Recent Discussions
Screen protector for surface pro 11 and slim pen
Hi everyone. I’ve had my surface pro 11 for a few weeks now and have been avoiding using the pen much because I haven’t been able to find a good screen protector. I hand write a lot for work and don’t want any scratches. I got a tempered glass matte screen protector and I can barely write with the slim pen. It’s not great with responsiveness but it’s also really tough to write on. The pen barely moves and just gets stuck. Any suggestions that will allow me to use my slim pen properly but also protect my screen?
Is Microsoft planning firmware updates for Surface Laptop 3 devices for 2011 Secure Boot key?
As many people know, the UEFI Secure Boot Key provided as part of the Windows devices firmware is expiring in June of 2026. Microsoft have announced plans to update these keys for most Surface devices, but have not made any such announcement for Surface Laptop 3 devices. Will the company issue updated firmware for these devices before June? Or, does the company recommend that users replace these devices before the 2011 key expiration date? The information publicly available is sparse, but it does appear that Microsoft no longer intends to update firmware for Surface 3 Laptops - which is fine, except that the after the key expiration, these devices will be substantially unusable, with impacts to UEFI Secure Boot, BitLocker and more... This is a Windows problem, and I will personally be very disappointed if Microsoft chooses to abandon users of these machines...surface pro x for business needs constant graphics driver reset, how to fix?
I have a surface pro x for business that is up to date and has no company or IT restrictions, it is my device for home use and I have control of everything. I am noticing that whenever my device wakes up from sleep, restarts, or turn on after shutting down, I have to do ctrl+shift+windows key+B to get all the content to fit into the screen. For instance, if I have the microsoft store page open, and my windows are maximized (I even tried this on several browsers after minimizing and maximizing again) the bottom of the page at any given position does not fit the screen. Another example is ctrl+f, I cannot see that bar that searches and highlights the result or on word I cannot see the bootm row that has word count and language until I reset the graphics driver. I saw an optional update and it temporarily fixed it but the issue has returned. Any advice on how to fix this on windows 11 (I have the i7)?
Surface Laptop Power Issues?
Hi, I have a Surface Laptop that’s 5? 6? years old. The other day it acted like it was no longer connected to AC power and shutdown when the battery got low. It was plugged in the whole time. The power adapter lights up when connected to the laptop like there is no issue. I took it to Best Buy to try one of their adapters and they let it sit, plugged in, for 5 minutes but it does not look to be charging. Pressing the power causes it to act like it turns on, but displays a battery on the screen after the Microsoft logo. My only recourse seems to be to ship it to uBreakIFix but I would like to avoid that route. Any ideas or suggestions? Thank you, Mike
Surface Pro 8 – Hardware-Liquid Damage
Device: Microsoft Surface Pro 8 Pre-incident condition: Fully functional, no known hardware faults Incident Details A small Coca-Cola spill occurred around the Type Cover (keyboard) connector area only Area exposed cleaned immediately No liquid exposure to USB-C ports, Surface Connect charging port, vents, or display Type Cover remained attached following the spill Device was left connected to the charger for approximately 3 hours after the spill, with the keyboard still attached Observed Behaviour (Following Morning) Device will not power on unless connected to AC power Investigated- Found liquid around type cover (nothing visible on the ports) When powered on: Boots normally Reaches Windows login After login and loading the desktop, the system shuts down abruptly without warning Shutdown occurs consistently after OS load No shutdown occurs during UEFI/POST Security / Firmware Event Device subsequently displayed a BitLocker recovery prompt Correct recovery key was entered System successfully decrypted and booted into Windows Device again shut down abruptly after reaching the desktop Current Status Device is currently powered off No factory reset, OS reinstall, or internal cleaning attempted Type Cover and charger have been disconnected No visible external corrosion or physical damage Assessment Context SSD, display, and CPU appear functional (successful OS load) Failure appears load-dependent and occurs post-login Behaviour suggests possible power delivery, embedded controller, or internal board-level instability No user-replaceable component has been identified as a definitive failure point Please advise on: Viability of the device for reliable continued use Whether the observed behaviour is consistent with recoverable hardware condition or non-economical repair Whether Microsoft recommends replacement vs. repair given the described failure pattern
Surface Hub 2s with MTR-W no Miracast support!
