I am trying to upgrade my hard drive on Surface Go Laptop v1 that came with W11 preinstalled. Why am I having so much trouble?

Greg Gardner 0 Reputation points
2026-05-06T19:24:15.5833333+00:00

Basically everything I have tried, will not allow me to boot to a USB recovery drive and will only open to the SURFACE UEFI start page...

Surface | Surface Go | Install and update
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  1. AI answer

    2026-05-06T19:24:27.69+00:00

    On Surface devices, booting from USB only works if the USB drive is correctly prepared and the correct boot sequence is used; otherwise the device will stop at the Surface UEFI screen.

    Key points to check:

    1. Prepare a proper Surface recovery USB
      • Use another Windows PC to follow the official process in Creating and using a USB recovery drive for Surface:
        • Go to the Surface Recovery Image Download page and download the factory recovery image for Surface Go.
        • Create a USB recovery drive using that image as described in the article.
      • The drive must be created exactly as described; a generic Windows USB or incorrectly formatted drive will often not be recognized as bootable by Surface.
    2. Use the correct hardware boot sequence
      • Disconnect all other USB devices (mouse, keyboard, storage, hubs). Surface will try to boot from any connected USB device and may fail.
      • Shut down Surface completely.
      • Insert the bootable USB recovery drive into the USB port.
      • Press and hold the volume-down button.
      • While holding volume-down, press and release the power button.
      • Keep holding volume-down until the Microsoft/Surface logo appears and spinning dots show, then release.
      • Follow on-screen instructions to boot from the USB drive.
    3. If it still only opens Surface UEFI
      • From Windows (if it still boots), try starting from USB via Advanced startup instead:
        • Insert the USB drive.
        • Select Start > Settings > System > Recovery.
        • Under Advanced startup, select Restart now.
        • On Choose an option, select Use a device > USB Storage.
      • If the device always returns to Surface UEFI, the USB drive is likely not correctly created as a Surface recovery drive, or the image does not match the device model.
    4. Recreate the USB recovery drive if needed
      • If the USB is not detected as a boot device, recreate it following the steps in Creating and using a USB recovery drive for Surface, ensuring the correct Surface model is selected and the latest recovery image is used.

    References:

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  2. Clary-N 15,745 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator
    2026-05-07T07:40:56.2066667+00:00

    Hi Greg Gardner,

    If the USB recovery drive still isn’t detected, please review the settings in Surface UEFI:

    • Ensure Boot from USB is enabled and the USB device is prioritized in the boot order.
    • Check that Enable alternate boot sequence is turned on.
    • If the device previously ran a Windows Insider build, try toggling Secure Boot off and back on, then test again.
    • If possible, test with a different USB drive.

    Also, make sure the USB is formatted as FAT32, as other formats may prevent it from being recognized. If needed, you can prepare the USB again using the steps below:

    *Important: This process will erase all data on the USB drive, so please back up any important files first.

    1. Insert a USB drive (at least 16 GB) into the device.
    2. Open Command Prompt as administrator.
    3. Enter diskpart and press Enter.
    4. Type list disk to display available drives.
    5. Identify your USB drive, then enter select disk X (replace X accordingly).
    6. Type clean to erase the drive.
    7. Enter create part pri to create a new partition.
    8. Type select part 1.
    9. Enter format fs=fat32 quick to format the drive.
    10. Type active to mark it as bootable.
    11. Enter exit to close DiskPart.

    Once done, copy the recovery image files to the root of the USB drive.

    Additionally, could you share how the USB recovery drive was created (for example, using the official Surface recovery image or a standard Windows ISO)? This will help us confirm compatibility.

    Looking forward to your update.

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