As of 13 August 2026, AI can only partly factory reset a business laptop.

What to actually do

1. Use a tool built for this

   The route this page recommends

2. Do it yourself

   Second choice

   A chat interface, chat-fluent skill, and roughly 30 minutes until you can act on the result.

   How to actually do it

   1. Open your organisation's IT policy or helpdesk portal and get written approval for the reset, including confirmation of who owns the laptop and whether it is being redeployed, returned or retired.
   2. Gather the laptop manufacturer and model, operating system and version, asset number, current user, charger and any recovery or encryption information, without pasting passwords or private business data into the chatbot.
   3. Ask your IT administrator whether the laptop is enrolled in Microsoft Intune, Autopilot, Apple Business Manager or another management system, and whether retention, legal hold or backup requirements apply.
   4. Paste the gathered non-sensitive details into the prompt and answer the chatbot's questions, stopping if it says the reset needs IT involvement or the management status is unknown.
   5. Compare the proposed reset route with the laptop manufacturer's official support documentation and your organisation's IT instructions before opening the reset settings.
   6. Have the approved person confirm that required files, accounts, encryption recovery information and browser or application data are backed up before selecting the final reset option.
   7. Run the reset while connected to power, then record the asset number, reset result and setup screen for the IT administrator, who should confirm the device has been removed or re-enrolled correctly before it is issued to anyone.

   Prompt

   I need to factory reset a business laptop, but do not start with destructive instructions. Act as a cautious UK workplace IT helpdesk assistant.
   
   First, ask me for the laptop manufacturer and model, operating system and version, whether it is owned or leased by the organisation, whether it is enrolled in Microsoft Intune, Autopilot, Apple Business Manager or another device-management system, whether BitLocker or FileVault is enabled, whether any business data must be retained, and whether I have written approval from the organisation's IT administrator.
   
   Then give me a decision tree. Tell me when I must stop and contact IT, including if the laptop is managed, contains data subject to retention, belongs to another user, has no verified backup, or I do not have administrator approval. Do not tell me to bypass a password, management profile, encryption or security control.
   
   If the information supports a reset, provide only the official reset route for my stated operating system, explain what will be erased, and list the checks to complete before selecting the final reset option. Include what the person performing the reset should check afterwards, such as the initial setup screen, removal of the previous user's data, and whether the organisation's normal enrolment process has been followed. Do not invent menu names, policy requirements or recovery steps. If you cannot identify the exact route, say so and direct me to the manufacturer's official support page or our IT administrator.

   Open it prefilled in ChatGPT or Claude, or copy it into Gemini, which takes no prefill link.

3. Hand it to a person

   The distant third

   A person who owns the outcome does this end to end, worth it when the failure is dear.