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

I do a similar thing:

Before, tablet mode was enabled the moment the keyboard was detached (no matter the position of the keyboard-detach and tablet mode was enabled). Now, the only way to get tablet mode is if I flip the keyboard back (fully folded backwards). Once that occurs, tablet mode appears and then I can detach the keyboard and tablet mode stays.

I am not sure if the feature was changed to the keyboard needing to be flipped back and then detaching or if it is a bug with the recent releases.

Update!

After many hours with Microsoft technical support, the current answer is dumb.

To enter tablet mode:

1. Tap the power button.
2. Remove keyboard.
3. Tap power button and log in.
4. Boom baby, tablet mode.

To exit, just attach the keyboard.

It seems like either there is a programming glitch to not allow tablet mode directly or MS wants to prevent users from accidently messing up open windows when touching the screen to remove the keyboard. Either one makes sense...but say so Microsoft!

Just installed the next preview update (KB5027303).

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

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

From my experience, this is definitely an issue with the Surface software and not the hardware. You'll be able to see this if you re-install Windows and stop the update to the Surface app. Works fine on the ancient version but not on the latest. Absolutley not acceptable considering the cost of these devices...