Back up your data. Although formatting your Windows 10 PC is super easy, the changes are permanent—you'll be deleting all of your apps, settings, and personal files and reinstalling Windows from scratch. Fortunately, it's also easy to back up the files you want to keep using tools that came with your PC. See How to Back Up Your Files in Windows 10 to learn how to create a backup to a DVD, CD, external hard drive, or the cloud.
Open your Windows Settings 
. You'll find this gear icon on the Start menu.
Click update and security . It's the icon of two curved arrows.
Click recovery . It's in the left panel.
Click the get started button under "Reset this PC." It's the first button at the top of the right panel.
Click remove everything . It's the second option on the blue screen.
Click remove files and clean the drive.
It's the second option. This option is the one you'll need to format
the hard drive—the other option just erases and reinstalls the operating
system without actually formatting the drive.
- Cleaning the drive is important if you're planning to sell or give away this PC. That's because formatting the hard drive makes it hard for someone malicious to restore your deleted files. But if you want to keep the PC, you can click Just remove my files to skip formatting the drive.
- Another more serious option for cleaning the hard drive is to use a third-party data-wiping tool like DBAN (Darik's Boot and Nuke). If you use a drive-clearing program, you'll need to make sure you have a Windows 10 recovery drive or DVD so you can reinstall the operating system. See How to Clean a Hard Drive to learn more about this option.
Click next on the warning screen.
If you see a message that says the PC was upgraded to Windows 10, it
means that reinstalling Windows makes it so you cannot go back to the
previous version of Windows.[1]
Click Reset to format your PC.
Depending on the size and speed of your hard drive, this part can take a
while (anywhere from several minutes to several hours).
- If you're using a laptop, make sure you plug it into a power source so the formatting is not interrupted.
Click Continue when the format is complete. Your PC is now formatted. If you'd like to reinstall Windows, follow the on-screen instructions to do so.
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