In this write-up, we will explore the methods by which we can reset the Raspberry Pi to the fresh installed Raspberry Pi.
What is meant by resetting the operating system of a computer
The operating system is the interface between the computer user and the computer hardware, also manages the memory, performance, and handles other peripheral devices attached to the computer like mouse and keyboard. There are different operating systems, among which most common are Windows, macOS, and different distributions of Linux like Ubuntu, Debian, and Raspberry Pi OS.
Different packages of the applications are installed on the operating system, which along with its installation, also download different dependency files as well as sometimes harmful files which may corrupt the other files of the operating system. To remove these files, it is recommended to reset the operating system such that all the installed applications, software, and other downloaded files are deleted.
How to reset the Raspberry Pi operating system to its default settings
Like Debian, the Raspberry Pi is also a Debian-based operating system and in it, all the packages are managed (install, update, and remove) using the apt package manager which comes pre-install on the Raspberry Pi OS.
To reset the Raspberry Pi unfortunately there is no option which reset all its settings to the default settings similar to the fresh installed. The only way to reset it is to remove the SD card or the USB drive on which it is being written and to format it.
Then a new image of the Raspberry Pi operating system can be installed on the USB drive or the SD card with the help of the Raspberry Pi Imager app which can be downloaded easily from the Raspberry Pi official website.
What to remember before formatting the SD card having a Raspberry Pi OS
Before formatting the SD card or the USB drive, make sure that you have saved all the useful data from the Raspberry Pi in some other hard drive because once the SD card or the USB drive containing the Raspberry Pi OS has been formatted, you will lose all the user data stored on the Raspberry Pi operating system.
Conclusion
There is an option available to reset the operating system to its default settings by factory resetting it in Windows and macOS but in the Raspberry Pi, there is no option available to factory reset it. In this write-up, we have discussed the method through which we can reset the Raspberry Pi operating system, and resetting the Raspberry Pi will improve its performance as it removes all the unwanted files from the operating system.
