Share via

How to Hard Reset your Windows Mobile phone

  • Article

I tried to compile information on how to hard reset most Windows Mobile phones. If I am missing any device please let me know using the contact form on this blog. I will keep this updates with new phones as they become available.

Sprint

Touch - Hard reset is done by holding the green and red buttons and then pressing the small button beside the USB plug

Motorola Q9c - Power on holding the center button and it will ask you if you want to hard reset..

Mogul – Hold soft keys while pressing reset button on the side

Verizon

Motorola Q - Power on holding the center button and it will ask you if you want to hard reset.

Motorola Q9M - Power on holding the center button and it will ask you if you want to hard reset.

AT&T

Blackjack - Just power on holding up on the DPad and it will ask if you want to erase all data. Press 1 to erase and y to confirm

Cingular 3125 – Go to Accessories in the Start menu and select Clear Storage. If you can’t access the menu turn off the phone, and hold both soft keys while powering on.

Motorola Q9 Global - Turn on the phone while holding the E and Z keys.

AT&T Tilt - While holding down the two soft buttons on the front of the phone (above the Windows and OK buttons) press the reset button with the stylus for a second.

Palm Treo 750 – While holding the red “end-call” button press the soft reset button next to the mini-SD card slot for a second or two.

Cingular 8125 – While holding down the two buttons on the side of the phone (top right and top left – Comms and Voice) press the reset button with the stylus for a second.  

T-Mobile

Dash – Turn off the phone. While holding both soft keys press the power button and hold for about two seconds, then let it go. When the confirmation message comes up you can release the soft buttons.

Wing – Hold both soft keys while pressing the rest button on the side of the phone.

Shadow – I guess you could hold both soft keys and press the rest button

Others

HTC Devices - Fot most HTC phones hold both soft keys while pressing ghe reset button or powering up

HP iPAQ 910 - Press and hold the voice recorder button (on the left side) and the OK button (on the right side) simultaneously, then press the Power button. Hold all three buttons until you see the Clean Boot screen.

HTC Diamond - With the phone on, hold volume down and the round key, then press the soft reset button on the back of the phone. A message will appear asking to press volume up to do a hard reset.

Many phones have a "Clear Storage" or some other master reset application in the Accessories folder under Start menu

Thanks to gekko and Matt for the comments.

Comments

  • Anonymous
    January 11, 2008
    PingBack from http://msdn.blogsforu.com/msdn/?p=4719

  • Anonymous
    January 11, 2008
    good stuff Gerardo - we need an all-in-one resource like this, instead of searching all the usual suspect sites. Thanks!

  • Anonymous
    January 20, 2008
    ok i have an issue i have a window mobile sprint motorola q9c and its frozen on the window mobile screen.  umm i don't know what to do and i don't want to wait for a new one or lose my contacts because i haven't been able to use activesync correctly yet.... so what can i do great info but it doesn't work for this issue!! emoryjosh@gmail.com thanks!!

  • Anonymous
    February 17, 2008
    Hi there, I have the same issue than Josh with a Motorola Q9. It's also frozen on the Windows Mobile screen and doesn't go further. I tried doing a hard reset with the tips on this page, but it didn't do anything. Any info on how to solve this problem would be great!

  • Anonymous
    February 26, 2008
    I had the same problem with my Q9c. Make sure the phone is off and then turn it on the usual way. Then, press and hold the center button with your fingernail (if you press the directional pad at all it won't work). It should ask you if you would like to do a master reset.

  • Anonymous
    March 14, 2008
    thank you very much for these post Q9c rocks

  • Anonymous
    May 02, 2008
    it doesn't work for me. Can I reset the whole system through the usb connected desktop? can you please tell me if i need to press the center button before that windows mobile screen appears?

  • Anonymous
    May 06, 2008
    Tim, what phone are you using? No, you can't do it from your PC. You need to press the buttons before you press the power button. If you see the Windows Mobile screen it means you missed it.

  • Anonymous
    May 10, 2008
    My Q9c is frozen on the M screen before the Windows mobile screen appears. i have tried removing the battery and that does not help. I also tried holding the center key and that did not do anything. Any adive? P.S. This site rocks

  • Anonymous
    May 21, 2008
    Gary, make sure you hold the Center key before and during the power-on process. You may want to hold it while you insert the battery, continue holding as you press the power button and then for a few seconds afterwards. Otherwise you may have a defective unit.

  • Anonymous
    May 21, 2008
    my Motorola q9 is starting, but in a bad way, almost all the commands are not working, and i have an x on the signal and baterry.Also in the begining it is starting verry slowly and stoping for a while after the windows mobile screen.what can i do to sove these problems?Pls

  • Anonymous
    May 21, 2008

  1. Turn the device off.
  2. Press and hold the "E" and "Z" keys.
  3. Press the Power button once.
  4. When screen comes on, let go of "E" and "Z"
  5. Press Power button once again.
  6. Message that the phone has been reset.
  7. Takes a few mins to reset. And viola you have it as good as new. This is for reset

  • Anonymous
    June 13, 2008
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    June 16, 2008
    yeah center button reset green letters apeared and I pressed left soft key "yes" and waited 2 minutes and gold screen appeared. all contacts dissapeared. but phone back in business

  • Anonymous
    June 16, 2008
    yeah center button reset green letters apeared and I pressed left soft key "yes" and waited 2 minutes and gold screen appeared. all contacts dissapeared. but phone back in business

  • Anonymous
    July 12, 2008
    Any recommendations on upgrading to 6.1 and erron comes up half way through update, and totally locks up phone?

  • Anonymous
    August 18, 2008
    E Z combination works great tje middle button thing doesnt

  • Anonymous
    August 25, 2008
    hi, it appears prepare to update PLUG in USB and wait... im thinking what will gonna happen.. i just press left key and then power on button.. hope it will reset though .. same problem, with stock up on the  windows mobile screen before it statrst up.. i mean it wont go either to start up screen...

  • Anonymous
    November 21, 2008
    To hard to respits real good no wonder perfect  

  • Anonymous
    November 23, 2008
    Worked like a charm!!! THANK YOU!  Saved my phone!  My Motorola Q9c from US Cellular froze up everytime on the Windows Mobile v6.1 Boot Screen when it would be turned on after I installed a few programs.  I could no longer ever get the phone to turn on anymore.  All I did was 1. took out the battery 2. started holding the center button and only the center button 3. put the battery back in while still holding the center button 4. pressed the power button 5. kept holding the center button until "Do you want to do a master reset" came up on the screen. I did the master reset and now my phone boots up again!  I'm glad I backed up my contacts and program files before the freezing started happening! :)

  • Anonymous
    November 25, 2008
    just out of curiosity, how does the hard reset work? What I mean by that is that after you do one your phone is reset back to factory defaults. Is this similar to doing a complete restor on a desktop from a factory installed partition? I'm just curious how it works, is the original OS and configuration stored somewhere in memory or Rom?

  • Anonymous
    December 06, 2008
    wow what a life saver! phone wouldnt boot after a failed program installation. Using the samsung saga on verizon wireless. used the same procedure as the samsung backjack and voila! thanks!

  • Anonymous
    December 20, 2008
    Hey guys I have a Q9 and as soon as a turn it on my alrm start goin on,and on. and I ant stop it. any suggestions?

  • Anonymous
    December 20, 2008
    Hey guys I have a Q9 and as soon as a turn it on my alrm start goin on,and on. and I ant stop it. any suggestions?

  • Anonymous
    December 22, 2008
    How i can reset my windows mobile phone is "MDA compact lll" but don't turning on my phone when i pres reset buton nothing hapening and i can't torn on it when i pres power buton, can you help me!

  • Anonymous
    December 22, 2008
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    December 24, 2008
    Hi! I have a FuSi Pocket Loox N560 with Windows Mobile 6 Classic. I would hard reset, but the Calendar+Power button combo doesn't work. I've done it at least 20 times, but nothing. :( Idea?

