[OFFICIAL] questions and answers for Microsoft surface

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TarianDeath

New member
Sep 15, 2015
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Can't get Android x86 installer to boot using usb on surface 3 (not pro)

I have tried using lili and unetbootin to get my usb's boot ready, but I haven't been able to get any of them to boot to the correct install screen on my Windows Surface 3 (non pro). I have gotten it to boot to grub menu once but that was the extent of it.
Another thing I am running into problems with, first lili says that my .iso partitions are corrupted and so I redownload, I have gotten 1 out of about 10 to be not corrupt then that 1 got corrupt after test booting on my desktop, not my Surface (which worked). So I don't know whether to ignore that warning or not.

My setup is a Windows Surface 3 (non pro) running windows 10, it has 128gig ssd, 4gb ram, 64gig sd, and I am using either a 4gb usb or a 16gb usb to install Android. For right now I just want to get it to live boot to test how things work.
I read somewhere that having a sd card in may interfere with booting but I took the sd card out and that didn't work.
I have secure boot off, I have tmp off.
Thank you for your help!
 
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S

samu_cappe

Senior Member
Oct 18, 2014
94
17
Surface 3, better windows 8 or windows 10?
Hi everyone, some days ago i bought a surface 3 and now i'm planning to update it to windows 10. But if i do this do i risk to have problems such as incompatibilities or hardware problems (for example with displayport or capacitive pen)?
 
J

jtcb

Senior Member
Oct 1, 2015
92
6
Hi. I am trying to decide between the Surface tablet and other tablet like Samsung Tab S2. What are the pros and cons for both? I like Surface for it runs Windows and I can install anything on it. I try it in the Microsoft store but have a difficult time using it. Is it really difficult to operate Windows 8? I am completely lost. I have Win7 in my PC and it is very easy.
 
P

popodc

Member
Apr 27, 2014
13
0
I am planning to buy Microsoft Surface RT 64gb for work related. Can i run any *exe files in it? Is there a jailbreaking method still works now?

Is is possible to install the following?
- Adobe Photoshop
- Teamviewer
- VMWare Client
- Junos Pulse VPN
 
Jack Phoenix

Jack Phoenix

Member
May 24, 2014
42
9
Sony Xperia Z1 Compact
Nokia X
jtcb said:
Hi. I am trying to decide between the Surface tablet and other tablet like Samsung Tab S2. What are the pros and cons for both? I like Surface for it runs Windows and I can install anything on it. I try it in the Microsoft store but have a difficult time using it. Is it really difficult to operate Windows 8? I am completely lost. I have Win7 in my PC and it is very easy.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When you say "Surface tablet", what do you actually mean? Currently the Surface lineup consists of many products (the Microsoft Surface page on Wikipedia has an extremely handy model comparison table for both the non-Pro as well as the Pro lineups) and while the Surface 3 has an Intel Atom (x86) CPU, the older non-Pro Surfaces (Surface RT and Surface 2) have an ARM CPU. The practical difference here is that these ARM devices are more like "traditional" tablets whereas the Surface Pro devices (which have x86 CPUs) are more like traditional laptops.

As for Windows and its versions...that's subjective, but yes, I also found Windows 8 pretty hard to use and that's why I never ended up using it. Windows 10 seems to work well enough if you don't mind the fact that it's far from secure from a privacy point of view, but personally I'd try Ubuntu or some other flavor of GNU/Linux.

popodc said:
I am planning to buy Microsoft Surface RT 64gb for work related. Can i run any *exe files in it? Is there a jailbreaking method still works now?

Is is possible to install the following?
- Adobe Photoshop
- Teamviewer
- VMWare Client
- Junos Pulse VPN
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Long story short: don't buy an RT device unless you seriously know what you're doing. If and when you have to ask the kind of questions you just did, it sounds like you'll be wanting a Surface Pro instead.

But to answer the questions: AFAIK there is a working jailbreak method (see this thread on the "Windows RT Development and Hacking" section for details), but that probably won't matter to you, because none of the software you mentioned is free and open source software and thus you can't compile any of those applications yourself, but rather you have to rely on the vendor.
 
D

domboy

Senior Member
Jul 10, 2013
152
27
popodc said:
I am planning to buy Microsoft Surface RT 64gb for work related. Can i run any *exe files in it? Is there a jailbreaking method still works now?

Is is possible to install the following?
- Adobe Photoshop
- Teamviewer
- VMWare Client
- Junos Pulse VPN
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Jack Phoenix said:
.

Long story short: don't buy an RT device unless you seriously know what you're doing. If and when you have to ask the kind of questions you just did, it sounds like you'll be wanting a Surface Pro instead.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

To follow up what Jack Phoenix said, I really wouldn't recommend an RT device at this point unless you can get it for almost free. If you can't afford a Surface Pro, perhaps a Surface 3 might do, and is what has replaced the Surface RT in the Surface product line. It's got an Intel Atom (read: x86), so most of what you'd want to use it for is probably going to work. You'll technically be able to install and run "any .exe" as you put it. I can't speak on performance of something like Adobe Photoshop though. Technically it'll probably run, but it might be too slow to be useful. Though I've heard the new Atom processors are a lot better than they use to be.

