How to reset Laptop surface 4?

Hi ÉricLe,

Welcome to Microsoft Community.

I'm Hahn and I'm here to help you with your concern.

To reset your Laptop Surface 4 with Windows 11 and remove the defaultuser0 account, you can follow these general steps:

1. Press and hold the power button on your Surface until it shuts down completely.

2. Press and hold the volume-up button and the power button at the same time until the Surface logo appears.

3. Release the buttons and wait for the Surface to boot into the Windows Recovery Environment.

4. Select Troubleshoot > Reset this PC.

5. Choose whether you want to keep or remove your personal files, then follow the on-screen instructions to complete the reset process.

Remove the defaultuser0 Account:

- If the defaultuser0 account persists, you can remove it using Command Prompt. Access Command Prompt as an administrator and execute the command: `net user DefaultUser0 /delete`.

- Restart your Surface to see if the account has been removed.

If you're unable to access the recovery environment through the usual restart method, you might need to create a USB recovery drive from another Windows 11 PC and use it to boot your Surface Laptop 4 into the recovery environment. Creating and using a USB recovery drive for Surface - Microsoft Support

I hope this helps. If there is anything not clear, please do not hesitate to let me know.

Your Sincerely

Hahn. W - MSFT | Microsoft Community Support Specialist

Doesn’t work. Doing so boots to UEFI, but doesn’t bring me to the recovery environment.

Besides, I don't have another Win 11 computer. Why can't an image be downloaded simply, as it was the case with Windows 10?

Hi ÉricLe,

You can also get to the reset option by restarting your Surface from the sign-in screen. Here’s how:

1. On your keyboard, press the Windows logo key  + L. If you need to, dismiss the lock screen.

2. Hold the Shift key down while you select Power  > Restart in the lower-right corner of the screen.

3. After your Surface restarts to the Choose an option screen, select Troubleshoot > Reset this PC.

To skip logging in to a Microsoft account, you can enter the interface that prompts you to log in with a Microsoft account. Enter the account: no@thankyou.com, enter the password as you like, and then use the local account to log in to Windows.

Your Sincerely

Hahn. W - MSFT | Microsoft Community Support Specialist

Hi, after repeatedly trying, I finally managed to get Windows to reinstall and selected "erase all". It took a while (30 minutes) to erase everything and what seemed forever after I entered the oobe/msoobe.exe \bypassnro command. It was so long that I didn't keep looking at the screen.

However, it failed to complete the installation process again and just left this non-functional Defaultuser0 account.

So I just tried to restart the reset mode for the past 30-40 minutes, but this time couldn't access it; it always kicks me back to the login screen with Defaultuser0. More precisely:

1. [Windows] + [L] doesn't do anything.

2. Holding Shift + Power > Restart does nothing, just kicks me back to the login screen

Since it appears impossible to download an image from Microsoft like it was the case with Windows 10, I got an ISO image somewhere else, but can't write it to USB as the writer software complains about a missing partition table.

**EDIT**: I finally managed to get to the reset menu (took 18-20 trials). I then entered the command above, keeping the computer on and connected and went to do other things. After 4 hours of waiting, it is still stuck on "Please wait" black screen with the neverending spinning balls. AFAIK, entering this command should reboot the computer and allow me to set up a local account. Why does it fail this time?

How do I reset this Windows 11 laptop without another Win 11 computer?

Hi ÉricLe rOuge,

According to the information in the official support link, you will need to find another Windows computer to create the USB recovery image:

Creating and using a USB recovery drive for Surface - Microsoft Support

Surface is special, if you only use Windows conventional way to create USB installation media, and use it to reinstall the system directly for Surface, then because of the lack of dedicated drivers, it may lead to failure to recognize the USB installation media, can not read the disk information, recovery failure and other problems.

Therefore, we only recommend Surface users to follow the instructions linked above, create a USB recovery image as a priority, and then use it to fully reset your Surface Laptop 4. If you don't have a working Windows device on hand, it's a must to borrow one from a friend, colleague, or neighbor.

But if you really don't have the means to borrow a Windows laptop, or if you've finished creating a USB restore image and you're stuck in the process of restoring it, let me recommend the live support of the Surface technical support team, who can guide you through the process one-on-one or help you create a repair order. Send the Surface to the Surface support team.

Here are the contact details:

1. Use your personal Microsoft account (not your organization account) to access the following links:

Contact - Microsoft Support

2. Type Surface, press Enter, and click "Contact Support" at the bottom:

3. Select Technical Support and select the device model you are currently using in Produce family, then click Confrim:

4. You will see contact options for Chat support and Phone support, please contact them during business hours:

However, please allow me to kindly remind you that currently we have received feedback from some users that they encountered errors when contacting through Chat support, and we are investigating this situation. Therefore, if you cannot contact the Surface technical support team through Chat support, please try Phone support and leave your contact information according to the guidelines. Surface support will call you back.

I wish you all the best.

Best Regards,

Mitchell | Microsoft Community Support Specialist