How to Boot Your Surface Pro from USB [3 Ways]
Step by step process to boot your Surface Pro using USB flash drive
- You can set up your Surface Pro to boot via a USB drive through boot configuration under Surface UEFI.
- Using USB to boot will not reset or refresh your device, it will start your Surface via the OS on your flash drive.
- Booting from USB can be helpful if you want to change Windows startup or firmware settings.
Looking for ways to boot your Surface Pro using a USB flash drive? Well, it is a bit complex process and following the steps correctly is essential if your device can’t boot to Windows. But don’t worry; we’ve got you covered.
This guide will walk through the detailed steps and all the possible scenarios related to the process. Let’s begin!
How to Boot Surface Pro using a USB flash drive?
Before diving into the solutions, we need to ensure that we have some things in order:
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- Create a backup of your data.
- Disable secure boot.
- Working bootable USB drive.
- Connect your device to a charger before starting.
- Keep a Wired keyboard and mouse handy.
- Remove all the USBs (keyboard, mouse, or storage device) before beginning the process.
- If your Surface Pro is frozen or can’t boot up Windows, try these first:
- Next, try to do a force restart. Press and hold the power button till the Microsoft logo appears.
- Press the Windows logo, then press Ctrl + Shift + Win + B.
1. Boot Surface Pro using a USB drive
➡ Windows 11
- Insert a bootable USB flash drive into the USB port.
- Press Windows + I to get Settings.
- Go to System and choose Recovery.
4. Navigate to Advanced startup and click Restart Now.
5. You will see Choose an option screen; click Use a device>USB storage.
➡ Windows 10
- Press Windows + I to get Settings.
- Go to Update & Security.
- From the left pane, click Recovery.
- Under Recovery, navigate to Advanced startup and select Restart Now.
5. You will see Choose an option screen; click Use a device>USB storage.
2. Configure boot device order
- Turn off your Surface.
- Press and hold the Volume Up button
- With the Volume Up button pressed, press & release the Power button.
- Keep holding the Volume Up button till you get the Microsoft logo, or the Windows logo disappears.
- You will get Surface UEFI.
- On Surface Pro UEFI from the left pane, click Boot configuration.
- Select USB Storage, drag it, and place it on top of the list.
- Click Exit, then Restart Now.
3. Format USB as a bootable drive
- Take a USB drive (at least 16 GB) and plug it into your Surface Pro’s USB slot.
- Press the Windows key and type CMD and click Run as Administrator.
- On the Command Prompt, type the command mentioned below and hit Enter :
diskpart
- Next, paste the command mentioned below and hit Enter. This will show you all the disks on the computer.
list disk
- Type the following command and hit Enter (where X is the drive letter or number assigned to the USB drive).
select disk X
- Type the following commands and press Enter after each of them:
clean
create part pri
select part 1
format fs = fat32 quick
active
That’s it. This is how you can make your Surface Pro boot from a USB drive. Try these steps and let us know in the comments section below if the methods worked for you.