We have 3 Surface Hubs 2S, which are recently have been updated to MTR-W (W11) (What a bummer...) What we desperately need is Miracast support! We've tried to set this up with the admin account, and once you are in admin mode you are able to configure 'Projecting to this PC' but back in normal mode, you can't use Miracast (Windows-K) anymore. I've read Miracast will become available for Surface Hub 3 but there are no plans to support the Surface Hub 2s. Anyone out there who is/was facing the same problem? Did you manage to solve this? If so, how did you solve this? Thank you, Gerrit
Wifi issues - need to configure wifi for Machine based authentication
All our devices now do not connect to the government available wifi called GovWifi. This is due to the fact the way the devices sign in using Windows 11 with the Skype account having no security assigned to it as it auto signs in. Is there a way to create an xml script or setting to allow this wifi to be set as machine based authentication please. These Windows 11 MTR builds have been very troublesome and we've experienced issue after issue since implementing these builds, so suggestions would be welcomed. Thanks MichaelSmart Charging
If Microsoft hasn't already done so, it should explain its reasoning for denying users the option of activating Smart Charging. Microsoft certainly knows users have important reasons for wanting to control that. My computer only knows how it's been used. I know how I will be using it. So there must be some less-than-obvious reason for restricting that. Users have control of options that, on the surface, appear much more dangerous than controlling whether battery level charges to 80 percent or 100 percent.Presenter Remote Controllers Issue
Since migration to Win11 - The hub remotes have lost functionality. Previously they could be used to move slideshows in PowerPoint along, now all the remote can be used for is volume up or down. Will this feature be restored? Is it linked to the fact you cannot move the slides along on the surface hub screen now either, which again is frustrating.
how to move my win 11 activation to a new machine?
So, my Surface Laptop Studio 1 display driver must have gone bad. I understand it is built into the motherboard. I purchased a new Studio 2 and would like to move all my stuff to it including the OS. But I understand that the Win 11 Pro OEM version cannot be moved. Now what? I can't move my OS and stuff to a new machine, and I can't replace the motherboard without losing my Win 11 Pro activation? How do I resolve this?Surface 8 pro - could‘t find a bootable operation system
Hi all, I have a problem with my surface 8 pro. This morning I got the error with the bootable operation system. After a research, I made a recovery stick with another pc. Evertning was working, I got the latest image from microsoft and also the instruction tomcreate the stick was working. the problem is, the surface 8 pro can not boot with this usb stick - I have every time the error. Next I made a normal Win 11 Bootstick with the official tool. This sticks works on my second Surface, but on the Surface 8 pro again the same problem. Also with the volume down push…it does not work. what can I do? Does the Surface 8 pro some special usb format option or does anyone have an idea (perhaps the ssd is the problem)? thx for the help. br benjaminSurface hub on screen KB predictive text
I've noticed some of my surface hubs in my organisation now have the predictive text feature on the onscreen keyboard. I've followed the settings for this; Press the Windows + I keyboard shortcut to open the Settings app. Click on the Time & language tab. Navigate to the Typing section. Click on the toggle button next to the Show text suggestions when typing on the physical keyboard option. However they do not work. Why has this been rolled out to Surface hub MTR devices? The only way I can work on these devices with this feature is using a physical KB. Has anyone seen this and found a resolution please? Again no idea why there's no testing on the roll out of features for these devices. Although I've seen Edge can be added via the Teams admin portal but other apps like Maps are still not available. yours faithfully MichaelWindows 10 and 11 Dual Boot vs Hyper-V or Virtual Box, etc.
I have a Surface Studio 2 that is dual boot between Windows 10 and 11 - it allows me to pick the OS the boot screen. Anyone successfully configured this one another Surface old enough to support Windows 10? The recovery images were helpful in getting this setup in the first place. i used disk manager to shrink the partition so I could dual boot configure the system. In theory I could dual boot Windows 11 and use one install to join the Windows Insiders while maintaining another partition/image for production versions of the OS… My ARM versions of Surface don’t seem to run the Hyper V/Windows Sandbox as easily as my handy old Intel versions do!Battery Report Summary – Surface Laptop 7 (Snapdragon X Elite)
Report Date: November 27, 2025 Device: Microsoft Surface Laptop 7, Snapdragon X Elite Charge Cycles: 9 1. Key Data Battery Name: SurfaceBattery Manufacturer: SWD Design Capacity: 52,330 mWh Full Charge Capacity: 53,850 mWh Cycle Count: 9 2. Usage Observations Despite the battery being new (only 9 cycles), the report shows abnormally fast discharge. Examples from the report: On November 25, the battery dropped from 30% (16,340 mWh) to 23% (12,520 mWh) in ~20 minutes of use. On November 27, during “connected standby,” the battery fell from 77% (41,200 mWh) to 55% (29,440 mWh) within about one hour. These behaviors are inconsistent with expectations for a new device with full capacity. . Technical Analysis Battery authenticity: The data indicates the battery is original (manufacturer SWD, capacity matches design). Primary issue: The discharge rate is unusually fast and unstable, which is not normal for a battery with so few cycles. Possible causes: Defect in the Battery Management System (BMS). Internal cell imbalance. Firmware/driver issue affecting power management. 4. Conclusion and Request The Surface Laptop 7 is showing abnormal battery behavior despite being new and original. Any idea where this problem comes from? Any solution? Thanks in advance!
