Unable To Perform Factory Reset

A. Martin D 20 Reputation points
2025-09-01T18:12:21.42+00:00

This new question is an offshoot of an earlier question, so feel free to reference the original topic found here: How To Perform A Full Factory Reset On A Windows 10 Laptop Computer

After having some troubleshooting complications in recent months, I've decided to go forth and just perform a Factory Reset ahead of returning a borrowed computer. Over the past few hours today (September 1st), I went ahead and tried to do the "Reset This PC" process multiple times, but the process has not been able to complete properly.

I've had my fair share of issues in dealing with this computer over the years (some of which prompted a number of topic creations both here and on the Microsoft Answers forum), one of which is a consistent problem with not having enough disk space on the C-Drive most times. After the first couple of reset attempts failed, I found that the C-Drive literally had 0 bytes available somehow; I performed a Disk Cleanup, removed some unneeded applications, and emptied a file folder recommended by the system to reclaim about 1GB of disk space, but it has yet to result in the reset running to completion. I've taken screengrabs and photographs to illustrate the issue, found below:

ThisPC_C-drive9.1.2025

SWSetup_emptied

The above images show the state of the C-Drive following a Disk Cleanup and a Reset attempt, as well as the now-emptied SWSetup folder (suggested by Storage for possibly unnecessary files) from which over 1GB of files were deleted in order to create space to make an attempt for another Reset. The following images below were taken of certain screens which appeared during each of the failed Reset attempts.

IMG_4472-1

IMG_4473-1

IMG_4474-1

As the sequence of images show, the Reset attempt fails to complete and will redirect to the Troubleshoot/Boot menu, then upon returning to the Desktop, another prompt confirms that the Reset failed and that no changes were made.

The key details on the device remain the same from the linked topic above: the laptop in question is an HP Stream purchased in December 2019 which runs Windows 10 Home In S Mode. Roughly six attempts at a Reset were attempted, but none were successful; low disk space may be a likely reason, but honestly, I'm not entirely sure what is causing this issue. If there are any other questions, I welcome anyone to reference the original topic linked above, or peruse the Microsoft Answers questions listed therein; chances are, whatever questions one might have about the computer/OS may have already been posted there by me in some form or another -- otherwise, feel free to ask, and I'll do my best to reply quickly.

As before, and as always, thanks in advance for any helpful responses.

A. MartinD. (had to strike the second 'period [.]' for the profile name on this new forum)

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Recovery and backup
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Answer accepted by question author
EmilyS726 277.8K Reputation points Independent Advisor
2025-09-01T18:49:58.0066667+00:00

Hello

The HP Stream comes with a very small built-in drive, which quickly fills up with updates and files. This makes resetting difficult, since the process requires free space on the C: drive for reinstalling Windows. I believe it is for such limitation, many HP Stream models have been discontinued.

Anyway, what you need is a clean install. The key difference between factory reset and clean install is - factory reset is initiated from existing Windows system, hence it needs enough system drive free space for Windows to start this process. Clean install is initiated from a installation media (typically flash drive) that contains Windows installation files, so it bypasses the current Windows completely to install new Windows into the disk.

To perform a clean installation of Windows 10 using the Windows Media Creation Tool. You do need to get access to another computer so you can download the Windows installation files into a flash drive, then use the flash drive to help your computer. If your current computer is running low on space, I fear you definitely need another computer to help you do this process first. Hopefully you have a spare computer, or you can have friend or family help you.

The following steps should be done on a working Windows computer:

Download the Windows Media Creation Tool from Microsoft's official website. https://www.microsoft.com/software-download/windows10

Run the tool and select "Create installation media for another PC."

Choose your language, edition, and architecture (32 or 64-bit) and select "Next."

Choose "USB flash drive" as the media to use for the installation and select "Next."

Connect a USB flash drive with at least 8 GB of free space to your computer.

Select the USB flash drive you want to use, and then select "Next."

The tool will then download the required files and create the installation media.

=====================================================

Now these steps will  be done on your problematic computer:

Go to the computer's BIOS boot menu to have it boot from the USB drive.

Follow the on-screen instructions to install Windows 10, making sure to choose "Custom install" and select the option to delete all existing partitions.

Once the installation is complete, you'll have a clean installation of Windows 10 on your computer.

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  1. A. Martin D 20 Reputation points
    2025-09-02T21:08:08.2633333+00:00

    Hello, EmilyS726 -- before I say anything else other than "thank you for making the time to reply to me," I just want to say that is a VERY cute dog in your profile image.

    Again, having opened a number of topics on a number of forums to address a number of issues I've had with this laptop, that's one of the common things I've heard about the HP Stream is that they've come off the line with hard drives far too small for practical use -- a fact I've had to grimace through. Fortunately, the HP Stream I'm using is a borrowed computer; I'd bought it as a gift for a family member as a starter device to get them accustomed to computer use, and didn't worry too much about drive space, specs, etc. I've had to borrow it for some time and am now ready to return it, but want to do a Reset to ensure that no problems will ensue once I give it back.

    Since your recommendation involves an external reset device, I can pull it off, since I have an HP Pavilion with nearly 1TB of drive space; I'll report back here once I'm able to carry it out.

    Thanks again for your help -- I'll post again here soon with the results :-)

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