Recent Discussions
Surface Hub S2 does not start recovery mode - what to do?
Hi everyone! We have our Surface Hub S2 in our meeting room, but after a power outage, the Hub won't boot anymore. It only comes up with the white Windows Logo and black background in an infinite loop. So, I just accepted, that I have to factory reset the device. But I am not able to boot from any USB stick. I can enter the UEFI Setup and i can update the configuration via USB stick. But when I try to start via "volume down" and power button, no recovery mode is entered. I tried all 3 USB-C slots and the USB A slot, made bootup sticks with the windows recovery tool and also with the surface IT toolkit. None worked. Am I doing something wrong? Is there another way to enter the recovery mode or alter the booting? Thanks, TimUpdate on Microsoft Surface Laptop 13.8 X plus
This is a 9 month usage update on my Microsoft Surface 7 Laptop Snapdragon X plus. This laptop in my opinion is the best snapdragon laptop on the market and I now use it more than my MacBook Air M3. Reasons - Battery life is one to two days. Build quality is excellent. Thin bezels and thin bottom chin, edge to edge glass. Keyboard does not look worn and shiny. I do not like the keys on a MacBook Air M3, they look very worn after only six months use, The magnetic charger connection is very good. Better than the 13 inch USB C charger. Main usage - Office, internet, emails, PowerPoint, no gaming. The laptop is very fast. Snapdragon chips are definitely the way forward. Less heat, much more power efficient. Very stable. I will not be buying an Intel based machine again.
Boot Surface HUB 2S from USB leads to Bitlocker Recovery Loop
Hi, I have an issue upgrading my Surface HUB 2S from Win10 to Win11. I already prepared my FAT32 formatted USB with the Win11 image for Surface HUB 2S. I shut down the Surface HUB, pressing and holding Volume-Down Button together with the Power Button. When the Windows logo appears I release the Power Button. After that the Bitlocker Recovery starts loading and when I see the loading circle below the Windows Logo I release the Volume-Down Button. Unfortunately I get the BitLocker Screen and when I press Skip this Drive it leads my to following 2 options Continue starting Windows Recover When I press Recover I get following options from cloud local installation I cant select my USB Drive or get the chance to boot from USB. I´ve done and tried it so many times. I need help to boot from this USB. Any ideas?
Overheating problems with Surfaces
Since the temperatures have risen, we already have four devices(Surface Laptop & Pro) that are constantly throttling to the point of crashing due to overheating. Surface Support only allows us to replace the entire device, so I'll try it here. Are you also experiencing these problems? Did Microsoft provide a bad firmware update in this case?
Surface Hub 3 doesn’t rotate on Windows 11 Pro
Hi, I’ve got a 50” Surface Hub 3 that we’ve switched over to Windows 11 Pro. The thing is, we’re trying to get the screen to rotate — but it just won’t. We’ve noticed that it does work when running in Microsoft Teams Room mode, and also in the Windows 11 IoT admin mode. So what’s going on? Why won’t the Surface Hub 3 rotate when it’s running just Windows 11 Pro or Windows 11 IoT without Teams Room? Is there something we need to enable in the system? We even see the rotation icon in the taskbar, but clicking it doesn’t seem to do anything. Thanks!Surface Hub 3 doesn’t rotate on Windows 11 Pro
Hi, I’ve got a 50” Surface Hub 3 that we’ve switched over to Windows 11 Pro. The thing is, we’re trying to get the screen to rotate — but it just won’t. We’ve noticed that it does work when running in Microsoft Teams Room mode, and also in the Windows 11 IoT admin mode. So what’s going on? Why won’t the Surface Hub 3 rotate when it’s running just Windows 11 Pro or Windows 11 IoT without Teams Room? Is there something we need to enable in the system? We even see the rotation icon in the taskbar, but clicking it doesn’t seem to do anything. Thanks!
