UNSOLVED
M
Milehighbill
2 Posts
0
548
February 7th, 2023 15:00
XPS 9350 Doesn't Reset
I want to sell my XPS 9350 laptop, so I went through the Reset option in Windows so that I could get rid of all personal data before selling. However, the laptop still boots up to the Window's login screen. I can enter my PIN, but since my profile was deleted I can't login. I have tried everything I can think off to get rid of or past the Window login, including disconnecting the battery to do a hard rest, but I end up at the same place every time. Any ideas?
326
0
Posted February 10th, 2023 10:00
The problem is that I can't get past the Windows login screen to do anything. My profile was deleted, but it did not also clear the login. Vicious circle
319
1
Posted February 10th, 2023 10:00
@filbert is spot on with that great advice. One more thing for future reference. I use Disk Genius available here, a free program for wiping drives. That program will securely wipe a drive so that you can either pass on the system to another users with no OS or you can wipe it then clean install Windows with no user as I described. It will still activate but with none of your user information.
I am not a Dell employee...I am forum volunteer
Serious work on an E5430 and constantly building and working on an i5-6500 Desktop
324
1
Posted February 10th, 2023 10:00
@Milehighbill wrote:
I can enter my PIN, but since my profile was deleted I can't login. I have tried everything I can think off to get rid of or past the Window login, including disconnecting the battery to do a hard rest,
Doing a reset will not clear a Windows login password. If it were that easy to bypass, there would be no point to having Windows passwords.
Since you plan to sell it, you could just wipe the drive and let the buyer perform a clean install. If you prefer to sell it with a working Windows OS, then follow @JOcean's steps to use Media Creation Tool to install Windows.
If there are files on that drive that you need to backup, you can either remove the drive and connect to another working PC via a USB drive interface. Or, boot from a Linux OS on flash drive and copy the files to an external drive.
If for some reason you really need access to the current Windows installation, then it's possible to clear the Windows login by booting from a Linux OS such as Ubuntu, downloading/installing a package and executing some command lines. I've done that via Xubuntu a few times.
JOcean
11 Legend
•
12621 Posts
•
69453 Points
357
1
Posted February 7th, 2023 15:00
This MS forum page may help. Personally if I sell a system I do a clean install without a MS user account. Disconnect any Ethernet cable if a wired connection or when asked to logon to a wireless network just skip that screen. The system will activate but with none of your personal information. The new user will have to enter their MS account and set the system up in their name. This YouTube video and this one will show you all you need to know.
And you can download the media creation tool for Windows 10 here. That tool will create a bootable Windows 10 installation flash drive.
I am not a Dell employee...I am forum volunteer
Serious work on an E5430 and constantly building and working on an i5-6500 Desktop