How to wipe a gaming PC before selling it

A gaming PC holds saved payment methods in half a dozen launchers, a signed-in browser, and usually a second drive that a Windows reset does not touch. Deleting files and emptying the recycle bin removes none of that. This is the order to do it in, and it takes about an hour, most of it waiting.

The checklist

1. Back up saves, screenshots, configs and anything personal.
2. Sign out of game launchers and deactivate licensed software.
3. Reset Windows using “Remove everything” with data cleaning switched on.
4. Erase every additional drive separately.
5. Remove any BIOS password.
6. Remove the device from your Microsoft account.

1. Back up what you want to keep

Most modern games sync saves to Steam Cloud, Xbox or the publisher’s servers, but not all do, and mods, screenshots and config files generally do not. Before wiping, copy these to an external drive or cloud storage:

• Documents\My Games and Saved Games in your user folder, where many titles keep local saves.
• %AppData% and %LocalAppData% for games and emulators that store saves there. Minecraft worlds live in %AppData%\.minecraft\saves.
• Steam screenshots, OBS recordings and replay folders.
• Browser bookmarks and passwords, if they are not synced to an account.
• Two-factor authenticator apps or backup codes stored on the PC. Losing these locks you out of accounts, so move them first.

2. Sign out of launchers and licensed software

A full wipe removes these sessions anyway. Signing out first matters for the services that count activations or remember trusted devices.

• Steam: sign out from the Steam menu. Then, from any device, open Steam Guard settings and choose to deauthorize all other devices. If you shared your library with the PC through Steam Families, remove it there as well.
• Epic Games, Battle.net, EA app, Ubisoft Connect, GOG Galaxy, Riot Client and Xbox app: sign out of each. Your libraries belong to the accounts, not the computer.
• Discord and browsers: sign out, and turn off browser sync before the reset so nothing re-syncs onto a half-wiped machine.
• Adobe Creative Cloud, Microsoft 365 and other licensed software: sign out or deactivate from inside the app so the activation is released for your next computer.
• Windows itself: a prebuilt’s licence stays with its motherboard and needs no action. A retail licence linked to your Microsoft account can be reactivated on your next PC later.

3. Reset Windows with drive cleaning on

The built-in reset is enough for a home sale, provided you change one setting. By default it removes your files quickly without overwriting them, which leaves them recoverable.

1. Windows 11: Settings → System → Recovery → Reset PC. Windows 10: Settings → Update & Security → Recovery → Get started.
2. Choose Remove everything.
3. Choose Local reinstall, or Cloud download if the installation has been unreliable.
4. On the Additional settings screen, select Change settings and switch Clean data to Yes. If the option appears, also switch Delete files from all drives to Yes.
5. Confirm and leave it plugged in. With cleaning on, expect anywhere from 30 minutes to a few hours depending on the drive.
6. When it restarts at the “choose your region” screen, hold the power button to shut down. Do not set it up again. The next owner starts from there.

4. Erase the second drive

This is the step people miss. Gaming PCs very often have a second SSD or a hard drive for the game library, and a standard reset only touches the drive Windows is installed on. If you did not see, or did not enable, “Delete files from all drives”, erase the others yourself before resetting Windows:

• Hard drives: open Disk Management, right-click the volume, choose Format and untick Perform a quick format. A full format overwrites the whole disk. It is slow on large drives, and that is the point.
• SSDs: use the manufacturer’s utility, such as Samsung Magician, Crucial Storage Executive or WD Dashboard, to run a secure erase. Many motherboards also offer a Secure Erase tool in the BIOS. Either resets every cell on the drive in seconds.
• Any drive, from the command line: in an administrator Command Prompt run diskpart, then list disk, select disk N and clean all. Check the disk number twice. It erases the selected disk completely and cannot be undone.

If BitLocker or Device encryption was switched on for a drive, erasing it is already effective, because the key is destroyed with the reset. Encryption does not need turning off first.

5. Clear BIOS passwords

If you ever set a BIOS, UEFI or supervisor password, remove it in the firmware settings before the PC leaves you. A buyer cannot test or reinstall a machine with a locked BIOS, and with a buyback service it can push a working PC into the faulty grade. Overclocking and fan profiles can stay; loading optimised defaults is a courtesy, not a requirement.

6. Remove the PC from your Microsoft account

Sign in at account.microsoft.com, open Devices, find the PC and choose to remove it. This takes it out of Find my device and frees a slot against the Microsoft Store’s device limit. Do the same in your Google account’s device list if Chrome was signed in.

If the PC will not boot

You cannot reset a machine that does not start, but you still have options. Remove the drives and either keep them, fit them in another computer or USB enclosure to erase them, or send the PC without them and leave storage out of the offer form.

If you are selling to RebootSemi, you can also simply tell us. Drives in machines that arrive unwiped or unbootable are wiped or physically destroyed on arrival at no charge. The gaming PC form shows what a non-working machine pays before you commit to anything. If only one part has failed, such as the graphics card, pricing the PC without it as a working machine usually comes out higher.

Next: find out what your gaming PC is worth, or decide whether to sell it whole or part it out.