SurfaceHub Gen1 violation error at several devices
Following Error occured 2 day's ago on several SurfaceHub Gen1 in our company: SurfaceHub error: secure boot violation invalid signature detected. Check secure boot policy in setup. Solution could be to disable Secure Boot and other UEFI details. But following process to enter UEFI / Bios is not working at all: Shut down the Surface Hub completely. Press and hold the volume up button on the side of the device. While holding the volume up button, press and release the power button. Continue holding the volume up button until the Surface logo appears. The device should now boot into the UEFI (BIOS) settings menu. We did test with several different SurfaceHub devices and all kind of pressing and holding these buttons, even with external cabled Keyboard. Not able to enter UEFI. Does anybody have same issue? Know in detail how to enter UEFI at Surface Hub Generation 1. thx for any hints BrunoSurfaceHub Gen1 Secure Boot Violation - Unable to Access UEFI Settings
Hi Microsoft Tech Community, We have 3x Surface Hub Gen1 devices showing "secure boot violation invalid signature detected" errors that appeared recently. Issue: Unable to access UEFI settings using the standard volume up + power button method across all affected devices. Attempted Solution: Followed flamurK's solution from 23rd June 2025 to collect Manufacturing.bin files using FAT32 USB drive named "BOOTME". Files collected successfully from all 3 devices. Problem: The secure file transfer link provided in that solution is organisation-specific and inaccessible to us. Request: We need a new secure upload link to submit our Manufacturing.bin files and device serial numbers for the 3 affected Surface Hub Gen1 units. Could Microsoft please provide an appropriate upload link for our organisation? Many thanks.Safe to delete the Surface Hub 3 "admin" account?
We manage our Surface Hubs with Teams Rooms Pro (and Intune where needed). The Windows default local administrator account is disabled during enrollment by the Deployment policy. Intune is configured to add an Entra group to the Local Administrators group, whose membership we manage with an Identity Governance policy. We are all set for administration. And if we were ever to be locked out of a Surface Hub, we would re-image it and begin again. During the Out-of-box experience, a new administrator account named ".\admin", with a well-known simple three letter password, is added to Surface Hub 3 devices. Presumably, the account is added a "convenience". All my testing and research has shown that this account is not needed or used. Is it safe to delete ".\admin" account? Or later, will I find Microsoft expected to use that account in some way? Thanks, in advance.
Trouble Activating Ultimate Performance Plan on My Surface Laptop
Hi everyone, I’m trying to enable the Ultimate Performance power plan on my Surface device. I’ve already used the command powercfg -duplicatescheme e9a42b02-d5df-448d-aa00-03f14749eb61, and it shows up in my system. However, when I try to activate it using powercfg /setactive [GUID], I get an “Invalid Parameters” error—even though the GUID matches exactly what was listed under powercfg /list. My current active plan is “High performance” (custom-made). Has anyone else encountered this issue on a Surface laptop? Is this plan blocked or incompatible with certain Surface models, or am I missing a step? Would appreciate any insights or tips! Thank you so much for your attention and participation.ARM Surface Laptop 7 file paths too long
We just finished a rollout of the Surface laptop 7s with the ARM processor. after a couple of weeks a have a few members of the staff who are ready to throw them out the window because they are running into constant issues with their synced sharepoint library in file explorer telling them they can't save the file because the path is lost since the file path, itself, is too long. We used to be able to work around this by extending the limitation on characters, but this no longer seems to be an option with the ARM computers. I am in desperate need of guidance. I would tell them they can use SharePoint online, but let's be real, this is one of those behaviors that's hard to break.
Can I install "Windows Team" on a PC?
