Windows 10 update fixes bug preventing users restoring to factory settings

Windows 10
(Image credit: Anton Watman / Shutterstock)

Microsoft has patched a bug that was causing errors for some Windows 10 users when they attempted to restore their device to its factory settings. The fix was bundled in with a host of other updates as part of the firm’s January 2021 Patch Tuesday release.

Since Windows 10, version 1607, users have begun reporting that the “Reset this PC” feature was not functioning properly. Instead of re-installing the operating system from a local recovery image or the latest version contained on Microsoft servers, users were instead presented with the following message: “There was a problem when resetting your PC. No changes were made”.

This was a fairly significant problem given that there are various reasons why someone might want to restore their PC to its factory settings. A restore might help solve a slowdown issue, for example, or simply get the device ready to be handed over to another user.

Patched up

The PC reboot issues originally surfaced following another Patch Tuesday release back in February 2020. Following the KB4524244 security update included with that release, users started experiencing issues when attempting to restore their devices. Just a few days after the release, Microsoft removed KB4524244 from the update after other problems began to be noticed.

This is not the first time Microsoft has encountered problems involving the Reset this PC feature. Back in October, a similar bug disabled the feature for users of Windows 10, version 2004. At the time, Microsoft offered a temporary workaround for affected users.

With the firm’s latest Patch Tuesday release, all known issues with the factory reset function should hopefully be fixed. If a Windows 10 user cannot download the latest fix, they can manually uninstall the KB4524244 update instead.

Via BleepingComputer

Barclay Ballard

Barclay has been writing about technology for a decade, starting out as a freelancer with ITProPortal covering everything from London’s start-up scene to comparisons of the best cloud storage services.  After that, he spent some time as the managing editor of an online outlet focusing on cloud computing, furthering his interest in virtualization, Big Data, and the Internet of Things.