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

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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.

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  1. Anonymous
    2017-02-11T20:57:20+00:00

    Yo I have tried all the stuff on this page and many others around the web, and yet anytime i try to boot from USB, it either takes me back to the UEFI or boots windows off the SSD. I have tried so many different things and they all just end up returning me to the UEFI or booting off the SSD. Im using Surface Pro 4 i56300u. Anyone know what the big deal is?

    What are u trying to boot from the usb?

    SOLVED!

    I forgot the password to my local account which had administrator access.  I was trying to avoid the whole wiping of the device as I need the files on the Surface Pro 4 and I was thinking that would defeating.

    What I did I follow the instructions from this website.

    http://www.top-password.com/blog/how-to-reset-forgotten-login-password-on-surface-pro/

    I will warn you that I did buy the $49.99 edition as I wanted to play around with the other features but it worked.

    Create the bootable USB drive via the instructions given in the link.

    Start the Surface Pro 4 in UEFI mode.

    1. Turn off the Surface Pro 4 (holding down power button and slide screen down)
    2. Hold down Volume (+) button
    3. Press the Power on button, one Mississippi press
    4. When the Surface Pro 4 logo appears release your finger from the Volume (+).

    The screen is now in UEFI.

    Here you want to turn off the Secure Boot and change boot sequence.

    1. Security
    2. Select Change Configuration
    3. Choose the option for None
    4. Then go to Boot Configuration.
    5. Uncheck all items but the USB Storage

    My device is not setup with TPM but you should slide that bar so it is disabled.

    Go to Exit chose Restart.

    The Surface Pro 4 will restart and you will see a red bar on the top of the screen with a Lock icon but will be unlocked. You are now faced with the same login screen, as expected.

    If you created the USB boot device from above continue, if not go back to that section.

    Assuming you have done the USB boot device.

    Grab a standard USB keyboard plug it in to the USB port. The screen at this point will be active. To confirm the keyboard is recognized chose sign-in options and type in the empty bar.

    Getting into Advanced Options:

    Hold the left shift key and chose Restart from the Power Icon in the bottom left of the screen. The device will now restart and then the  screen flashes to a blue screen and gives you Advanced Options.

    Advanced Options:

    1. Unplug the keyboard and install the USB boot device
    2. Next, choose "Use a device"
    3. Select boot from USB.
    4. Surface Pro 4 will restart

    The Surface Pro 4 should now recognize the USB boot device. If done correctly you will be presented with the Surface Pro 4 log-on accounts and can now reset the account.

    This will take about 15 minutes to do. Troubleshooting the issue took over several hours. But glad I fixed it. You will need to buy the software to reset the accounts. Give a shot with the trial version to prove it works.

    I have no affiliation with creators of the application. I am pissed that I had to pay for it too but I needed to get moving on this. AND I have a job so I can afford the small dent of $50.45 after tax. You can try this installation with the Trial version and I it will work. However, the software will not action on the password reset because they want money. Like I said I sucked it up and paid for it.

    Hope this works for you too!

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  2. Anonymous
    2016-12-05T21:20:31+00:00

    Yo I have tried all the stuff on this page and many others around the web, and yet anytime i try to boot from USB, it either takes me back to the UEFI or boots windows off the SSD. I have tried so many different things and they all just end up returning me to the UEFI or booting off the SSD. Im using Surface Pro 4 i56300u. Anyone know what the big deal is?

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  3. Barb Bowman 80,820 Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2016-07-10T11:18:18+00:00

    You need a 16GB USB 2 stick formatted FAT32 GPT. Use the Rufus tool https://rufus.akeo.ie/ - get the downloadable image from https://www.microsoft.com/surface/en-us/support/warranty-service-and-recovery/downloadablerecoveryimage and you should be able to boot following the instructions on that page.

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  4. Anonymous
    2016-07-10T20:07:13+00:00

    yes, I have made certain it is GTP and Fat32.  And you can full create the bootable device in RUFUS because the Surface image download is a .zip file and RUFUS wont extract a .zip directly to the USB.  I did a copy after and it seems to work on other PC's.  It seems rather dumb that the recommendation is to use a 3rd party tool like RUFUS when MS has the Create recovery Drive tool built into the OS who's purpose it to build a bootable recovery USB drive.

    Not worth it to me to take the time and drive 2 hours to a MS store. I will just take the device back to Best Buy.

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