Download and create a factory recovery image for your Surface. Before you begin. A recovery drive lets you reset your Surface to its factory settings and can help you troubleshoot and fix problems with your Surface device. Windows comes with a built-in tool to create a USB recovery drive.

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 how to create a bootable USB drive for your Surface, see Creating and using a USB recovery drive for Surface.

If some Windows functions aren't working or Windows crashes, use the System File Checker to scan Windows and restore your files. Though the steps below might look complicated at first glance, just follow them in order, step-by-step, and we’ll try to get you back on track.

The Program Install and Uninstall troubleshooter helps you automatically repair issues when you're blocked from installing or removing programs.

If you can’t locate a lost file from your backup, then you can use Windows File Recovery, which is a command line app available from the Microsoft Store.

Describes methods to prevent users from connecting to a USB storage device that is connected to a Windows XP-based, Windows Server 2003-based, or Windows 2000-based computer.

This problem occurs because Windows recognizes the network adapter or the motherboard as a new device. This occurs because the serial number of the network adapter or of the motherboard differs from the serial number of the previous network adapter or motherboard.

Fixes an issue in which an attached eSATA drive is treated as a fixed data drive for BitLocker Drive Encryption service. This issue occurs on a computer that is running Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2.

Cause. This issue occurs because the hotfix changes the serial numbers of the network adapter PCI devices. Resolution. Note If you upgrade Windows Server 2008 to Windows Server 2008 R2, or if you upgrade Windows Vista to Windows 7, and then you install the hotfix that is described in this KB article, network adapter teaming still breaks.

An information disclosure vulnerability exists when the Volume Manager Extension Driver component improperly provides kernel information. An attacker who successfully exploited the vulnerability could obtain information to further compromise the user’s system. To learn more about the vulnerability, go to CVE-2017-8668.