I have a 75" display touch, I have a computer with core i7, 2TB SSD, 32GB RAM, and a GPU 6GB. Can I install "Windows Team" on a PC? I want the functionality to use the computer but, I also want the ability to access to my meetings and files as the Hub 2s, from the inital screen of the system. There is a way to configure that? Best regards
The Surface Hub 2S flickers
The Surface Hub 2S flickers when it is switched on — the image appears and disappears. After a few seconds, the image is completely gone. The issue repeats itself only when the device is disconnected from the power supply and turned on again, as described above. What can I do? See thre video: https://streamable.com/0onoa7Feedback on the Surface 7 Snapdragon X Plus
Wow, what a major leap forward Microsoft have made with the Surface 7 Snapdragon X plus. Putting it alongside my MacBook Air M3 13 inch there is hardly any difference. Major points - Qualcomm snapdragon X plus provides power and long battery life without the heat and power drain of an Intel chip. Fully laminated screen, thin bezels. Aluminium body, feels just like the MacBook Air M3. Thin inline magnetic charging attachment. Keyboard does not show marks like the MacBook Air which looks old and worn within months. Good trackpad, although I mainly use a Logi Pebble mouse. Nice and small charger. I own a MacBook Air M3 and now a Microsoft Surface 7 Snapdragon X Plus (Both 13 inch) but I like the Surface more. I cant wait to see what the next generation of QUALCOMM processors will look like. My usage - Chrome, G mail, MS Office apps, internet, no gaming. Bob UK November 2024.Multi-cast Surface Hubs
My department has multiple Surface Hub devices around the meeting room floor. We have many instances where it would be helpful to be able to control the devices from a central device - a hub, a computer, or similar. The goal here would be to project a screen, a slide or a video across the devices. They are hung on the walls throughout the floor - one example is when we need to usher groups of people back into the main room, we would love to cast an alert on all screens. Is there a way to do this on the Hub devices? We have considered starting a Zoom or other video call across them all, but that seems like an overly complicated workaround. Let me know if anyone has any ideas or experience with this.Surface pro 7 becomes very slow after sleep mode
Hello, I have a surface pro 7 for ~3 years now and I remember experiencing this slow behavior after sleep mode like for ever. It has an Intel Core i5 - 1035G4 CPU. Having observed the CPU speed from Task Manager these last days, I see that normally it runs around 1.8 GHz when I don't do much, and when the problem arises after sleep mode, I see that the CPU speed does not get greater than ~0.5 GHz. These last days I also found solutions on the internet about reseting the graphic card with W+Shift+Ctrl+B or by turning off the self panel refresh but these do not solve the problem. I also set the min processor speed to 100% from control panel, did not work either. I also tried another solution that suggested to set the number of processors to 8 in MScondig > Boot > Advanced Options. For this last one, after sleep mode, the CPU speed was not stack at 0.5 GHz but around 1 GHz, still was slower than normal. So any other ideas out there? Overall, this PC is very disappointing. It costed 1500 EUR and made by windows, one would expect it should perform better than an HP/Dell/whatever manufacturer, but its performing worse and it has been a pain in the **bleep** like for ever. I read the same problem arises for later versions pro 9, pro 11. Surely the sleep mode creates problems for all laptops, no matter the manufacturer. I experience problems after sleep mode for an HP laptop I own and for my Dell work laptop. But the problem from the surface is the worst because the PC becomes unusable. You have to shut down to get the speed back. Anyway, if you have any idea, please let me know. Thank you!
Surface Pro 7 not booting off USB for Ubuntu install
Hi all. I've got a Surface Pro 7 that's getting a bit long in the tooth. I've read that various Linux distros run well on it. Ubuntu in particular has quite a few detailed set-up guides. So I decided to give it a shot. The problem is, the Surface won't boot from a USB key. The UEFI/BIOS is set to boot from USB first, before anything else. I've tried: -- 5 different USB keys (various sizes (apparently 64GB don't work) from 32GB down to 😎 -- writing the Ubuntu ISO to the key using balenaEtcher, Rufus, and the dd command from a command prompt in a Linux virtual machine. -- setting the security setting in the Surface's UEFI/BIOS to off and third party (not Microsoft Only) -- turned off all other boot devices, so that it ONLY tries booting from the USB -- openSUSE Tumbleweed instead of Ubuntu -- Windows 11 (for poops and giggles, just to see) instead of Linux -- turned on the Surface normally, and while holding the down volume button. Nothing works. It just sits there with the white Surface/Windows logo on a black screen, like it's mockingly judging me, until I eventually turn it off. I've left it like that for as long as an hour, just to see if the trhing would figure out what I wanted it do do. How on earth to I get the thing to actually boot off USB and into the Ubuntu installer?
Charging Microsoft Surface Pro 9 via the USB port
Hello, One of the biggest advantages of using the Surface Pro 9 was that I didn't have to carry the charger with me. However, recently I have noticed the charge doesn't last as much as I want to. I do have a car charger that I can use in my car. I can also carry a small wall charger. I have this power bank https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B083SD4DQN but it has the old USB-A ports and this doesn't charge the surface. I tried a wall charger and that also doesn't work. I was wondering do I need a specialized USB cable, or specialized power bank to charge the surface?
Recent Blogs
- Explore how Teknikos built a Windows-native AI document assistant using Phi Silica and the Windows App SDK. This blog highlights the architecture behind the Teknikos PDF Explorer, which runs entirely...Aug 01, 2025
- 4 MIN READSurface is advancing Windows driver development by adopting Rust, a memory-safe programming language, to improve device security and reliability. Through contributions to the open-source windows-driv...Jul 24, 2025
