I honestly don't remember. I wasn't kidding about the nightmares.
I do know it wasn't a Microsoft page (their email had a link to a Microsoft help page, but it was very basic. Run updates and you're good to go)
I gathered different things from different forums over the course of months.
Basically:
As long as your Surface doesn't have any weird "System Hardware Update - 11/7/2016" or two instances of installed (not failed) "System Firmware Update 11/7/2016", you should be able to run updates until you get the System Firmware Update - 11/7/2016.
I am seeing a newer System Firmware Update, dated 1/30/17 on the update history page, but haven't heard anything on it, so i can't comment.
Once you have your updates sorted out (if you do have the weird updates listed above, you will need to reset the device, then update), you need to calibrate the battery. This is more of a problem than the update, because the battery icon will scare the
crap out of you, but you have to follow direction, or it will never calibrate properly.
Power cycle the battery three times:
Let the battery die completely, then charge to a full 100%
Let it die completely a second time, then charge to the full 100%
Let it die completely a third time, charge to the full 100%
DO NOT UNPLUG AT 95% thinking you're okay to use for an hour, then you will charge fully when you can... you HAVE to fully drain/fully charge the battery.
After the update and calibration, the battery reporting will be different. It will seem to stay fully charged longer than normal, then drop dramatically, then hang around at that percent before dropping dramatically, then it will stay charged all day, even
though it says it's at 18%.
It's unsettling, but it's just getting used to the new reporting procedure.
I read (during research on Lithium Ion batteries in general) that we should only plug in when our device tells you to (you can set this percentage in power options advanced settings), and once or twice a month, let it totally die.
You can track your progress from your battery report:
Open CMD as an admin
Type powercfg /battery report
This will save a file (it tells you where in the command prompt) that may need to be copied to the desktop to open.
Give it a few days to get some data compiled (the updates clears out previous battery activity), but I check the Charge Capacity History.
You should see a pattern of good to bad to better to good.
After all is said and done, even if the battery percentage is scary, if you're getting an average of 7 hours use out of it (brand new is 9), it's fixed. Not 7 hours before it drops to 50%, but 7 hours out of a full charge.
Bad memories of clients that refused to let it fully charge are flooding in......
I'll be in the corner sucking my thumb.