way to reset surface rt and keep 8.1?

[stewpeanut]

does anyone know if there's a way i can upgrade my surface rt to 8.1 and then reset to a fresh state? i'll be handing it over to someone else and i'd like to be able to give it to them clean with 8.1 installed.

 

[DBDev]

Yes, you can reset everything and reinstall windows, and I am almost sure that it will still be 8.1

 

[stewpeanut]

Yes, you can reset everything and reinstall windows, and I am almost sure that it will still be 8.1

i'll probably give it a shot later...thanks.

 

[lbaxter]

i'll probably give it a shot later...thanks.

I am in the process of trying this too. So far, you probably need a degree in computer programming to be able to hack it to the point where it will allow you to restore it to "factory" settings. I have created a USB recovery from within 8.1 on my Surface RT, but when I tried to reset it, I got the "files missing - your installation or recovery media should have them" message. Booted to the reset screen (ol blue with the options to Continue, Use a device, Troubleshoot) and tried the methods posted on microsoft's own sites. However, when prompted to insert my recovery USB drive, I get a message that it's "invalid, try again." I have followed every step given by MS, and NONE of it will work. Why can't this be a simple "click this to restore to factory settings" process like every other tablet in the world?

If anyone has any suggestions, PLEASE help. I am at a complete loss. All I want to be able to do is remove all my stuff so I can sell this to someone on Swappa.

 

[lbaxter]

Ok, apparently Microsoft does not know the difference between the word "copy" and the word "extract." Once I extracted the recovery image for 8.0 to the USB and attempted the process another 3 times with no success, it finally worked. Some kinda voodoo, I guess, since my process didn't change for the 3 times I attempted it after extracting.

 

[stewpeanut]

realized i forgot to provide an update. the reset (reinstall windows) from the recovery screen worked without any issues.