Preparing a Win 11 system to give away

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I’m sure there is some recommendations here somewhere but the search function in the forum doesn’t seem to return anything useful.  Maybe someone can point me to posts that outline what needs to be done to “clean” a Win 11 system before I give it away.  (I am a Mac user and bought a Lenovo laptop ($230!) just to run firmware updates for my cameras and lenses – Sony and OMD don’t seem to understand Macs!  This Lenovo system is so underpowered that it can’t really do anything useful – though I can run the firmware updates.)

David

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If it has an SSD I would reinstall from scratch, without keeping any data. This can be done using the built-in recovery.
The SSD will automatically clear any deleted files as part of TRIM / garbage collection.

If it has an HDD you would need to repartition the disk before reinstalling from scratch. This would require a bootable W11 USB.

cheers, Paul

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Settings, System, Recovery, Reset PC

Remove everything

Clean data (secure erase)

Delete files from all drives

Reset Windows 11 PC from Settings in Windows 11

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How much did you use Windows 11?

If did not use it more than 1 hour, than you might be fine to just do a normal Windows rest.

If  you use it more than  1hour, Windows 11 has made a lot of data and tracking for MS to spy on you. This info can be use by others.

• Recommend that you delete the whole hard drive using https://dban.org/ at least 3 times
• Open BIOS menu and make sure to clear TPM chip. This store a lot of info from Windows 11 and user info.
• After TPM chip is clear than use Windows Media tool to reinstall Windows 11
  • https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/create-installation-media-for-windows-99a58364-8c02-206f-aa6f-40c3b507420d
• After that, never use Windows 11 or Windows 10 if you care about your privacy.

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There is no need to run 3 passes of DBAN. One pass with random data is all you need to make sure your data is gone.

clear TPM chip. This store a lot of info from Windows 11 and user info

What user data is stored there? Examples please.

cheers, Paul

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