Fix – Resetting PC Doesn’t Delete Personal Data in Windows 11 | Windows 10

Windows 11 and Windows 10 users are affected by a bug that doesn’t delete personal data when they trying to reset Windows to factory settings. The issue appears on Windows 11 PC and Windows 11 PC running 21H2 and Windows 10 PC running 21H2, 21H1, and 20H2.

Microsoft confirmed that they aware about this issue and assured fix to be rolled out soon. Those users who’re wondering what causing the issue, then officials also have answer to this:

When you try to restore a Windows device with apps that contain folders with analytics data, such as OneDrive or OneDrive for Business, files that have been downloaded or synced locally from OneDrive may not be deleted by selecting the “Remove All” option. This problem may occur when you try a manual restore that starts in Windows or a remote restore.

In short resetting PC bug in Windows 11 and Windows 10 is associated with Files on demand or Files Placeholder feature.

Fix – Resetting PC Doesn’t Delete Personal Data in Windows 11 | Windows 10

This issue is resolved in KB5011493 for Windows 11 and KB5011487 for Windows 11. Some devices may take up to 7 days after installing this update to resolve this issue and prevent files from persisting after recovery.

Microsoft also suggested affected users to try following temporary solutions to fix the issues:

Before resetting your Windows 11/10 PC, you need to logout or Unlink OneDrive. Check the instructions Deactivate, deactivate, or uninstall OneDrive .

Alternatively, you can delete the files files in the Windows.old folder after performing factory settings. Here’s how you can force delete files in Windows.old folder

Click Search icon and type cmd and when it appears in results launch Command Prompt as administrators.

Here, you need to execute this command: rmdir /s /q c:\windows.old\users and hit enter.

After that, type cipher /w:c and hit enter.

Or, you can wait 10 days as Windows will automatically delete the content in Windows.old folder.

Are you affected by issue when Resetting PC Doesn’t Delete Personal Data in Windows 11 and Windows 10. Let us know in the comments.