Surface Pro 11 Battery Issues?
Its been less than one year on my surface pro 11 and i was feeling like the battery was not lasting as long as stated and also lagging at some points. When I did the battery health check it showed that it had dropped around 13% from design capacity. Is this normal and should I get it repaired/replaced under warranty? Its just bit of a hassle as I am outside of the US.... Microsoft surface pro users outside of the US doesnt seem to have the proper support also, no contact and no email response from raising tickets....Surface laptop 7th & Thunderbolt 3 external display issue
Hello, I have a surface laptop 7th under Windows 7 with the snapdragon processor offering 2 USB 4 ports. I don't manage to get my external display working through thunderbolt 3 connection. When I go to the device controller panel, I see the serial bus constantly refreshing. Otherwise, Windows 11 and the graphic card drivers are up to date. Would really appreciate if someone can help me. ThanksVarious multiple monitor issues on Surface Laptop Studio (1) since driver updates.
Issues started directly after NVIDIA - Display - 32.0.15.7344 or Surface - Extension - 14.54.139.0 both installed on 2025-10-21 Issues occur when a second monitor is attached, and either extend or duplicate screens is selected. Using only one screen has no issue. Checked with different cables, bypassing HUB and different monitors. All show the same issues. Issues are (but not limited to) 3D (Vulkan) applications in non full-screen mode glitch with a triangle like tearing between the frames. This is a screenshot from a derivate of the Vulkan tutorial. To illustrate the tearing I alternate the clear colour to black and green. With only one monitor selected (either one) the green flashes as expected. With two monitors, even with duplicate display(!), this tearing which seems to be the presentation not waiting for the chain to finish rendering. Again this was all fine before the update. In borderless full window mode it is okay, as the NVIDIA driver doesn't use the INTEL integrated swap chain. Clear type tech is not working, and text is chroma distorted. Happens in all apps, including Microsoft ones. I can literally have an app like visual studio running on the second monitor and the text has serve chroma distortion, and then I change monitor setting to just that monitor and the text is correct. and back and forth. General glitches on apps when resizing, frames of windows appear for a second.Lack of Information re Drivers
Could I make a request to Microsoft please. The Surface 7 snapdragon range of Laptops are fantastic, I cannot praise them enough, everything from a fully laminated screen, keyboard keys that don't go shiny like the Macbook Air, multiday battery life and build quality. But can we have a little bit more driver and software updates knowledge. I recently saw a bit of idle activity on my X plus (Desktop) and looked for a new Adreno driver. The Microsoft Surface updater said none. But then I found a Adreno XI-85 GPM driver version 31.0.121. 0 October 2025 This was obviously newer than 31.0.112.0 June 2025 so I installed it (Unzipped 600MB) Graphics are now a little snapper and gpu idle hunting has gone.Question about Microsoft Support Structure
My Surface Pro 9 needs what I think is an easy firmware repair. Is it possible to avoid shipping it to Microsoft? The part of the firmware that contains the SKU Model Number is corrupt. It shows as "OEMLO Product" instead of Surface Pro 9. That part of the firmware is protected. It can only be accessed by a Microsoft employee using internal tools and physical access to the Surface Pro. Microsoft Device Support offers only a mail-in program, which would mean a lot of work for everyone that's probably not necessary. I don't know much about Microsoft support structure. So I don't know if it's flexible enough for a kind-hearted employee with access to the right tools to fix this. I live near several large Microsoft facilities in the Washington DC area. I think it's a quick easy repair. It could save me and Microsoft Device Support a lot of work that's probably unnecessary. The corruption may have occurred either as a result of participation in the Windows Insider program or during a Surface Pro 9 firmware update in late August 2025. The absence of a valid SKU Model Number prevents Microsoft's driver package from repairing drivers. It also prevents both business and consumer versions of the Surface Diagnostic tool from running. Meanwhile the SMF Core Driver is not loading. I could probably fix that with the correct driver package, but the driver package won't run without the correct SKU number. Otherwise, the Surface works fine. So I can afford to wait until December 2025 to send in for a complete overhaul. That's when I'll be able to lose access to it for an extended time. The rest of the firmware seems to be okay. Other than the SKU model number the information, including the serial number, appears correct.
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