A full guide to factory reset your Lenovo IdeaPad

There are a lot of reasons to hard reset the Lenovo IdeaPad laptop. Those can be severe system glitches, full memory, or your wish to sell a used PC. So, without further interruptions, Howly experts will show you three ways to factory reset your Lenovo IdeaPad.

Laptops from this manufacturer have two options for removing data: delete apps and settings or clean the drive completely to start from scratch. If the software doesn’t work, you can use the physical button. Lenovo laptops that were manufactured after 2017 have a NOVO button, which can launch a factory reset.

How to reset your laptop and save personal data

This action is also called soft reinstalling. It removes apps, settings, and system files from the PC, but personal data, like photos, videos, and audio files, stays on the drive. Stick to this instruction on Windows 10 and 11:

1. Open the Windows menu and choose Settings.
2. Follow the next path: Recovery → Reset → Get started →  Keep files.
3. Then select how you want to reinstall your system: Cloud or Local. In the first case (Restore from Cloud), your PC gets a fresh system version from the Microsoft servers. Beware that this is a 4+ Gb patch, so you should have stable high-speed Internet. With Local reinstalment, the laptop will reinstall with the same Windows version you have now.
4. Confirm intentions by clicking Next.

It would be better to save the crucial files on the cloud storage or some external drive. If something goes wrong, you will have a copy.

How to factory reset your Lenovo IdeaPad

Consider this way of resetting if you’re going to sell your device or temporarily give it to other people. It will remove every bit of information, wiping everything to the default value. The guide looks similar to the previous one, but with slight differences in the end.

1. Click on Windows and choose Settings.
2. Stick to this path: Recovery – Reset – Get started – Remove everything. On Windows 10, you should select Remove files and clean the drive.
3. Choose Next or Reset to launch the reinstalling process.

There is no way back. So make sure you’ve saved all information on external drives. Also, check that you’ve remembered essential logins and passwords.

How to hard reset your Lenovo with the NOVO button

We still have one trick if the software ways described above don’t work for you. Most Lenovo laptops have a NOVO button to start the factory reset or open BIOS settings. It’s a small button or pinhole on the laptop's left side. It often has a pictogram that resembles a mix of the “upside down U” and arrow. Here is what you should do:

1. Turn off the device as usual
2. Use a toothpick to press the NOVO.
3. Select System Recovery → Troubleshoot → Reset.

From here, restarting will stick to the same scenario as usual. You can select Keep my files or erase every bit of the data with the Remove everything option.