Starting your Surface from a USB drive can be useful if you want to change firmware settings or Windows startup settings.
Booting from a USB device doesn’t refresh or reset your Surface. Instead, it lets you start your Surface using Windows or another operating system that’s on your USB device.
For info about recommended recovery methods, see Restore or reset Surface.
- Configure your Surface to start from a USB device
- Start Surface from a USB drive
- If the USB drive doesn’t work on your Surface
This article contains advanced troubleshooting steps. You’ll need to be comfortable with using a command prompt and configuring the UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface, also known as the BIOS) on your Surface. For more info, see How do I use the BIOS/UEFI?
Follow the steps in the Configure your Surface to start from a USB device section if you want your Surface to always start from a USB device. Otherwise, follow the steps in the Start Surface from a USB drive section.