Compaq Presario CQ57 locked out

[LeRay_671]

We lost the password to this laptop and are unable to login at all. We don’t need any of the files. We’re trying to give it to our friend with just the OS on it. F11 and F8 on boot did not work. Any advice on getting this laptop reset? 

[WAWood]

@LeRay_671 

I understand what you are trying to do -- but there are two complications.

First, doing a factory reset, while erasing all the files does not actually REMOVE them.  Any decent data recovery app can get back most, if not all, of the files previously there.  So, I advise against doing a factory reset on a laptop you are giving or selling.

Second, I wrote this tutorial about the stuff you need to do to ensure your personal information is actually deleted from the laptop:  https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebooks-Knowledge-Base/Preparing-a-used-HP-notebook-for-resale/ta-p/...

As you can see, there is quite a bit of work involved.