Surface Pro 4 won't boot to USB

Anonymous
2016-07-10T08:39:13+00:00

I have tried every instruction method I have found online to get the surface to boot from USB.

The only requirement I have seen is the USB is formatted fat32 with I have verified.  

It was made with the recovery disk creator. 

Juat at can't get it to boot to it.

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
2016-07-11T00:30:30+00:00

If you are trying to boot to the recovery usb flash drive using the 2 button power + volume down power up that may be your problem.  That procedure does not work on my sp4 i7 and may not work on any sp4s.

 Method to boot to Recovery usb

Make sure your sp4 is shutdown, insert your usb flash drive, then hold down the Volume UP button and tap the power button momentarily, as soon as the SURFACE logo appears release the Volume UP button.  This will bring you to the UEFI configuration screens.  Go to the Boot configuration screen and make sure the "Enable boot from usb devices" is checked and that USB Storage is selected(the box will be blackened if it is selected).  To boot the usb swipe your finger from the right to left on the "USB Storage" line.  Answer the following message to boot from that device and your sp4 should boot to recovery drive.  Your usb stick should be formatted as fat32 and the recovery image should be unzipped in  its entirety to the usb stick.  Rufus is not necessary if you formatted your flash drive on the sp4.

Note that I have used both 32gb and 16gb flash drives successfully. You do not have to disable Secure Boot.

Was this answer helpful?

90+ people found this answer helpful.
0 comments

43 additional answers

Sort by: Oldest
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Anonymous
    2017-08-04T00:29:41+00:00

    Also, make sure that there is no micro-SD card in the slot and you may also need to detach the keyboard.  Micro-SD cards can "confuse" the system when booting up and the keyboard has been know to interfere.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  2. Anonymous
    2017-08-04T00:30:35+00:00

    Hi James, thank you for your suggestions but I can assure that BIOS is setted in the right way in order to make USB booting. Anyway powering on with volume key (-) down or also setting in the BIOS to boot only from USB doesn't function! It is as the Surface Pro 4 i5 doesn't read the boot sector of the USB stick and in this way skip to load the installation setup.

    Regards. Luca

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  3. Anonymous
    2017-08-04T00:35:32+00:00

    No MicroSD in the card slot, no other usb attached, keyb detached. Thank you again. I hope Official MS Support could solve. In my modest opinion only a BIOS update can solve this issue.

    Ciao from Italy

    Luca

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  4. Anonymous
    2017-08-04T01:12:46+00:00

    There are times that the machine will not like a particular USB pen drive as well since nothing else is interfering with it, it is possible the pen drive or an actual broke system.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments