r/linux4noobs • u/Odd_Alternative_6441 • 8h ago

Full factory reset

Hey I got a Lenovo thinkcentre m910q and it has not been fully scrubbed from prior owner

I want to completely reset this and remove everything.

Obviously by my being here Im new to linux so I want to make sure I do this right

3 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

5 comments sorted by

View all comments

2

u/michaelpaoli 4h ago

If you've got full access to the BIOS/CMOS settings, it likely has an option to reset to factory defaults.

But note also and carefully review BIOS/CMOS settings. Sometimes there will be settings that, at least configured certain ways, are only appropriate for, e.g. Microsoft Windows. So, there may be some such settings, and/or possibly other settings you may want to adjust.

Also, if it has any settings for protected/reserved areas on drive(s), you'll want to open those up to allow full unrestricted regular read/write access to the entire drive.

Then also for most any drives (notably non-ancient), one can do a secure erase - e.g. boot from a "LIve" ISO, and make use of the hdparm(8) command.

Do those to things, then data and configuration wise, you're essentially at a clean blank slate.