A factory reset may be the only medicine your Acer laptop needs to be good as new.
It’s the best solution if planning to sell your laptop or if you’re having trouble with your OS.
However, you may be stumped on how to proceed with a factory reset after misplacing your recovery disk.
Thankfully, there are two ways to restore Acer laptop to Factory Settings without CD.
In this article, learn how to factory reset Acer laptop Windows 7 / 8 / 10 through:
- Acer Care Center
- Windows Recovery Environment
- Recovery Partition
Before we get started, let’s discuss some reasons why you might need to restore your Acer laptop to factory settings. We’ll also let you know how you can prepare for the restoration process.
Table of Contents
When should I restore my Acer laptop to factory settings?
A factory reset may be daunting, but wiping your PC may be what you need to get a fully functioning device.
Restoring your laptop to factory settings will remove any unnecessary files and applications that could otherwise affect PC performance. It will also bring back trial programs that were originally installed by the manufacturer.
Here are some of the reasons why you might need to reset your laptop:
- System failure or errors with your operating system or hard drives
- Technical issues with PC speed or functionalities
- Wiping personal data to sell or give your laptop to a new user
Note: If you have keyboard issues then check out our Acer Keyboard not working guide and maybe you can avoid a total reset. We also have a guide on how to take a screenshot on Acer laptops.
Restoring your Acer Laptop to Factory Settings
Remember that a factory reset will wipe all the personal files on your laptop’s hard drive. You will also have to say goodbye to all the programs you’ve installed.
Once you start factory reset, do not interrupt the process. This can leave your system unstable as the OS, drivers, and original applications aren’t properly installed.
How to prepare your Acer laptop for factory reset?
Before you proceed with our step-by-step guide to restoring your Acer laptop to factory settings, make sure to back up your files thoroughly.
To make the backup process simple, there are several reliable backup tools such as
In case you missed some important files during your backup, you can always rely on recovery programs. However, we’ll go ahead and warn you that the recovery process can be a headache.
There are lots of free backup and recovery programs online, but the problem with these is they may not be too reliable.
To ensure that you don’t lose any important data, make sure to check out reviews before resetting your Acer laptop.
Step-by-step guide: How to Restore Acer Laptop to Factory Settings without CD
Resetting is usually done with the help of a recovery CD from the laptop manufacturer.
After inserting the manufacturer recovery disc, you’ll be prompted through each step of:
- Wiping your laptop hard drive
- Reinstalling your OS
- Setting up the system and functionalities
If you lost your recovery disc, we’ll discuss three alternative ways to restore your Acer laptop.
Method 1: Reset your Acer Laptop with Acer Care Center
If your Acer laptop has the Acer Care Center, you’re in luck. The software allows users to run system checks and updates smoothly.
It’s also the easiest way to backup and restore your laptop to factory settings.
Acer laptops manufactured after 2014 with Windows 8.1 or higher are compatible with Acer Care Center. If Acer Care Center isn’t already on your laptop, simply download and install the software.
After backing up your files via the Acer Care Center, here’s how to reset your laptop:
- Run Acer Care Center on your laptop.
- Navigate to Recovery Management.
- Click Get Started under the Reset your PC section.
- Click Remove Everything to restore your laptop to factory settings. Alternatively, you can choose Keep my files to remove apps and settings, but retain your personal files.
- Choose how you want to clean your drives. You can either click: Remove files and clean drive or Just remove my files.
- Click Reset and your laptop will begin the factory reset process.
Method 2: Reset your Acer Laptop with Windows 10 Recovery Environment
If your Acer laptop runs on Windows 10, you can restore it to factory settings via the operating system itself.
- Click the Start button and navigate to Settings.
- Click Update & Security, then Recovery.
- Under the Get started tab, click Reset this PC.
- Choose between Remove everything for a full factory reset. Alternatively, click Keep my files to keep your personal data and settings.
- A warning will appear that you won’t be able to revert to an older version of Windows. Click Next.
- Click Reset under Ready to reset this PC.
- Wait several minutes as your laptop restarts and reinstalls Windows 10.
If this method doesn’t work for you, try the recovery partition method.
Note: This method doesn’t work on Windows 10 in S mode.
Method 3: Reset your Acer Laptop with Recovery Partition
If you’re having trouble running your operating system, you can restore your laptop to factory settings through the recovery partition.
It’s also the best solution if you’re wondering how to reset Acer laptop to factory settings without password.
- Shut down your laptop, then remove all external devices (keyboard, USBs, printers, mouse).
- Press the Power button + Alt + F10 keys simultaneously. You will enter a bootup window that reads ‘Choose an Option’.
- Click Troubleshoot. Then navigate to Reset this PC, then Remove Everything.
- Choose between Fully clean the drive or Just remove my files.
- Click Reset to begin factory reset without password. Keep your laptop plugged in, and don’t turn it off while the process isn’t complete.
- Your laptop will then restart several times to reset your PC and reinstall your OS successfully.
- Finally, follow the instructions to set up your laptop.
Conclusion
If you experience system failure and sub-par performance on your Acer laptop, it may be time to restore it to factory settings. It’s also a smart move if you’re going to sell or give away your laptop.
If you lost your recovery CD, restore your Acer laptop to factory settings through:
- Acer Care Center
- Windows Recovery Environment
- Recovery Partition
Before trying any of these methods, remember to back up your personal files.