How to Wipe Your Old Laptop Before Donating or Selling (Windows 7, 10, 11 and Mac)

By National Recycling Co. · Updated 18 October 2026 · 8 min read

Deleting files and emptying the Recycle Bin doesn’t erase them. Anyone with free recovery software can bring them back. Before your old laptop leaves the house, do a proper reset. Here’s exactly how, for every common system, plus what to do if the laptop won’t even switch on.

Before you wipe: 6-point checklist

1. Back up everything you want to keep. Copy photos, documents and Downloads to a pen drive or external drive, or upload them to Google Drive, OneDrive or iCloud. Check the Desktop folder too; people forget it.
2. Sign out of WhatsApp Desktop and Telegram on the laptop, and remove the laptop from “Linked devices” on your phone.
3. Sign out of your browser. In Chrome or Edge, turn off sync and sign out so saved passwords and cards aren’t left behind.
4. Release licences. Sign the laptop out of Microsoft 365 (account.microsoft.com > Services & subscriptions) and any paid software you want to install on your new laptop.
5. Remove the device from your accounts. Turn off Find My Device (Windows) or Find My (Mac), and remove the laptop from your Google and Microsoft account device lists.
6. Remove any BIOS or startup password you set, and take out SD cards and pen drives.

How to wipe a Windows 11 laptop

1. Open Settings > System > Recovery.
2. Next to Reset this PC, click Reset PC.
3. Choose Remove everything.
4. Choose Local reinstall (or Cloud download if Local fails).
5. On “Additional settings”, click Change settings and switch Clean data? to Yes. If you see “Delete files from all drives?”, switch that to Yes as well.
6. Click Next, then Reset. Keep the charger plugged in.

How long? With “Clean data” on, expect 1 to 4 hours on an old hard disk. That’s the step that actually overwrites your files, so don’t skip it to save time.

How to wipe a Windows 10 laptop

1. Open Settings > Update & Security > Recovery.
2. Under Reset this PC, click Get started.
3. Choose Remove everything, then Local reinstall or Cloud download.
4. Click Change settings and turn Clean data? to On.
5. Click Confirm, Next, then Reset.

Older Windows 10 versions word it as “Remove files and clean the drive”. Choose that option.

How to wipe a Windows 8 or 8.1 laptop

1. Open PC settings > Update and recovery > Recovery.
2. Under Remove everything and reinstall Windows, click Get started.
3. When asked, choose Fully clean the drive (not “Just remove my files”).

How to wipe a Windows 7, Vista or XP laptop

These versions have no built-in “reset and clean” option, and many of the old laptops we collect run them. You have three choices:

Option A: let us destroy the drive (easiest)

Back up your files, then hand the laptop over. Tell us you want the drive destroyed, or ask us to take it out at pickup and give it to you. Most people with Windows 7 laptops choose this.

Option B: factory recovery partition

Many laptops have a recovery key at startup (often F11 on HP, F8 then “Repair your computer” on Dell, or the small Novo button on Lenovo). This reinstalls Windows but doesn’t always overwrite old data, so treat it as a tidy-up rather than a secure wipe.

Option C: full overwrite with DiskPart (advanced)

This erases the whole drive, including Windows. You need a Windows installation USB, which you can make on another computer with Microsoft’s Media Creation Tool.

1. Boot the old laptop from the USB.
2. On the first setup screen, press Shift + F10 to open Command Prompt.
3. Type the commands below, pressing Enter after each one.

diskpart
list disk
select disk 0
clean all
exit

How to wipe a MacBook

2018 or newer (Apple silicon or T2 chip) on macOS Monterey or later

1. Open System Settings > General > Transfer or Reset. On Monterey, open System Preferences and choose Erase All Content and Settings from the menu bar.
2. Click Erase All Content and Settings, enter your password, and follow the steps. It signs you out of Apple ID and turns off Find My for you.

Older MacBooks

1. Sign out of iCloud (Apple menu > System Preferences > Apple ID > Overview > Sign Out) and turn off Find My Mac.
2. Sign out of Messages and FaceTime, and deauthorise the Mac in Music or iTunes.
3. Restart while holding Command + R to enter macOS Recovery.
4. Open Disk Utility, select the main drive (usually “Macintosh HD”), click Erase.
5. Quit Disk Utility and choose Reinstall macOS, or simply shut down if you’re donating it for recycling.

Important: if Find My (Activation Lock) is still on, the next owner can’t use the Mac. It can then only be recycled for parts, not reused.

How to wipe a Chromebook

Go to Settings > Advanced > Reset settings > Powerwash, or press Ctrl + Alt + Shift + R on the sign-in screen. Your files are stored in your Google account, so the Chromebook itself holds very little.

What if the laptop won’t switch on?

Your data is still on the drive, and it can be read by connecting the drive to another computer. You can’t wipe it, so do one of these:

• Remove the drive yourself. On most laptops it’s under a panel on the bottom, held by 1–4 small screws. Keep it, or use it as an external drive with a cheap enclosure.
• Ask us to remove it at pickup and hand it to you.
• Ask us to destroy it. We physically destroy drives from dead laptops, and your Green Certificate notes it.

More on this: dead laptop pickup.

Frequently asked questions