Reset Laptop for Space

[saulprado03]

I'm trying to free up space on my laptop by factory resetting it but when I try, it says I need to free up space first?? I've deleted everything I don't need and transferred everything I do onto a flash drive so I can't find anything else to delete to free up space. HELP! 😞

[CF4]

Hi

F11 only works when there is sufficient space, as you have experienced.

So Restore Points, do you have/need any?

Swap file size, reduce?

You could make an external recovery media, and consider deleting the F11 recovery area, once you have an OS and all the HP drivers saved onto a USB, or links to be able to download as needed.

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

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

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

Under Selected Item, click Run

NB: 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.

You can make your own install OS USB using the Microsoft Creator Tool.

If in doubt please ask.