Trying to reset to factory settings - says not enough disk space help?

[LaurasLaptop]

In short, my son set up laptop we bought and then promptly forgot the email address to login. We cant reset it via gmail as they can't verify us so need to reset to factory settings and start again. I following insrictions to do this oneline but it cam up saying not enough disk space to continue. Any ideas on how to overcome this? I effectivly have a laptop we cant use now and it is causing me a lot of stress

[IT_WinSec]

Hello @LaurasLaptop

Welcome to the HP Support forum. Thank you for posting!

I am sorry about your frustration and about the issues you had. Next time it would be a good idea if you write down the login credentials of this PC somewhere but store them away from the PC (for security reasons).

With regards to the HP recovery process, I am not 100% sure what exactly you tried. Therefore, I will refer you to the official instructions which work moft of the time considering that storage is OK and recovery image/partition is there. Here they are >> http://hp.dezide.com/ts/start.jsp?guide=HPSystemRecovery.net&section=ccweb&sfs=tdoc&language=english...

Basically you need to do this:

1. Please, shutdown the computer using the power button - pressed/hold for a few seconds

2. Power the device back on.

2.1 As soon as you press the power-on button, immediately begin hitting the Esc button continuesly (like tap-tap-tap-tap-tap) even when there is nothing on the screen. This should shortly after open a HP Startup Menu

3. Choose/press  F11 for System Recovery options.

The computer should boot from it's recovery partition to open you various recovery options. Note, that F11 option will only work if the recovery partition is there (not deleted) and intact. From there, you have prenty of options to choose from. Every HP computer comes with recovery partition present to assist in tough moments.

4. Go to Troubleshoot > Reset this PC option

Hope this helps. Provide your feedback and update - Let me know how it goes.

If the above instructions did not help, you will need to use HP Recovery media - recovery USB drive.

I will need your full HP product model name and product number (P/N) >> http://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c00033108

[Taylorshae12]

Hi I am running into the same problem and same computer and the recovery options aren’t working. Nothing seems to be working it just keeps saying additional free space is needed on the drive where windows is installed free up some space and try again. I have deleted everything there is nothing other than system stuff on my computer and I keep getting this error.

[Holski]

I have the exact same problem and no matter how much I uninstall or delete I have no space freeing up!

[CF4]

Hi

Could someone post a screenshot of their C: or Partitioning please.

Then we can look at what can be tried.  Like an install from a USB or something.

[skbaiju]

Was this ever resolved? I’m running into the same problem. Not enough memory to do a reset. I have deleted everything in my files and all temp files. Still not enough memory even when I use the F11 route.

[SB28]

Hi there @IT_WinSec,

I have tried exactly the steps you have outlined here (along with a bunch of other things), but partway through the 'reset this PC' option it tells me there is not enough disk space.

I really need to recover this laptop as it's basically brand new and my daughter has bricked it! 

Prod number: Y8H67PA#ABG

Thanks in advance!

[CF4]

Hi

This is a little bit of a sideways answer.

Sometimes "Windows" decides to do updates etc and store stuff on the Recovery Partition and it quickly fills up and gives error messages.

Other overfull areas are the USER folder where GigaBytes of stuff gets stored, your stuff and MS stuff.

Normally Windows does updates and keeps these for at 30 days locally, and does a purge every so often of old/expired updates. Piriform Ccleaner is worth a mention.

Microsoft mention this (I use it on W10)....

Task Scheduler

The StartComponentCleanup task was created in Windows 8 to regularly clean up components automatically when the system is not in use. This task is set to run automatically when triggered by the operating system. When run automatically, the task will wait at least 30 days after an updated component has been installed before uninstalling the previous versions of the component.

If you choose to run this task, the task will have a 1 hour timeout and may not completely clean up all files.

Run the StartComponentCleanup task in Task Scheduler to clean up and compress components

1. If Task Scheduler is not open, start the Task Scheduler. For more information, see Start Task Scheduler.

2. Expand the console tree and navigate to Task Scheduler Library\Microsoft\Windows\Servicing\StartComponentCleanup.

3. Under Selected Item, click Run

Note

The StartComponentCleanup task can also be started from the command line:
schtasks.exe /Run /TN "\Microsoft\Windows\Servicing\StartComponentCleanup"

You cannot just delete WinSXS as it's needed for long term stabilty, but for a re-install I would certianly look to trim it as much as possible.

I also use this command line

del c:\*.tmp /s

and know that Ctrl + C will stop it.

http://www.thewindowsclub.com/winsxs-folder-windows-7-8

[Scr4tch1]

Hi,

Have you tried disabling hibernation & shrinking the page file. My reset failed with the same reason & I disabled hibernation (750Mb reclaimed) & now I'm 200 Mb short of space so tonight I'm shrinking the page file from 1.6Gb to 1.25 Gb.

Frankly I'm surprised that HP support didn't suggest that you might try this, but there you go...