How to hard reset Windows Phone 8 to factory settings
Are you using a Windows Phone 8 smartphone and want to hard reset the phone to factory default settings? The option to reset Windows Phone to original factory settings is not placed in an obvious location and may be hard to guess. Read this to find out how to restore your Windows Phone 8 to original settings.
I wanted to hard reset the HTC 8X Windows Phone after trying a lot of options and apps. I looked for a "reset" or "restore to factory settings" in the system settings but could not locate any such options. Finally, I located the "reset your phone" option, hidden in the "About" screen of the phone.
Also Read: What to expect from Windows 10 on your smartphone
If you are searching for the hard reset option in your Windows Phone 8, here is how you can navigate to it:
1. Swipe your phone to reach the App list.
2. Scroll up or down to locate the "Settings". If your apps are sorted alphabetically, you will see the "Settings" option towards the bottom of the list. Select this option to go to the "System Applications".
3. Locate the "About" option in the system applications. Unfortunately, the system applications are not sorted alphabetically. So, you may have to scroll up or down. If you still can't find the "About" option, swipe left or right to find More Apps. Choose "About Windows Phone".
4. In the About page, you will see basic information about the phone including the name, model, software version, screen resolution etc.
5. Look towards the bottom of the phone for the "reset your phone" button. Click on this button to factory reset your Windows phone.
6. When you click on the button, you will be warned that all your personal content will be erased including the purchased apps and the phone will be restored to factory default settings. Click on "yes" to proceed.
7. In the next step, you will be prompted for the final confirmation to erase all data and reset the phone. If you are sure to proceed, click "yes".
Within a second or two, you will see the full screen message "goodbye". This message will stay for few seconds and then the phone will start restarting. It may take few minutes for the phone to completely restore and come back to the home screen. Do not power off or disturb the phone while it is restoring. (I had the phone connected to my laptop using the microUSB cable and my laptop became non-responsive for few seconds when the phone was resetting. However, I repeated the reset few times and the laptop freezing did not happen after the first time.)
If your phone is frozen and not responding, you may try to achieve the hard reset using the hardware buttons. Press and hold the Power + Volume Down + Camera buttons together. After few seconds, the phone will reset to original factory settings. (WARNING: I have seen in few forums people reporting that this process has bricked their Nokia Lumia 920 phone, so I did not bother to try this on the HTC 8X I have with me now)Soft reset Windows Phone 8
If you are using a Nokia Lumia 920 or other Windows Phone 8 phones, you can press and hold the Power + Volume Down key to soft reset your phone. You may need to press and hold both the buttons at the same time for about 10 seconds, until you hear a vibration. When you hear the vibration, release the buttons and you will see the phone restarting. This soft reset will not affect your personal data in the phone.Nokia Lumia 920 stuck on the spinning gears screen
I personally haven't experienced this but several people have reported in the Windows Phone 8 forums that they got stuck after a hard reset on their Lumia 920. I haven't seen any solution that worked for everyone but it appears that a hard reset using the power + volume down button + camera button have done the trick for some people. If your phone is stuck while doing the hard reset, try this reset a couple of times before you decide to go and return your new phone!
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How To Perform Hard Reset / Factory Reset on android
Master Reset:
1. Touch Home Key > Settings > Privacy.
2. Touch Factory data reset.
3. Touch Reset phone. Check Erase SD card if you want to erase the memory card.
4. Touch Erase everything.
Hard Reset:
1. Turn Phone off
2. Press and hold Volume up button then Press and hold Power button till a menu will come out "Android system recovery"
4. Use the Volume button to scroll up and down and use the Camera button to select (click on).
5. Scroll down to "Wipe data/factory reset" and click on it.
6. Scroll down to "Yes -- delete all user data" and click on it.
7. After "Data wipe complete" click on "reboot system now"
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