Advice on selling PC - e.g. Windows install and wiping HDD

[Jimbo Mahoney]

I'm contemplating selling one or two laptops and wondering how best to ensure:

1) Laptop is fully functional (i.e. Windows installed), but with no username / password.

2) No data can be recovered from the SSD / HDD.

With regards to Windows installs, I'm fairly familiar with the process, as I like to do fresh installs from time to time, however, I'm wondering how best to supply a "user-neutral" interface to a potential Windows newbie (i.e. the purchaser).

Maybe set up a generic "user" and "password123" account?

With regards to wiping the SSD / HDD, I'm aware of software that can do zero-fills, but doesn't this take a LONG time? Is there a quick way of securely wiping data so that it can't be recovered?

Any advice on these appreciated!

 

[m_ta3]

DBAN the drive. You only need to do a few passes to sell to a normal person. Anything more than 3 passes is overkill if I remember correctly, as in, it would take a professional/government to recover the data from that. I could be wrong.
Reinstall Windows, boot from a Linux live USB, DBAN with a couple passes, install Windows (again), sell.

You could also put a (small) SSD drive in there with Windows installed and sell it for some profit. It's pretty common nowadays to be putting in an SSD to sell a computer, claiming it's "SSD so it's fast". This is what I would do (for markup).

 

[Jimbo Mahoney]

Thanks.

DBAN seems only for HDDs.

SSDs may have their own secure wipe software? I'll look into that with the manufacturer's of each / do more googling.

Still looking for info on how to set up a neutral Windows account?

 

[Retro6]

Sometimes its quicker to do a reinstall of the OS rather than spending hours fixing issues.

 

[Uhtred]

Parted magic secure erase is supposed to be good and supports SSDs.

I'd suggest not setting up an account. Perform the install and shut it down before the setup wizard starts