When I first got my surface book I could detach it without any issues, however I am no longer able to. Now when trying to detach it the detach button's light blinks green but nothing happens. When I hover over the software detach option it says "Surface Detach: Detached" and when looking at the battery status it say "Battery 1 not available." Everything appears to indicate it does not think it is currently attached to the keyboard, when in fact it is. I did confirm the battery is fully charged. Also, I just did a factory reset, again no change in this. With me doing a reset I'm assuming it's some sort of hardware issue. Any thoughts on this? Is there some sort of service or app I could reset? RESOLVED: I got this issue resolved. To give credit where credit is due I referenced information from the following two pages: http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/surface/forum/surfbook-surfdrivers/surface-book-thinks-the-keyboard-is-not-attached/85fd37bf-5fb3-4708-ab2b-8c537ddae506 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E47f7n8N4PA I believe many people previously suggested doing a two button shutdown, but maybe I was doing something incorrectly. Essentially you need to enter the Surface Book Bios, then exit. Here are the steps I took to resolve the issue: Shutdown the Surface Book. Hold down the power button just long enough to turn it back on. Hold the volume UP button until you enter the bios (this is the left side of the volume control, if you are facing the screen. This is also the side of the volume control closest to the power button). You do NOT need to make any changes in the bios. Exit the bios, you will be prompted that changes will be saved. The computer should restart. After doing this the behavior for my button completely changed and it gave some errors about needing elevated permissions which wouldn't go away, but I was able to restart it again and before I logged in I was able to detach it completely from the device without any issues. Normal operations have now been restored and I am able to detach and re-attach it like normal. EDIT: Something I forgot to include, which olykwik pointed out in another response, is that you may need to reset windows prior to performing this fix. I say "may need to" because I did not test this prior to resetting windows, so I don't know if resetting windows is required or not, but I did reset windows before I did these steps. I would suggest first attempting this BEFORE resetting windows (as this will cause you to lose all files/applications, depending on your selection), but if it still does not work you might need to reset windows, then follow these steps. If this resolved your issue, please mark its as the answer/helpful so others can find it more easily.

I am having the same issue. To answer your question the surface book does recognize the attach and detach when using the taskbar option. The physical key on the laptop only lights up when I use the taskbar detach.

I had a similar state, except my keyboard and trackpad were functioning but pressing the hardware detach key yielded no response, not even a blink of the LED. I thought I had a defective keyboard. I was able to undock the clipboard/tablet via software in the systray. I followed the successful solution and it worked! Before I booted back into Windows though, I tried the undock key while in BIOS and it worked so I saved/exited and once in Windows the undock key worked as promised. This approach worked for me as well. My Surface Book state was: Clipboard clipped into Keyboard Dock Both batteries were visible by the OS, and charging normally Ports on the Keyboard Dock were functional (USB and DisplayPort) Hovering over Detach icon showed "Surface Detach: Ready to Detach" Keyboard and Trackpad WERE NOT FUNCTIONING Pressing the Detach button on the Keyboard would only cause it to blink green for a few seconds, CLIPBOARD WOULD NOT DETACH Failed solutions: Shutdown Surface Book using Start -> Shutdown Power on Surface Book using Power button + Volume Up to enter BIOS The Surface Book entered into the BIOS, but the Keyboard could not be used to navigate within the BIOS. Successful Solution: Shutdown Surface Book using Power Button + Volume Up The OS acted as through CTRL+ALT+Delete had just been pressed, but I proceeded to hold Power Button + Volume Up until the Surface logo appeared following the reboot cycle. The Surface Book did restart, and I saw the Detach button light blink Red momentarily (something that hadn't happened under my failed solutions) The Surface Book entered the BIOS screen, AND THE KEYBOARD WORKED within the BIOS As such, the key for me was using "Power Button + Volume Up" as a means of shutting down the Surface Book, and holding that keyboard combo through the reboot cycle until the "Surface" logo posted on restart.

Unable to Detach Clipboard from Keyboard

Anonymous

When I first got my surface book I could detach it without any issues, however I am no longer able to.

Now when trying to detach it the detach button's light blinks green but nothing happens. When I hover over the software detach option it says "Surface Detach: Detached" and when looking at the battery status it say "Battery 1 not available." Everything appears to indicate it does not think it is currently attached to the keyboard, when in fact it is.

I did confirm the battery is fully charged. Also, I just did a factory reset, again no change in this. With me doing a reset I'm assuming it's some sort of hardware issue.

Any thoughts on this? Is there some sort of service or app I could reset?

RESOLVED:

I got this issue resolved. To give credit where credit is due I referenced information from the following two pages:

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/surface/forum/surfbook-surfdrivers/surface-book-thinks-the-keyboard-is-not-attached/85fd37bf-5fb3-4708-ab2b-8c537ddae506

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E47f7n8N4PA

I believe many people previously suggested doing a two button shutdown, but maybe I was doing something incorrectly. Essentially you need to enter the Surface Book Bios, then exit.

