Refurbished laptop still has old administrative settings

[gdrukker]

I received this laptop after it was refurbished and given to me through HP, however it still has some of the old administrative settings on it.  For example, when I go to the password settings page, it says "*Some settings are hidden or managed by your organization" with some options below being restricted by a  similar message, such as "This setting is managed by your organization.  Contact your admin for more info."  How can I remove these settings set by the previous administrator?

[IT_WinSec]

Hello @gdrukker 

Welcome !

What you see are settings adjustments in the Windows Registry and/or Group Policy of Windows. The PC's OS may have also been part of a domain.

In order to make the PC all yours, in order to delete all potential and unwanted adjustments and for security reasons, it is highly recommended that you give the PC a fresh clean start.

• You should back up (copy) your files to a safe location (like a USB pendrive or online cloud storage like GoogleDrive/OneDrive/Dropbox, etc)
  
  
• You should reinstall Windows using one of the options:

1. Microsoft's own Media Creation tool and a USB pendrive  - details in the PDF below  [my recommendation]
2. or HP Cloud recovery if your model is supported >> https://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c06162205

Let me know how it goes, provide an update or ask if you face difficulties. Looking forward to your good news 🙂