Note that Windows 7 USB/DVD (Microsoft store) Download Tool doesn’t seem to properly prepare the USB flash drive for UEFI booting. |
Requirements
4 Gb USB stick/flash drive Windows 8 Enterprise Installation files (either their own image or from the Volume Licensing website) Windows 8 PRO running on a Surface Pro device |
Make a bootable USB flash drive using DISKPART
Run CMD.EXE as an administrator (Win-X then A), then run DISKPART with the following commands (not case-sensitive): |
Command | What it does |
LIST DISK | Shows all mounted disks. Find your USB flash |
SELECT DISK n | Selects the disk that future commands will use. Replace ‘n’ with the disk # for your USB flash drive.
NOTE: Be careful that you don’t select your hard disk! The next command will wipe the selected drive clean. |
CLEAN | Erases all previous partition & volume information on the flash drive. |
CREATE PARTITION PRIMARY | Partitions the flash drive as one partition for the whole drive. |
SELECT PARTITION 1 | Selects the new partition so future commands will operate on it. |
ACTIVE | Marks the new partition as active so the BIOS/UEFI can boot to it. |
FORMAT FS=FAT32 QUICK | Formats the partition as FAT32.
(NOT NTFS!) EXTREMELY IMPORTANT! |
ASSIGN | Assigns a drive letter to the flash drive. |
EXIT | Exits DISKPART |
At this point your USB drive is formatted. DO NOT format the drive with Windows Explorer or format.com; you will not be able to boot from it.
Copy files to the USB Drive and Prep Disk
Copy the Windows 8 Enterprise Image files to the USB drive (use XCOPY or ROBOCOPY) both of which are available in Windows 7/8. robocopy <source directory> <usb flash drive root directory> /mir Example: robocopy d:\Win8Files e:\ /mir |
OPTIONAL, if you do not have USB Ethernet cable – Add the Wireless Network Card driver
Download Marvell AVASTAR 350N driver from Windows Update Catalog – http://catalog.update.microsoft.com/v7/site/home.aspx Double Click .cab file and copy contents to a directory on the USB stick Copy c:\windows\system32\driverstore\surfaceaccessorydevice.inf_amd64_74faf8b2bdd32b88 directory to the flash drive |
Boot off USB drive – Get into UEFI setup screen
Shutdown Microsoft Surface PRO Hold volume up and press power, keeping volume up held down Click Secure Boot, then click disable Boot into Windows 8 on Surface Insert USB stick into Microsoft Surface PRO Press Windows Key + R Enter : shutdown.exe /r /o /f /t 00 After the system restarts – Click boot from another device Select USB device |
Install Windows 8
Go through normal Windows 8 Enterprise setup |
OPTIONAL – Add the Wireless Network Card to the System
Open device manager Right Click Marvell Wireless Device – select update driver software Choose “Browse my computer for Software” Browse or enter path for the directory on the USB where you put the network driver Right click the Unknown Device – select update driver software Choose “Browse my computer for Software” Browse or enter path for the directory on the USB where you put the surfaceaccessorydevice driver |
Finishing up
Join your wireless network and run Windows Update Right click the last question mark device – select update driver software Click automatically install driver, it will find it online Go back into the BIOS / UEFI and re-enable secure boot Congratulations! – You are running Windows Enterprise on your Surface PRO |
March 29, 2013 at 11:30 am
Finally 🙂 A guide that works.. But be sure to not have any other driver other than the memory stick in the computer. I had a SD-card and got “the boot configuration data for your pc is missing or contains error”.. But otherwise, working great!
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April 2, 2013 at 7:50 pm
Good shit! You saved me a lot of fuckin time by posting this shit. It is so fucking amazing how much shitty half assed information there is. Bunch of bitches on the WWW man. But you are my new nigger! Good shit!
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June 13, 2013 at 12:20 am
Thanks for this. Instead of using robocopy I just used winrar and extracted my .ISO directly to the flash drive.
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June 13, 2013 at 7:16 am
Or that 😊
I included that part just to make sure that all content including hidden files (if they were any) would be transferred 😊
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June 13, 2013 at 6:37 pm
Hi Haukeberg… One question… this instructions can we work with Windows 7 too..?! tnx
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June 14, 2013 at 1:47 am
Yeah, you could use Windows 7 image files instead of Windows 8 files
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June 14, 2013 at 6:55 pm
I Did everything step by step… all over again and i can’t install win7… i used a SanDisk USB 32GB DT101 G2… i can’t boot from the USB… i don’t know if the USB it’s not compatible… i was reading, that i need to create an autounattend.xml and put the partitions data on the XML file… but i did that to and nothing… I test the USB on another PC, and it boot with the USB and install the Win7… do you have any idea, what i’m doing wrong.? tnx for your help…
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June 17, 2013 at 8:06 am
Did you do the bootsect part?
Windows 7 PC can also handle ntfs in most cases, but surface Pro only reads fat32 disks.
When creating Windows 7 bootable usb its way easier to use the Microsoft Store USB bootdisk tool: http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msusa/html/pbPage.Help_Win7_usbdvd_dwnTool
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June 17, 2013 at 8:03 am
did you do the last step With the bootsect?
when creating Windows 7 Bootable usb sticks its faster to use the MIcrosoft Store USB tool here:
http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msusa/html/pbPage.Help_Win7_usbdvd_dwnTool
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July 1, 2013 at 7:59 pm
Everything works up until…
After the system restarts – Click boot from another device
Select USB device
I never see a boot from another device. The USB sticks works on my laptop and desktop (I can boot to it), but not on the Surface pro. No idea why.
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