Here are the steps I took to resolve the issue:

Shutdown the Surface Book.
Hold down the power button just long enough to turn it back on.
Hold the volume UP button until you enter the bios (this is the left side of the volume control, if you are facing the screen. This is also the side of the volume control closest to the power button).
You do NOT need to make any changes in the bios.
Exit the bios, you will be prompted that changes will be saved.
The computer should restart.

After doing this the behavior for my button completely changed and it gave some errors about needing elevated permissions which wouldn't go away, but I was able to restart it again and before I logged in I was able to detach it completely from the device without any issues.

Normal operations have now been restored and I am able to detach and re-attach it like normal.

EDIT: Something I forgot to include, which olykwik pointed out in another response, is that you may need to reset windows prior to performing this fix. I say "may need to" because I did not test this prior to resetting windows, so I don't know if resetting windows is required or not, but I did reset windows before I did these steps.

I would suggest first attempting this BEFORE resetting windows (as this will cause you to lose all files/applications, depending on your selection), but if it still does not work you might need to reset windows, then follow these steps.

If this resolved your issue, please mark its as the answer/helpful so others can find it more easily.

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.

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Answer accepted by question author

Anonymous

FIXED

Solution:

So, instead of just going into the BIOS but pressing the power button, releasing, then holding the volume UP button. When the device is powered down, I held the power + the volume up button at the same time. After a few seconds, the keyboard detach light blinked a bit, then the device quickly powered on then off. Then, after I powered on, I was able to get normal function. YAY!!

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Answer accepted by question author

Anonymous

I got this issue resolved. To give credit where credit is due I referenced information from the following two pages:

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/surface/forum/surfbook-surfdrivers/surface-book-thinks-the-keyboard-is-not-attached/85fd37bf-5fb3-4708-ab2b-8c537ddae506

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E47f7n8N4PA

I believe many people previously suggested doing a two button shutdown, but maybe I was doing something incorrectly. Essentially you need to enter the Surface Book Bios, then exit.

Here are the steps I took to resolve the issue:

Shutdown the Surface Book.
Hold down the power button just long enough to turn it back on.
Hold the volume UP button until you enter the bios (this is the left side of the volume control, if you are facing the screen. This is also the side of the volume control closest to the power button).
You do NOT need to make any changes in the bios.
Exit the bios, you will be prompted that changes will be saved.
The computer should restart.

Normal operations have now been restored and I am able to detach and re-attach it like normal.

If this resolved your issue, please mark its as the answer/helpful so others can find it more easily.

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133 additional answers

Anonymous

2016-01-18T01:56:29+00:00

I am having the same issue. To answer your question the surface book does recognize the attach and detach when using the taskbar option. The physical key on the laptop only lights up when I use the taskbar detach.
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Anonymous

2016-01-15T19:19:37+00:00
I had a similar state, except my keyboard and trackpad were functioning but pressing the hardware detach key yielded no response, not even a blink of the LED. I thought I had a defective keyboard. I was able to undock the clipboard/tablet via software in the systray. I followed the successful solution and it worked! Before I booted back into Windows though, I tried the undock key while in BIOS and it worked so I saved/exited and once in Windows the undock key worked as promised.
This approach worked for me as well.

My Surface Book state was:

Clipboard clipped into Keyboard Dock

Both batteries were visible by the OS, and charging normally

Ports on the Keyboard Dock were functional (USB and DisplayPort)

Hovering over Detach icon showed "Surface Detach: Ready to Detach"

Keyboard and Trackpad WERE NOT FUNCTIONING

Pressing the Detach button on the Keyboard would only cause it to blink green for a few seconds, CLIPBOARD WOULD NOT DETACH

Failed solutions:

Shutdown Surface Book using Start -> Shutdown

Power on Surface Book using Power button + Volume Up to enter BIOS

    The Surface Book entered into the BIOS, but the Keyboard could not be used to navigate within the BIOS.

Successful Solution:

Shutdown Surface Book using Power Button + Volume Up

   The OS acted as through CTRL+ALT+Delete had just been pressed, but I proceeded to hold Power Button + Volume Up until the Surface logo appeared following the reboot cycle.

   The Surface Book did restart, and I saw the Detach button light blink Red momentarily (something that hadn't happened under my failed solutions)

The Surface Book entered the BIOS screen, AND THE KEYBOARD WORKED within the BIOS

As such, the key for me was using "Power Button + Volume Up" as a means of shutting down the Surface Book, and holding that keyboard combo through the reboot cycle until the "Surface" logo posted on restart.
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