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My laptop won't let me factory reset. When I try from my settings, it just tells me "reset didnt work". I've tried many things from forcing a reset by holding shift and restart, to running commands. I've looked on a bunch of forums and nothing will help. When trying to force a reset, I got a screen that said that the winload.efi file is missing or damaged. I performed a scan through the command prompt, but no files were corrupted. It mentioned to press F1 to get to the recovery environment so that I can repair my files, but pressing F1 just brings me back to the same screen. I don't have a usb device either.
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Hi,
In your case, since you are unable to access Windows 11, did you try the "remove everything" (reset) option, and did it fail?
The best approach would be to use a USB flash drive to perform a reinstallation. If you are able to access Windows 11 but cannot perform a reset, you can use the ISO method—especially since you do not currently have a USB flash drive available.
Thanks
Hello,
Yes I tried the remove option when resetting and it failed. I also attempted to use a USB drive to reinstall, but according to the instructions I had to shut off the laptop, plug in the drive, hold the volume down button and turn it back on. It was supposed to open a screen where I could troubleshoot and recover from drive. The screen didn't open and I was brought instead to the login screen.
What is the ISO method?
Thank you
Hi,
For the ISO method, you need to be accessing Windows 11 to carry out the process; the best option would be to use a USB flash drive. I can try to guide you through it.
If possible, could you let me know the model of your laptop?
Thanks
