeted with the Windows setup screen, which you can proceed through to install a clean copy. Remember that doing this will remove everything currently on the drive where you install Windows.
Since Windows 7 has been out of support for years, Microsoft no longer offers an official Windows 7 download. We recommend that you upgrade to a modern version of Windows; don’t download Windows 7 from a random website, as it may contain malware.
Note that the methods in #1 above allow you to reinstall Windows in effectively the same way without manually creating a USB installer, so they’re much more convenient.
3. Factory Reset Windows 10 or 11 From Boot Using Advanced Methods
While the methods listed above will work for most users, there are a few advanced ways to reset Windows, if you need them.
To run a Windows factory reset from boot (in case you can’t get into Windows normally, for example), you can start a factory reset from the Advanced Startup menu.
To launch this menu if Windows is working properly, on Windows 10, visit Settings > Update & Security > Recovery. Under the Advanced startup section, click Restart now to reboot into Advanced Startup. On Windows 11, go to Settings > System > Recovery and click Restart Now next to Advanced Startup.
Alternatively, you can open the Start menu and expand the power menu there, then hold down the Shift key as you click the Restart button. In case you can’t do either of these, try pressing F11 as you boot, which will open Advanced Startup on some systems. Failing this, Windows will launch Advanced Startup on its own after three failed boots.
Once Advanced Startup is open, choose Troubleshoot, then select Reset This PC to walk through nearly the same factory reset procedure as #1 above. You can pick Advanced options for more choices, but none of them let you factory reset Windows 10 or 11 unless you have a saved system image.
Otherwise, you may be able to boot into the BIOS and directly load the recovery partition on your hard drive, if your PC manufacturer included one. However, if you factory reset with this method, you’ll reinstall all the manufacturer bloatware. While it’s not ideal, it can work if you have no other options.
You can also type « create a recovery drive » into the Start menu to access a tool that lets you make your own. However, this requires a fair bit of space, and you’ll have to do it before you have a problem. If you didn’t already make one, you’re best off making a new Windows install disk, as described in #2.
To cover all the bases: there is no way to factory reset Windows from the BIOS. Our guide to using the BIOS shows how to reset your BIOS to default options, but you can’t factory reset Windows itself through it. There’s also no way to factory reset your laptop without turning it on; you need power to perform all the above operations.
4. Factory Reset Windows 10 Using the « Fresh Start » Option (Old Versions)
If you’re on an old version of Windows 10, Microsoft offers a different way to factory reset your computer, called Fresh Start. Starting with Windows 10 version 2004, this option was replaced by the process described above, so use that if you’re on a modern version.
We include this process for completion, but if you’re on a version of Windows 10 that still offers this, you need to install the latest version of Windows 10 as soon as you can to keep your PC secure.
To access Fresh Start, on the Settings > Update & Security > Recovery page, click the Learn how to start fresh with a clean installation of Windows link at the bottom. This will open the Windows Security app, showing the Fresh start option. Click Get started to proceed.
Note that if you’re on at least Windows 10 version 2004, clicking this link text will open Microsoft’s Fresh Start page in your browser instead.
Here’s how Fresh Start works:
- Fresh Start always keeps your personal files, with no option to remove everything and do a full factory reset.
- Fresh Start downloads the latest version of Windows 10 from Microsoft, with no option to reinstall from local files.
- Because of this, Fresh Start avoids clutter by removing all non-standard Windows apps, including manufacturer bloatware. The only exceptions are Microsoft Store apps that were installed by the manufacturer, which stay.
- Finally, Fresh Start keeps « some Windows settings, » but doesn’t specify which ones. The above reset process does not keep any of your settings.
To summarize, Fresh Start downloads a fresh copy of the most recent Windows 10 version, keeps your files and some settings, and doesn’t leave any manufacturer bloatware, aside from Store apps. In comparison, the standard reset option lets you choose whether to keep your files, doesn’t save any settings, installs the same version of Windows, and lets you choose how to reinstall the OS.
Keep in mind that after doing a reinstall this way, you may need to enter license keys for premium apps again, and will likely need to update system drivers.
Now You Know How to Factory Reset Your Windows Computer
Vous disposez de plusieurs options pour réinitialiser les paramètres d’usine d’un ordinateur Windows. Si vous utilisez Windows 10 ou 11, l’option de réinitialisation d’usine intégrée est simple et rapide. Si vous préférez, tous les utilisateurs de Windows modernes peuvent télécharger une image de Microsoft et effectuer une installation propre de cette façon.
Que vous ayez besoin de réinitialiser complètement votre ordinateur portable avant de le vendre ou que vous souhaitiez simplement actualiser votre PC pour améliorer ses performances, l’une de ces méthodes vous permettra de réinitialiser Windows le plus rapidement possible.
La prochaine fois, vous n’aurez peut-être même pas besoin de réinitialiser Windows. Il existe d’autres moyens de remettre votre ordinateur dans un état propre sans réinstaller le système d’exploitation.