If your Surface won’t start—or if the recovery info has been removed—you can use your USB recovery drive to access recovery tools and solve problems. Your Surface comes with Windows recovery info that allows you to refresh it or reset it to its factory condition.

To save space on your PC, you can delete the recovery image from your PC and use a recovery drive instead. Windows 8.1 includes a built-in tool to create a USB recovery drive. Windows will let you know how big the recovery partition is, and you'll need a USB flash drive at least that big.

For Windows 8.1, see Create a USB recovery drive. To download Windows 11 installation media, see Recovery options in Windows. Create a recovery drive so you can reinstall Windows 10 or Windows 11 in case you experience a major issue such as hardware failure.

Your Surface comes with Windows recovery info that you can use to refresh your Surface or reset it to its factory condition. Always try to do that first before downloading a recovery image. To learn more, see the links below.

To create a recovery drive in Windows 11: In the search box on the taskbar, search for Create a recovery drive and then select it. You might be asked to enter an admin password or confirm your choice.

Surface comes with a built-in tool to create a USB recovery drive. To create a recovery drive, you'll need an external USB drive formatted to FAT32, with enough available storage space for all your recovery data. Note: You can also download the recovery files from the Surface website.

You can reset your PC from Settings or the Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE), which can be accessed through the sign-in screen. For the steps to reset Windows 11, see Reset or reinstall Windows. If your PC doesn’t have sufficient space available to reset Windows 11, you’ll receive a notification.

Use a recovery drive to reinstall Windows. For more info about creating and using a recovery drive to reinstall Windows, see Creating and using USB recovery drive. If you created a recovery drive on another Windows device: Make sure your Surface is shut down and plugged in.

If your computer's system is severely damaged and you can't access the System Recovery Options menu on your computer, you can access it using the Windows 7 installation disc or a USB flash drive, or using a system repair disc if you created one earlier.

Your Surface comes with Windows recovery info that you can use to refresh your Surface or reset it to its factory condition. Always try to do that first before downloading a recovery image. To learn more, see the links below.