Forum Discussion
Surface Hub - Unreliable, want to trash it
We've had a Surface Hub for over a year. I saw articles that they Microsoft was having trouble keeping it in stock. I knew it was the first product release but Microsoft seemed committed to it, so much that a 2nd version is planned to be released. I don't feel like the product has improved since we bought it.
How can I get quality support with this device? Calling Office 365 support often has you connected to someone who doesn't even know what the Surface Hub is.
- If you attach a PowerPoint file to a Skype for Business Meeting to the Surface Hub randomly you will be prompted to enter a meeting PIN which is emailed to the creator of the meeting but most of the time you won’t be prompted for a PIN. This is a security concern because anyone could walk up to the Surface Hub and view a potentially sensitive attachment.
https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/help/17329/surfacehub-sharecontent
The line at the bottom of the page “You might be asked for a PIN to access meeting content.” is weird.
How can the presenter control if the content PIN is required? What are the circumstances in which the meeting content PIN will be required? The way the device is used the primary user sends a meeting invite without an attachment and then updates the meeting shortly (30 minutes) before the meeting with the attachment.
- Most of the time the attachment isn’t seen on the Surface Hub but can be seen by the meeting participants in the Outlook from the Skype for Business meeting invite.
- I've resorted to instructing the primary user to bring his attachments via USB which has Bitlocker. Today the keyboard didn't show up, so he couldn't unlock the USB stick. Saving to OneDrive was the first suggestion but meeting attendees (remote and in person) shouldn't be able to see his file/folder names.
- Once you end session the USB stick is still unlocked in Bitlocker (limited testing I sure hope I'm wrong on that).
- No warning to remove your USB stick after ending a meeting.
- Users having problems with the Hub? I can't remote into it to provide support.
- In limited use the screen mirroring isn't very good.
- How come only PowerPoint meeting attachments!?!
1 Reply
- cezarcretu
Microsoft
Hello PHLiGHT,
I am sorry to hear about your experience with the Surface Hub and I hope that by answering this I will be able to change your mind about it.
The first thing that I want to highlight is that this is an appliance, not a full Windows 10 Personal Computer. Some users are expecting it to have the same functionalities but once they are correctly trained these will make sense. Not all, I agree, we still have a lot of features and capabilities to add to it.
First, you can directly open a case with the Surface Hub support team from here and it will land with the correct team.
In regards to your Skype for Business meeting and PPT file, you will be prompted for the PIN only if you are trying to access the file outside of the scheduled meeting time. Therefore, users that join the call from the Surface Hub before the meeting has started, will be required to enter the PIN.
This can be controlled by changing the value of the -RequireContentPIN in the Skype for Business Client Policy. However, last time I checked all the policies were configured to use RequiredOutsideScheduledMeeting. If you need a policy to reflect a different value, please contact the Skype team as they are more knowledgeable in this area.
It would help to have logs when the PPT file is not synced to the Surface Hub. Please collect them and open a case to investigate the issue. Note that the Surface Hub will check for meeting updates every 15 minutes so if the file has been uploaded in the meeting earlier than this, it might not show up. You can perform a sync from settings to get the latest updates.
There is another way for users to access their files and that is by logging into the "My meetings and files" with their personal Office 365 account. This will pull the most recent files when opening the specific Office app, or they can open them directly from One Drive. Also, the user can join meetings that the Surface Hub was not previously invited to as it will show all the user's upcoming Skype for Business meetings. This should also resolve the issue where only PPT files are available in meetings.
In regards to your remoting need, once again, the Surface Hub is an appliance. Given the sensitive information that is shared in meeting rooms and the fact that the device is equipped with a powerful microphone array, for security reasons we decided not to allow incoming connection attempts without the user's permission and action. The device, however, can be managed by an MDM solution like Intune.
For your screen mirroring, I assume you are referring to the wireless one. Poor results are often caused by Wi-Fi congestion in the area and some fine tuning might help. I suggest you look over this article and if you are still unable to improve it to a good performance, please open a case with support. In a perfect environment, the quality should be similar to an HDMI or DP cable. However, Wi-Fi congestion can't always be cut down to zero, hence Miracast over Infrastructure would be the ideal solution.
I hope this helps and it will improve your experience. If you are still having issues with any of the points above, I strongly recommend opening a case and we can help out.
Best regards,
Cezar
