How to Completely Wipe a Microsoft Surface? Full Guide

Overview: If you are here to know how to completely wipe a Microsoft Surface using effective steps. Then, you have landed on the right page. As it is important to wipe all your data from the devices when you are selling or completely resetting your Microsoft Surface. Here, in this blog, we will discuss the right methods which can be used to wipe data easily.

What’s the Need to Reset a Microsoft Surface?

Sometimes there’s a situation when you want to know how to completely wipe a Microsoft Surface to secure all your sensitive data. Let’s know one by one:

1. Like, people do this for troubleshooting purposes, selling it to others, or starting the device from scratch.
2. It is used to remove viruses or any malware which are present in your system.
3. Resetting your device returns it to the factory settings. It also erases all your personal data and configurations.
4. The process to wipe the data is particularly effective in improving performance or fixing OS based-issues.

How to Completely Wipe a Microsoft Surface? Manual Methods

We will provide you with various methods to perform a factory reset and wipe all your data from Microsoft Surface in the following steps:

#1. Use Factory Reset To Securely Wipe Microsoft Surface 

This is one of the easiest ways to factory reset Surfaces. To reset it, you have to go to the device’s main settings. The steps vary for Windows 11 & 10 which are given below:

For Windows 11:

1. Press Windows + I and select settings.

2. Then go to ‘system’ > ‘Recovery’.

3. Under the recovery options section, navigate to  ‘Reset this PC’ and click on ‘ Reset PC’ to start  resetting your Microsoft Surface.

For Windows 10:

1. Go to the Start Menu and select Settings.

2. Then, click on ‘Update & Security’ and take Backup.

3. In the next Window, you will need to select “Keep my files” or “Remove Everything” and follow on-screen instructions.

4. Now, it depends on your needs and how you want to reinstall your Microsoft Surface OS. so, one is to select cloud download or local reinstall from this device.

#2. How to Completely Wipe a Microsoft Surface? By Taking Backup

Ensure that you have taken a backup of your important data before wiping your Surface. You can also use an external drive, or cloud storage to save your files.

1. Go to the start menu and select settings.
2. Then click on Update & Security and click on Backup.
3. Now, select your preferred backup method and follow the on-screen instructions to save your data.

#3. Signing Out of Your Microsoft Account

In order to ensure that your private settings and files are not left behind, you can sign out of your Microsoft account.

1. Firstly, go to the Start menu and select Settings.
2. Click on ‘Accounts’ > ‘Your Info’.
3. Then, you have to select ‘Sign out’.

#4. Reinstall Windows to Wipe Microsoft Surface

If you want to have a new copy of the operating system, you can do a reset and then reinstall the OS yourself. It is also the solution that people ask how to completely wipe a Microsoft Surface.

1. Please download Microsoft’s Windows Media Creation Tool so that you will have a bootable USB drive for it.
2. Then, Insert the USB drive and restart your Microsoft Surface.
3. While pressing the power button simultaneously, keep pressing down the volume down key.
4. Now, follow the instructions given on the screen in order to start Windows from scratch.

How Do I Wipe a Microsoft Surface? Switch to Pro Mode

To ensure that the data is permanently deleted after following these manual methods in order to solve the problem of users of how to completely wipe a Microsoft Surface. you can choose SysTools Data Erasure Software to check for any recoverable data, which can permanently delete your personal data.

The tool implements various advanced algorithms and passes and leaves no scope for data recovery. It is also used to wipe multiple storage devices like HDD, SDD, NVMe, etc. Also, removes all data residue like (data remanence) or classified data spills. Moreover, it complies with more than 20 + global standards which include NIST 800-88, HIPAA Compliance, DoD 5220.22-M, ISO 27001, etc.

Steps to Completely wipe a Microsoft Surface

Step 1. Go to the Start Menu to Download and launch the tool on your system.

Step 2. Hit on the Select Folder button to wipe the data which you want.

Step 3. Now, Browse the file to Know its source location.

Step 4. Click on Select Folder Button, to add your Directory which you want to wipe.

Step 5. Now, click on Next to start the scanning process of folder/file.

Step 6. You can “choose” any of the data wipe methods, after the scanning process is completed.

i.e, less pass means less time and more pass take more time. choose according to your work.

Step 7. Once you choose the wiping method to erase the data. click on Wipe.

Step 8. Process will start and after that the pop-up will display on the screen indicating wipe process completed successfully, then click on OK.

Final Thoughts

We have solved the problem which users ask for: how to completely wipe a Microsoft Surface? By this, you can protect your sensitive data and remain private. So, by following these manual ways you can securely erase all your data and restore your device to factory settings. If you’re selling your Surface or starting fresh, you should completely clean it first to ensure that all your information is secure.