Surface Pro 3 Windows 10 Upgrade Clean Install and Recovery Partition

Anonymous
2015-07-17T19:54:51+00:00

I read that you can take your Surface to a MS store to have them install Windows 10 on it. Has anyone read the details, I can't seem to find out if this is going to be a new, clean install or an upgrade. And, will it update the recovery partition similar to what we have for Win8? I would guess I can use the iso files and do a clean install myself, but, I'm doubt I'd be able to update the recovery partition from the iso.

Surface | Surface Pro | Install and update

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

0 comments
Answer accepted by question author
Anonymous
2016-03-28T17:43:58+00:00

For Surface Pro 3, it is possible to perform a clean install of Windows 10 through the use of a downloaded recovery image. This will put your device into the same state as it would be in when purchased new with Windows 10 installed.

Until the free Windows 10 upgrade offer ends on July 29th, 2016 you can use the Windows 10 recovery image on a Surface Pro 3 that has never had Windows 10 installed and it will activate using the product key that came with the device. After July 29th, 2016 the Windows 10 recovery image will only activate on devices that came with Windows 10 or had previously installed and activated Windows 10.

To use the recovery image:

  1. Go to the Download a recovery image for your Surface page and select your product.
  2. You should see the original Windows 8 image that shipped with your Surface, as well the new Windows 10 Version 1511 image.
  3. Click Download and follow the rest of the steps to create the Windows 10 recovery drive and use it to reset Surface.
  4. For more detailed information, see our Restore or reset Surface article.

 

Hope this helps,

Greg

Was this answer helpful?

10+ people found this answer helpful.
0 comments

59 additional answers

Sort by: Most helpful
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Anonymous
    2015-08-03T10:06:41+00:00

    He's where I'm at with my clean install on the SP3.

    I was running the Win10 TP but was having problems with PIN signin, couldn't get Office 2012 to uninstall properly, etc. which is why I decided to just clean install and start fresh. I downloaded the iso files from here:

    http://microsoft-news.com/download-windows-10-iso/

    and the drivers from here as suggested in a prior post:

    https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=38826

    I installed the Win10 upgrade to a usb flash drive. When you do this, you only need to insert the drive in a usb port and run "start". It installs Win10 and give you the option to save data or erase everything. It doesn't ask to install drivers but otherwise seems to be a clean installation.

    The bad news is now Win10 won't activate. I see Error Code 0xC004C003 in the Windows Activation page from Settings. It tells me "To activate Windows, enter a different product key or go to the Store". I go to the Store but can't find an "activate" link. There isn't an icon on the task tray or any other place I can see to force it to try and activate.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  2. Anonymous
    2015-08-03T10:01:39+00:00

    As a preview participant experienced with Win 10 on two laptops, I was really looking forward to upgrading my SP3. After seemingly going well, it began to show irrational behavior after starting up. It seemed like it was  restarting a few seconds. There was nothing I found to fix it.

    So I did a clean install from a USB drive. That process even seemed flakey.

    The end result is that I got it up with way too much difficulty.

    I mounted my original 128 GB SD card with my old data for extra storage and redirected Outlook, DropBox, document, and download files there by editing the registry or using the junction command. Now the only snag seems to be with Outlook 2013 of Office 365 which either fails to open, or is very slow to open. Sometimes the switch /resetnavpane solves the problem from time to time.

    I was able to remove over 9 GB is stuff from my small 64GB SP3 version of included storage. Now I have about 33GB free (plenty of room for more programs. All new data goes in the SD card) plus another 50 GB on the SD card now that everything is loaded up as it was using 8.1. 

    I'm still looking for a solution to get Oulook to open as quickly as Word does.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  3. Anonymous
    2015-08-03T02:11:46+00:00

    Hi fatou8

    How about the activation key and the drivers for Surface Pro 3? 

    Thanks for the help =)

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  4. Anonymous
    2015-08-01T20:02:50+00:00

    As of July  28th the Windows 10 drivers for the Surface Pro 3 are there

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments