How do I restore iPad A1673 to factory settings ?

I have been trying to restore my iPad pro model A1673 to original factory settings because I forgot passcode. My attempt at restoring has failed four times now after I carefully followed directions (support.apple.com/en-us/HT204306) each time. Failed four times on four different computers, two running Windows 10, two running Windows 7.

Following the directions for Windows computers I succeeded in getting as far as "iTunes is downloading the software for this iPad and will restore your iPad when the download is complete. "

After about 15 minutes with no progress information (a bad feature) during which the software seemed to be downloading, there appeared the following message:

"iTunes could not connect to the iPad .. because it is locked with a passcode". . [WHAT ??? THIS PROCEDURE IS SUPPOSED TO RESET THE iPAD TO FACTORY SETTINGS... BUT IT'S NOW ASKING FOR A PASSCODE !!!! SEEMS LIKE IT FAILED TO RESET TO FACTORY CONDITION]

I had taken the following steps.

Step 1: On my WIndows computer I downloaded and installed and booted the most recent version of iTunes

Step 2: Plugged the lightning cable into a USB port on my Windows computer without plugging it in to my iPad

Step 3: While holding down the Home button on my iPad I inserted the lightning cable into the USB port of the iPad and held the Home button down until the Recovery Mode screen appeared on the iPad... image of a lightning cable along with an iTunes logo.

Step 4: Step 3 caused a message to appear on my Windows computer, saying: "There is a problem with the iPhone that requires it to be updated or restored". I clicked the "Restore" option.

Step 5: There then appeared a page (screenshot 1) with the message: "iPad Recovery Mode: To update without erasing contents click Update. To restore your Ipad its factory settings, click Restore. " I clicked the Restore button

Step 6: There then appeared a page (screenshot 2) with the message "iTunes is downloading the software for this iPad and will restore your iPad when the download is complete". [NOT TRUE: I have been through this rigmarole three times and the procedure has failed to restore the iPad after the download is complete]

Step 7: There then appeared a message (screenshot 3) with the words "iTunes could not connect to the iPad .. because it is locked with a passcode". [ SO ATTEMPT AT RESET HAS FAILED]

Please note: I executed the above steps on two different Windows 10 computers with identical result. And on two different Windows 7 desktops. All the computers were fast quadcore machines that work well. My ISP is Altice Optimum.

This does not seem to be a simple random event particular to a specific computer.

Help in fixing will be greatly appreciated.

Screenshots follow: