Windows 10 back to windows 8.1

[pippyo03]

So I was a little stupid and jumped the gun on getting windows 10 on my surface pro two and was dumb enough to not create a recovery USB. So now im looking into a way to changing back to 8.1 because im not involve with windows 10 on a tablet. Just not optimized for touch yet.

So any ideas? can any 8.1 recovery USB work as a reset? Like if I took my surface pro 1 and created an 8.1 recovery drive and moved it onto my surface pro two? (Sorry if that's a dumb question) Can a full reset move me back to 8.1 or will I just need to live with windows 10 until they make it a little more touch friendly. Any ideas with help!!!

 

[t.mehoves]

Download a recovery image for Microsoft Surface

 

[pippyo03]

Download a recovery image for Microsoft Surface

I downloaded created whatever recovery image from the link and I put it on a sizable USB, followed directions on point and got all the way to putting the media file (USB) and it tells me invalid. Is there some fancy trick to making this dang thing work? I am at lose and haven't had any luck looking it up on the internet... Thank you for your help!

 

[t.mehoves]

Did you try this page?

Using a Microsoft Surface USB recovery drive

 

[pippyo03]

Did you try this page?

Using a Microsoft Surface USB recovery drive

Should I used the, "How to start Surface using your USB recovery drive" step process, or the, "How to reset Surface using your USB recovery drive" step process?

Because I've been trying the, "How to reset Surface using your USB recovery drive" option

 

[AvatarEW]

Should I used the, "How to start Surface using your USB recovery drive" step process, or the, "How to reset Surface using your USB recovery drive" step process?

Because I've been trying the, "How to reset Surface using your USB recovery drive" option

Unless you already have a USB drive with the image, download the recovery image. Then, continue following the instructions on the previously provided link to create a bootable USB drive.

Just make sure there is nothing on the USB drive!

 

[poit57]

Should I used the, "How to start Surface using your USB recovery drive" step process, or the, "How to reset Surface using your USB recovery drive" step process?

I don't have a Surface, but I would go with the "How to Start..." option. I think the "Reset" option is referring to resetting a Windows 8.x installation that is already on your device. Since you now have the Windows 10 technical preview, resetting wouldn't apply in your situation.

 

[DavidinCT]

Lesson learned, get a 3rd party OS backup program, Like Acronis or any other 3rd party PC backup software (some free options out there). If you want to try a "early beta" of an OS, do a full system backup, if you hate it or it has too many problems, just restore your backup and you are exactly where you were before...

I just cant say this too much on this fourm when it comes to beta OS's....You could lose all your data if your not careful and know what your doing. A Beta OS could crash and render you computer/tablet unusable.

And for people who are wondering, your tablet is just a PC, so as long as it's not a RT device, any PC software (including backup software) will work...

 

[pippyo03]

Lesson learned, get a 3rd party OS backup program, Like Acronis or any other 3rd party PC backup software (some free options out there). If you want to try a "early beta" of an OS, do a full system backup, if you hate it or it has too many problems, just restore your backup and you are exactly where you were before...

I just cant say this too much on this fourm when it comes to beta OS's....You could lose all your data if your not careful and know what your doing. A Beta OS could crash and render you computer/tablet unusable.

And for people who are wondering, your tablet is just a PC, so as long as it's not a RT device, any PC software (including backup software) will work...

Yes, lesson learned. Like I said I was jumped the gun and got a tad bit excited. I guess my current problem is the recovery image that I've download from the surface website isn't being recognized and idk if its because it wasn't made to reset from windows 10 or what but now I'm stuck unless I can figure out a way to get this recovery image to work

 

[AvatarEW]

Yes, lesson learned. Like I said I was jumped the gun and got a tad bit excited. I guess my current problem is the recovery image that I've download from the surface website isn't being recognized and idk if its because it wasn't made to reset from windows 10 or what but now I'm stuck unless I can figure out a way to get this recovery image to work

That shouldn't be the case as there are no firmware changes with the Technical Preview.

Did you login to your Microsoft account and select the correct image of your registered product?

 

[pippyo03]

That shouldn't be the case as there are no firmware changes with the Technical Preview.

Did you login to your Microsoft account and select the correct image of your registered product?

Yes, I login, downloaded the image for my surface, extracted the 6-7 GB file, and copied it to my formatted USB. Am I missing somthing?

What's the correct settings for formatting the USB?

 

[pippyo03]

If I just preform a full reset will it revert back to windows 8.1 and I just lose all personal files or will it just reset back to windows 10 preview?

 

[AvatarEW]

If I just preform a full reset will it revert back to windows 8.1 and I just lose all personal files or will it just reset back to windows 10 preview?

If you perform the full reset, it will revert to the factory image. You will receive a prompt whether you wish this or to save your personal files. If you choose to save personal files, it will cancel installation and instruct you to back up what you desire.

Fortunately, you have Surface Pro 2 so the factory file image should be Windows 8.1. With a wired network connection, expect approximately 2 hours or a little more for a full restore of image, apps/setting (you did enable backup to OneDrive yes?), and any subsequent operating system/security updates. That time estimate will not include any additional software such as Office or Adobe Acrobat and their respective updates.

Consider yourself lucky. I mistakenly overwrote the image backup of my Surface Pro with Dell Venue 8 Pro factory image. After re-creating the Windows 8 factory image, the subsequent restore then upgrade to 8.1 took approximately two days.

 

[AvatarEW]

Yes, I login, downloaded the image for my surface, extracted the 6-7 GB file, and copied it to my formatted USB. Am I missing somthing?

What's the correct settings for formatting the USB?

These instructions should appear automatically once you click on the "Download" button

Step 1: Insert your USB drive into the USB port of your Surface or PC.
For Surface RT and Surface 2, your USB drive should be at least 8 GB in size.
For Surface Pro models, your USB drive should be at least 16 GB.
Step 2: From the desktop, open File Explorer.
Step 3: Tap and hold or right-click on the USB drive and choose Format.
Step 4: Select FAT32 as the file system and enter a Volume label to name the USB drive, such as RECOVERY, and then tap or click Start.
Step 5: Tap or click OK to erase the contents of the USB drive.
Step 6: Tap or click OK when the format is complete.
Step 7: On your Surface or PC, unzip (or extract) the recovery image that you downloaded by double-clicking it to open it.
Step 8: Next, drag the files from the compressed folder to the USB drive you formatted.

 

[pippyo03]

Thank you avaterEW. I will probably resort to a factory reset then. And to be fair I do deserve to lose my personal files because of my stupidity. I have everything backup in OneDrive excluding apps. I have PhotoShop, office and steam games which will have to be downloaded. But that's okay.

I guess where I'm stuck with the recovery image that I downloaded from the surface website is that even though its formatted, and has all the files copied, it its being recognized as a USB recovery drive in windows. Idk how to fix that so I will perform the factory reset tonight when it have time.

But hopefully this will be my last question. A family member of mine also owns a surface pro 2 with the window's 8.1 installed. So can I use his surface, create a recovery USB, and use that USB as a recovery image for my surface? Or does the recovery USB have to be specific for that computer?

 

[John Steffes]

Not sure but did you make your USB key bootable? (After you format the drive and copy the files to the drive) you need to make it bootable (there was a PDF from Microsoft on this).

 

[pippyo03]

Not sure but did you make your USB key bootable? (After you format the drive and copy the files to the drive) you need to make it bootable (there was a PDF from Microsoft on this).

No but that's probably the thing that will fix it. I'll go searching for the PDF you speak of.

Any ideas of where to find this mysterious PDF? Or how you make a USB bootable?

 

[John Steffes]

This is a document that will allow one to make a bootable USB drive:
How to create Windows 8 installation bootable USB for UEFI (Samsung Slate)

If I find the PDF I will post it, I thought it was on the same web site as the Recovery for SurfaceRT (When they bricked it)...

 

[Elezium]

Hi,

I am in the same situation. I decided to give Win10 a try and well, it does not work very well on a touch device.

Anyways, So I try to Reset the Surface Pro 2 by doing a delete all / reset (I think this is the factory default) and to my surprise, it re install Windows 10, I do believe the recovery partition got override by Win10...

So I follow the step, download the recovery image from Microsoft + drag the file to a USB Key (using the link in this thread) and I am at the same point: It says the media I insert is not valid... Just for testing purpose, I try to boot on it using my other PC and it's booting on the USB just fine.

So yeah... I am the same point, stuck with Windows 10. I'll try to give MS a call tomorrow and see if they can help.

Let me know if you find something, I'll do the same!

Thanks
- The guy who screw on this one.

 

[Rafael Yousuf]

Hi,

I am in the same situation. I decided to give Win10 a try and well, it does not work very well on a touch device.

Anyways, So I try to Reset the Surface Pro 2 by doing a delete all / reset (I think this is the factory default) and to my surprise, it re install Windows 10, I do believe the recovery partition got override by Win10...

So I follow the step, download the recovery image from Microsoft + drag the file to a USB Key (using the link in this thread) and I am at the same point: It says the media I insert is not valid... Just for testing purpose, I try to boot on it using my other PC and it's booting on the USB just fine.

So yeah... I am the same point, stuck with Windows 10. I'll try to give MS a call tomorrow and see if they can help.

Let me know if you find something, I'll do the same!

Thanks
- The guy who screw on this one.

Your USB should be formatted using a tool called Rufus and select it to be efi boot device with gpt partition, that should make it boot

You can Bing "make uefi bootable USB" and get more info about this