It's essential to clear your hard drive before transferring ownership of an old device, either through sale or donation. Failing to do so might allow unauthorized access to your sensitive data. This article will walk you through securely wiping a computer entirely on Windows 11/10.

Why Wipe a Computer

Selling or donating your computer ensures it gets reused rather than discarded, promoting sustainability. However, remember that your device stores numerous files, including confidential data such as work documents, banking details, and personal photos.

Simply deleting files and emptying the Recycle Bin may not suffice, as specialized recovery tools can retrieve deleted files. To safeguard your privacy and prevent data breaches, thoroughly wipe your computer before disposal.

Additionally, wiping your PC helps eliminate pesky viruses or malware. It’s often simpler to erase the entire drive than locate and delete harmful files. Furthermore, resetting your system to factory defaults can enhance performance, especially if your device is sluggish.

Here’s how to wipe a computer in Windows 11/10.

#1. How to Wipe a Computer Using MiniTool System Booster

Wiping a computer involves clearing its hard drive, requiring a dedicated disk-wiping tool. We recommend MiniTool System Booster for this purpose.

As a comprehensive PC optimization tool, MiniTool System Booster focuses on enhancing Windows 11/10/8.1/8/7 efficiency. Features include thorough cleaning, app uninstallation, startup item management, and background process control.

Beyond these performance-boosting capabilities, MiniTool System Booster includes a Drive Scrubber tool to wipe your computer or specific drives. It supports wiping portable hard drives, USB drives, SD cards, and more.

Follow these steps to wipe your computer in Windows 11/10:

Step 1: Download and install MiniTool System Booster on your PC.

Step 2: Open the tool and navigate to its Performance page.

Step 3: For recycling or selling purposes, go to Toolbox and select Drive Scrubber.

Step 4: In the new window, pick the drive to wipe, select a wiping method, and click WIPE SELECTED DRIVE. Since you aim to wipe your entire computer, ensure all partitions of the hard drive are selected.

Step 5: Confirm the action and initiate the wipe.

#2. How to Completely Wipe a PC with MiniTool Partition Wizard

MiniTool also provides MiniTool Partition Wizard, another effective hard drive eraser. As a versatile partition manager, it enables wiping the entire hard drive or individual partitions. If you're looking to fully wipe a PC in Windows 11/10, MiniTool Partition Wizard is highly recommended.

Step 1: Launch MiniTool Partition Wizard to access its main interface.

Step 2: Identify the hard drive you wish to wipe and select Wipe Disk.

Step 3: Choose a wiping method and click OK > Apply.

#3. How to Factory Reset a Computer Windows 11/10

Another approach to wiping your computer is performing a factory reset using the built-in feature. This deletes all personal files, apps, and settings, restoring the device to its original state.

How to wipe a Windows 10 computer before selling/recycling?

Step 1: Go to Settings > Update & Security > Recovery, and click Get started under Reset this PC.

Step 2: Select Remove everything to delete all personal files, applications, and configurations.

Step 3: Choose how to reset Windows, either Cloud download or Local reinstall.

Also read: Cloud Download vs Local Reinstall: Differences on Win 10/11 Reset

Step 4: Configure the reset settings and click Reset to wipe your computer.

How to wipe a Windows 11 computer?

Step 1: Click Start > Settings.

Step 2: Navigate to System > Recovery.

Step 3: Click Reset PC under Reset this PC.

Step 4: Choose Remove everything and follow the on-screen instructions to complete the process.

#4. How to Wipe a Computer During Windows Installation

Another method to completely wipe a PC is by deleting all partitions during the Windows installation process.

Step 1: Download the ISO file of Windows 11/10 and create a bootable USB drive using Rufus.

Related post: Windows 11 Installer ISO Download & How to Install OS from USB

Step 2: Restart your PC to its BIOS menu, set USB as the boot sequence, and access the Windows Setup interface.

Step 3: Select your preferences and click Install now.

Step 4: Tap Custom: Install Windows only (advanced).

Step 5: To wipe your computer entirely, select each partition individually and click Delete.

Step 6: Choose a partition and proceed with the Windows installation.

Conclusion

These are standard methods to wipe your Windows 11/10 computer before selling or recycling. You can utilize MiniTool System Booster or MiniTool Partition Wizard to wipe your hard drive, reset your PC to factory settings via Settings, or delete all partitions during Windows installation.

Additionally, some suggest using a recovery drive or the diskpart clean all command. If necessary, try these options. Regardless of the method chosen, always back up critical files using MiniTool ShadowMaker to prevent data loss.

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