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Don’t Trust Windows Reset (for Now)

March 1, 2022

Windows 10 and Windows 11 has a system reset option that is intended to revert your machine back to a pristine state. It is supposed to remove all of your data and reset the operating system back to an original state, which is useful if donating or selling your computer to someone else. Not so fast. Ars Technica reported an issue with the current system reset as it apparently leaves behind some user data in clear text. Locally stored OneDrive data doesn’t get removed. “The bug leaves your data unencrypted and fully accessible even if you had been using disk encryption before the reset.”

OneDrive data that isn’t synced to the local drive is secure. That means keep everything in the cloud. Microsoft is working on a fix for the problem. In the meantime, Microsoft recommends signing out of OneDrive before selecting a system reset or deleting the Windows.old folder following the reset. “The issue was originally discovered by Rudy Ooms, who detailed his findings on his Call4Cloud blog, and the bug affects Windows 11 21H2 as well as Windows 10 21H2, 21H1, and 20H2.”

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