Surface Pro 9 won't enter tablet mode after disconnecting the type cover

Hi Wayne Strydom,

Thank you for reaching Microsoft Community and apologies for the inconvenience this has caused you.

Just to make sure: this happens every time you detach the typecover, right? or there are times also that when you detach the typecover, the device is able to detect it and automatically goes to tablet mode? or if you do a re-attach and detach several times, would the device eventually detect it and goes to tablet mode or not at all and you would need to restart the device without the typecover attached for it to go to tablet mode?

Tablet mode in Windows 11 no longer exists as a specific mode. The device should automatically go to tablet mode whenever the typecover is detached. See: Frequently Asked Questions: Windows 11 - Microsoft Community for more details. Considering that a reinstall of Windows were tried already and still issue persists, this seems to be a hardware issue already on the connectors of the device where it is unable to detect that the typecover is being detach and thus, it does not go to tablet mode, but can you please try these steps below first then let me know how it goes:

Detach the typecover (device stays in Desktop mode due to the issue)

Open Device Manager

Click on Action

Select Scan for hardware changes

Check if the device detects that the typecover is detached and goes to tablet mode

Kind regards,
Marrion

Hi Marrion,

I am having exactly the same issue as described in this chat. Scanning for hardware changes does not work. Putting the device to sleep and waking it without the keyboard does. The device worked fine when unboxed however since on update it fails to recognise tablet mode and even when forced into tablet mode the screen can only be rotated manually. My old Lenovo Mixx worked fine for years with Windows 10. I upgraded hoping for a better experience but so far disappointed. This seems to be a common problem across the Surface 9 product community when using Windows 11. Can you confirm when a fix is being issued as I bought the product specifically to flip between the two modes and so I could write and read talks easily from the same device.

Kind Regards,

Phil

I am also having the same issue, Surface Pro 9, Windows 11 Enterprise 22H2 build 22621.1848. When I detach the Type Cover, Windows does not react: despite my settings the taskbar does not go into touch optimized mode, the rotation lock stays greyed out, and the taskbar icon to show the onscreen keyboard does not appear. If I press the power button to sleep/wake it after the Type Cover is detached, all of these things are fixed on wake. In Device Manager, when the type cover is attached there are 4 to 5 'Surface HID Keyboard' items listed. When I detach, there are 2 to 3. 'Scan for hardware changes' does not change what's listed (or Windows taskbar behavior). After I sleep/wake there are still 2 to 3 keyboards listed however Windows properly transitions to tablet behavior.

Please let me know if there is any additional information I could help gather to troubleshoot the issue, I'm eagerly awaiting a fix.

I had to return mine today such a hassle ,now need IT at work to redownload everything. For this price to have this issue after MASSIVE trouble shooting, tech suport at best buy for a dud.

Just installed the next preview update (KB5027303).

It literally worked ONCE and now again won't work. yay.

+1 that KB5027303 (2023-06 Cumulative Update Preview for Windows 11 Version 22H2, OS Build 22621.1928) does not fix the issue for me. Guess it'll be another month at best to see a change.

Can Microsoft please acknowledge this as a known and tracked issue for Windows, or Surface drivers, and if not please let us know how we can help get debug info to help steer toward resolution.