What the two options actually mean
Windows offers Reset This PC in Settings under System and Recovery, and it asks one question that decides everything: keep my files, or remove everything. The names are accurate but incomplete, and the incompleteness is where people get hurt.
| What it does to | Keep my files | Remove everything |
|---|---|---|
| Documents, pictures, downloads in your user folder | Kept | Deleted |
| Installed applications | All removed | All removed |
| Application settings and data stored inside program folders | Removed with the application | Removed |
| Windows settings and personalization | Reset to default | Reset to default |
| User accounts | Kept | Removed |
| Files on a second drive or partition | Untouched | Untouched unless you choose all drives |
| Drivers you installed yourself | Usually removed | Removed |
| Suitable for | A machine you are keeping, that is misbehaving | A machine you are selling, giving away or handing back |
The row that catches people is the second one. Keep my files does not mean keep my computer as it is. Every program comes off — the office suite, the photo editor, the games, the printer software, the tax program from three years ago that you would need again in April. What stays is the contents of your user folders. If a program stored something important somewhere other than Documents, and many do, that data leaves with the program.
Back up before, and verify it before
The order here is not negotiable and it is where most bad outcomes start. Complete the backup, then confirm the backup works by opening a file from it on a different device, and only then begin the reset. Discovering afterward that the external drive was not actually copying, or that the sync client had been paused for six weeks, is a conversation nobody enjoys having with themselves.
| What to capture | Where it hides |
|---|---|
| Documents, Pictures, Videos, Music, Desktop | Obvious, and still the thing people forget to check the size of |
| Downloads | Frequently holds the only copy of something. Look before you assume it is disposable. |
| Browser bookmarks, saved passwords, autofill | Sign in to the browser account so it syncs, or export a bookmarks file. Passwords stored only in the browser on that machine are gone otherwise. |
| Email stored locally | Desktop mail clients using POP keep the only copy on the drive. Webmail and IMAP live on the server and are fine. |
| Application license keys and account logins | Write them down before you start. Reinstalling is easy; finding a key for software you bought in 2019 is not. |
| Game saves | Cloud saves are usually fine. Local saves live in hidden user folders and are lost. |
| Authenticator apps tied to this machine | Move or re-enroll your two-factor codes first, or you can lock yourself out of the accounts you need afterward |
| Printer, scanner and specialty hardware drivers | Note the exact model numbers now, while the machine still works |
Two copies is not paranoia here, it is the ordinary standard — see backup that actually works for why one copy on one external drive is a single point of failure. While you are collecting passwords, this is also the moment to notice which ones you have been reusing; the password strength checker runs entirely in the browser and sends nothing anywhere.
Cloud download or local reinstall
Once you have chosen what to keep, Windows asks how it should get the files it needs to rebuild itself.
| Consideration | Cloud download | Local reinstall |
|---|---|---|
| Source | Downloads a current copy from Microsoft | Rebuilds from the recovery files already on the drive |
| Data used | Several gigabytes. Relevant on a metered or capped connection. | None |
| Speed | Depends entirely on your connection | Usually faster |
| Reliability | Higher. If the problem is corrupted system files, the local copy may be corrupted too. | Fails more often on a machine with file corruption |
| Use it when | You have a solid connection and no data cap, or local reinstall already failed | Connection is slow, capped, or unavailable |
If both fail, the fallback is installation media: a USB stick made with the Media Creation Tool on any working computer, 8 GB or larger, which will be erased in the process. That path also gives you the option of deleting the existing partitions and installing genuinely clean, which is the only version of this that clears a badly corrupted disk layout.