  • Anonymous
    December 30, 2008
    Tried several resets, but my Motorola Moto Q 9c has an upside down screen....literally I have to flip it over to read anything.  Anyone ever expereince, heard or know how to fix?

  • Anonymous
    February 11, 2009
    EZ thing worked on Q9n THANK YOU!!!!

  • Anonymous
    February 15, 2009
    Thank you, looked everywhere for Q9C reset for verizon and finally found it here, worked first time, thank you so much.

  • Anonymous
    February 20, 2009
    Hey, i have a moto Q9 and the problem that i have is that the phone doesnt turn on, i connect it into the power and a black screen with the motorola logo shows off...nothing happens if i try to start it! Tried the hard reset and process it, and then goes back to the black screen with the motorola logo...any ideas what can i do with my phone??

  • Anonymous
    February 21, 2009
    Believe it or not --- the idea of removing the battery, holding the center button, inserting the battery and powering on the Q9m (while continuing to hold the center button the whole time) WORKED like a charm!!!  Thank you!

  • Anonymous
    April 13, 2009
    Anyone know how to hard reset a Treo 800w with Windows Mobile? Thanks.

  • Anonymous
    April 23, 2009
    Motorola MC35: Hold the top two buttons on right hand side of device down. Keep buttons down while pushing reset fairly quickly (screen will go white) Wait with buttons down until message 'to clear all data in memory" appears.

  • Anonymous
    July 01, 2009
    Thanks. instructions works for my Motorola Q9c from Sprint.

  • Anonymous
    August 03, 2009
    Thanks very much for posting the quick tip on Motorola q9c master reset!

  • Anonymous
    September 02, 2009
    thank u very much and it did really work

  • Anonymous
    October 25, 2009
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    November 28, 2009
    i want to hard reset my toshiba portege g710.. help me

  • Anonymous
    December 19, 2009
    i have a mobile i-mate spl puma , which was kocked i want to unlock this device , please help me  & send the revert on mu mail ID prajapatiumesh@yahoo.com

  • Anonymous
    January 25, 2010
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    February 12, 2010
    im using windows mobile 6.1 in asus P750 dvice..how to hard reset coz i forgot my password

  • Anonymous
    June 19, 2010
    MotoQ9: reset worked unremarkably! Thanks!!!

  • Anonymous
    August 18, 2010
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    September 10, 2010
    my samsung sprint i325 failed to boot/start. when you power it, only www.samsungmobile.com appears on the screen and thats all. i have tried all means i can guess and it failed. please heap.

  • Anonymous
    November 02, 2010
    Worked great on my MotoQ from Att. Thank you.

  • Anonymous
    April 17, 2011
    I have vodaphone v1230. I want to format it either Hard Format or Soft Format. Please Help me.

  • Anonymous
    April 28, 2011
    HTC Cell Phone Accessories are value for money accessories that are stylish and good looking which are the need of today. www.cellularfirm.ca/.../HTC_Diamond

  • Anonymous
    May 26, 2011
    If I reset my HTC Mozart,all personal data including contact list and photo inside my phone will lost too?

  • Anonymous
    July 26, 2011
    I've got the same problem as Luke, the Windows Mobile screen is stuck for almost an hour. And i got this phone just yesterday, please HELP

  • Anonymous
    August 29, 2011
    I have a micromax W900 windows mobile and it stays stucked at the windows logo when it start..... It happened after I ws installing a file from internet. It hasn't started after that and is stuck on the windows logo. Please help me how to hard reset it?

  • Anonymous
    April 03, 2012
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    March 06, 2013
    Very useful knowledge.. Thanks for sharing this. . . .

  • Anonymous
    May 17, 2013
    how to unlock digibee sp1 mobile lock

  • Anonymous
    November 09, 2013
    Thanks worked exactly for my phone type :)

  • Anonymous
    June 11, 2014
    HTC Innovation How to I reset it?. My cousin forgot his password

  • Anonymous
    August 06, 2014
    Hi, if you are looking for a way how to hard reset your phone you should go to this site http://www.resethard.com The site offers many tutorials for phones from main manufacturers. The instructions are in video form and are easy to follow.