Hello, I have a school laptop that i want to completely wipe to sell it. I have ownership over it but cant contact the administration or anything to remove their control. I tried to factory reset but it just ended up downloading the school thing again. Any tips?
Completely wipe school laptop for sale |
 (Mar 6, 2026 12:34 AM)mitz Wrote: Hello, I have a school laptop that i want to completely wipe to sell it. I have ownership over it but cant contact the administration or anything to remove their control. I tried to factory reset but it just ended up downloading the school thing again. Any tips? If you actually own it then the school will remove all the "locks" from it when asked to.  (Mar 6, 2026 12:59 AM)mitz Wrote: Cant be that difficult to just tell me if theres a way, instead of wasting ur time replying like that?😂 Don't get angry when told the proper answer. Swap the motherboard with a new one. That should do it. (Mar 6, 2026 04:54 AM)DramaKing Wrote: Don't get angry when told the proper answer. Swap the motherboard with a new one. That should do it. Haha my bad, got a little annoyed, was thinking maybe a clean Windows reinstall through an usb could work? Or is the only option switching out the motherboard.  (Mar 6, 2026 12:34 AM)mitz Wrote: Hello, I have a school laptop that i want to completely wipe to sell it. I have ownership over it but cant contact the administration or anything to remove their control. I tried to factory reset but it just ended up downloading the school thing again. Any tips? What is "the school thing"? If you reinstall Windows from a USB and during the OOBE you get to a school page login, your device is Autopilot-joined and you can't just remove it like that. Is that it, or is it something else you're experiencing? (Mar 6, 2026 07:16 AM)5chn4pp Wrote: What is "the school thing"? Havent tried to reinstall windows from a usb yet, only factory reset, where it instantly threw me onto the school login. (Mar 6, 2026 06:35 AM)mitz Wrote: Haha my bad, got a little annoyed, was thinking maybe a clean Windows reinstall through an usb could work? Or is the only option switching out the motherboard. First of all, you're making us guess what the school uses. For all we know, the laptop could be a Chromebook. Regardless, Absolute Persistence and Autopilot can only be removed by unenrolling the device through the appropriate portal. Autopilot isn't firmware locked, but the option to set up as an organization device will appear in OOBE after every install and connecting to MS servers. (Mar 6, 2026 07:21 AM)mitz Wrote: Havent tried to reinstall windows from a usb yet, only factory reset, where it instantly threw me onto the school login. Okay, sounds very much like that device is Autopilot-joined. This means Microsoft servers have the device ID and locked it to that School. I don't know of a method on the top of my head to remove that. Other than you know, changing the hardware. (Mar 6, 2026 07:25 AM)5chn4pp Wrote: Okay, sounds very much like that device is Autopilot-joined. This means Microsoft servers have the device ID and locked it to that School. There's a few ways actually, not easy but doable. -> Changing the serial number and MAC (works with Lenovo and HP). -> New (or other that isn't "locked) motherboard. -> Contact the sys admin to get it removed from intune, this shouldn't be an issue if the device is obtained in a legit way...if this is an issue then it's safe to assume that it's stolen. (Mar 9, 2026 02:47 AM)HOMODIN Wrote: There's a few ways actually, not easy but doable. It's funny you mention it. Our company purchased a brand-new Lenovo laptop from the official store. When we started the computer up, a different company had already enrolled the device using Autopilot. It turns out that the motherboard was previously used in the same model but a different laptop by this company. Something with the laptop broke, and the company sent it in for repairs. Now, these repair stores that Lenovo uses are not actually Lenovo but a third party fixing laptops for them. The third party replaced the motherboard, sent it back to Lenovo, and marked it as working. The new motherboard was then assembled into a new laptop, which we purchased. The original IT department forgot to remove it from Intune. We called the company up, and that talk was fun, not for them, but funny for us. So it's not always stolen, but it is very rare. (Mar 9, 2026 08:28 AM)5chn4pp Wrote: It's funny you mention it. Our company purchased a brand-new Lenovo laptop from the official store. When we started the computer up, a different company had already enrolled the device using Autopilot. Ah yeah, that's true, their "repair" is often just swapping motherboards between laptops and then 'fixing' the serial number. We have a few times got bad motherboards like that at the office too which kinda sucks. Then since the TPM module is "new" (different) it also messes up the Intune enrollment a bit...fun times... I wonder, I might have forgot to remove a bunch of those machines from Intune...so I wonder, when will I get that call from you too :D |
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