What a reset does not fix
A reset replaces software. It does nothing whatsoever to hardware, and treating it as a general repair wastes a day and sometimes costs data.
| Symptom | Will a reset help? |
|---|---|
| Freezes, stalled copies, a drive reporting failing SMART attributes | No. Resetting writes the whole operating system onto a drive that cannot hold it reliably. Replace the drive first; otherwise you may also lose files that were still readable. |
| Random blue screens at unpredictable times | Sometimes. Test the memory first — Windows includes a memory diagnostic — because faulty RAM produces exactly this and survives any reinstall. |
| Overheating, loud fans, shutdowns under load | No. That is dust, a failed fan, or dried thermal paste. |
| Slow but stable, with years of accumulated software | Yes, this is what it is for. Check the slow PC checklist first, because storage and startup programs are cheaper to fix. |
| Browser hijack, adware, unwanted extensions | Usually yes, and a reset is a reasonable response when a machine has been thoroughly compromised |
| Battery lasts twenty minutes | No. Batteries are consumable and this is a parts problem. |
| Machine will not boot at all | Possibly, from the recovery environment or from USB media — but rule the drive out first |
The first hour afterward
A freshly reset machine is not finished. Work through it in this order and you will not be chasing odd problems next week.
Connect to the network and run Windows Update repeatedly until it reports nothing further, rebooting between rounds, because the first pass rarely gets everything. Then go to the laptop or motherboard maker support page, enter the model, and install their chipset, network and graphics drivers rather than relying on the generic ones Windows supplied; this is the step that fixes the mysterious sleep, audio and touchpad complaints people report after a reset. Check activation under Settings, where a machine that had a valid license usually reactivates by itself once it is online and signed in. Reinstall applications one at a time rather than in a burst, so that if something misbehaves you know what introduced it. Restore your files from the backup and open several of them. Only when all of that has succeeded should you erase or reuse the backup drive.
If you are selling or giving the machine away
Choose Remove everything, and when it offers to clean the drive as well as remove files, take that option — it overwrites rather than merely deleting, which takes considerably longer and is the difference between files being gone and files being recoverable. Sign out of and deauthorize accounts before you start, especially anything with a device limit. Remove the machine from your account device list afterward. And if the drive held anything genuinely sensitive, understand that the reliable answer for a drive leaving your possession is physical destruction of the drive, not any software wipe.
One habit prevents most of the pain on this page: before you click the button, open the backup on a different device and read a file out of it. Sixty seconds, and it is the only proof that any of the rest of this was worth doing.
Questions people ask
Does Reset This PC delete my files?
It depends which option you choose, and one of them is more destructive than the name suggests. Remove everything deletes your files, your applications, your accounts and your settings — a complete wipe. Keep my files preserves the contents of your user folders such as Documents and Pictures, but it still removes every installed application and resets Windows settings to default. Data that an application stored outside your user folders goes with the application. Neither option is a substitute for having a backup you have verified.
Will a reset speed up my computer?
If the slowness comes from years of accumulated software, background agents and startup entries, yes, noticeably. If it comes from hardware, no, and you will have spent a day for nothing. Before resetting, check free space on the system drive, the startup programs list, and the drive health report. A mechanical hard drive that is nearly full and beginning to fail produces slowness that a reset cannot touch, and reinstalling onto a failing drive risks the files you still had.
Cloud download or local reinstall — which should I pick?
Local reinstall is faster and uses no data, and it is the right pick on a slow or capped connection. Cloud download pulls a fresh current copy from Microsoft, which matters if the reason you are resetting is corrupted system files, since the local recovery copy may be corrupted in the same way. If a local reinstall fails partway through, choosing cloud download is the standard next attempt. If both fail, make a USB installer on another computer.
Will I need my Windows product key again?
Usually not. On machines sold with Windows, the license is tied to the hardware and stored in firmware, and it reactivates automatically once the machine is online. If you bought an upgrade license and linked it to a Microsoft account, signing in to that account restores it. Where people run into trouble is after a motherboard replacement or on a self-built machine with a retail key, so if either applies to you, find and record the key before you reset rather than afterward.
What do I do first after the reset finishes?
Updates, then drivers, then applications, then files. Run Windows Update over and over until it reports nothing left, rebooting between passes. Then install the manufacturer drivers for your specific model from their support site, because the generic drivers Windows provides are what cause the odd post-reset complaints about sleep, sound and Wi-Fi. Confirm activation. Reinstall your applications one at a time. Restore your files and actually open a few of them. Keep the backup until every one of those steps has succeeded.