Jack Phoenix said:
.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Please note that the Windows RT (aka Windows Store) version of the VMware View client is RDP only. No PCoIP protocol support. I use it on my Surface RT and it works well enough though, so it's better than nothing.

Any VPN that requires an SSL VPN client is almost assuredly going to be a no-go (eg. Cisco AnyConnect) as due to the API restrictions in Windows RT no vendor could ever release an SSL VPN client for it. I'm not familiar with Junos Pulse VPN, but out of the box Windows really only supports IPSec type VPNs with the built-in Microsoft VPN functionality from my understanding, though that may have changed somewhat with RT 8.1, I'm not 100% sure. Still, VPNs have been one of the gaping holes in functionality for RT.
 
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F

fgdn17

Senior Member
Dec 10, 2010
64
23
Surface 3

TarianDeath said:
I have tried using lili and unetbootin to get my usb's boot ready, but I haven't been able to get any of them to boot to the correct install screen on my Windows Surface 3 (non pro). I have gotten it to boot to grub menu once but that was the extent of it.
Another thing I am running into problems with, first lili says that my .iso partitions are corrupted and so I redownload, I have gotten 1 out of about 10 to be not corrupt then that 1 got corrupt after test booting on my desktop, not my Surface (which worked). So I don't know whether to ignore that warning or not.

My setup is a Windows Surface 3 (non pro) running windows 10, it has 128gig ssd, 4gb ram, 64gig sd, and I am using either a 4gb usb or a 16gb usb to install Android. For right now I just want to get it to live boot to test how things work.
I read somewhere that having a sd card in may interfere with booting but I took the sd card out and that didn't work.
I have secure boot off, I have tmp off.
Thank you for your help!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

have you tried their latest builds, ms surface patches are always being rolled into their git base as they
appear from developers and / or are back ported from Linux kernel...

see here:
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/android-x86/OJbgbKxa6ZA[1-25]
 
D

Dreamer_other

New member
Aug 8, 2016
1
0
Hi all!
There is some Microsoft Surface Model RT Model 1516. Password for windows is unknown.
How is it possible to get some data from its memory?
It's all legal. Relatives want to access the data of the deceased owner.
Thanks.
 
N

NoSkypeOnCM

Account currently disabled
Mar 6, 2015
51
1
If it is not encrypted, you might be able to in the near future, as secure boot is broken.
The only option without waiting is a chip-off afaik.
But: If it is encrypted (BitLocker) you are out of luck, as long as you don't have the recovery key.
You can only try to guess the password.
 
S

slayer.1942

Senior Member
Apr 7, 2008
76
1
Los Angeles
has there been any jail break or bios modification for surface 3(not pro) so far for two things
1) unlocking at&t carrier
2) enabling hyper-v so I can run vmware

thanks boys
 
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itsmemario

itsmemario

Senior Member
Apr 6, 2013
364
111
Are there still people actively working on "linux for Surface 2 RT" ?

Is it still "only" the bootloader for the 8.0 RT that got unlocked ? Or are all these kind of adventures discontinued ?
 
S

SPMelly

Senior Member
Dec 23, 2015
73
15
Hello. I just bought a Surface Pro and I have a couple of questions.
First, I'm uncertain what model I have. I just bought it new from Microsoft and it just says surface pro so I'm guessing it's the pro 2017 model. It's got an i7, 16gbs ram, and a 512gb ssd. It came with windows 10 too.

Second. I've been shopping for a case for it. Not just a sleeve but a protective case. I'm a fan of otterbox but their case doesn't hold a pen and it interferes with the magnet which already barely holds the pen so that's kind of a deal breaker for me. I've been browsing on Amazon for a while now and can't seem to find one that I'm happy with.

There is a UAG case that has a pen holder but quite a few people warn it makes the surface overheat. Then again other people say they don't have that problem so idk.

Anyone find a case they like?

Additional question. I read through searching that there's remix os you can dual boot but no touchscreen support. Has there been any continued development on that or is it dead? Or any mods really. I saw a bit of dev on the pro 3 but nothing much on newer models.

Thanks to anyone who could drop some knowledge on me.
 
InTheCage

InTheCage

Senior Member
Sep 12, 2008
77
14
Howdy, i purchased 2 surface RT (1) for a nickel and a dime, i expected some disappointment but experiencing allot. :) Everything is so slow, and all the time errors in the Store ( low speed internet connection, 0x8005... and some more ).
I must say i thought is was done updating after 124 (more or less) updates but as im writing it's downloading updates again. I have a very hard time installing apps through store, i finally after many tries got netflix and vlc installed. Netflix gives message that this version is not up to date, so it wont work, why the hell is it in the store? Or is do u get a newer version when your system is all up to date? VLC (and all other programs on the platform ive read) can add directories from nas, can't index. So, thats a bummer to.

So my 2 question are:

1. Does netflix still work?

2. Are there any apps that will build a library of music and or video from nas drive?

Bonus question

B. Is there a better solution for browsing the web than native explorer? (so many script errors)
I knew that in advance, just wanted a cool music player for my music collection on NAS.
 
N

nookin

Senior Member
Mar 24, 2012
263
11
Today I wanted to use my Surface 2 as a picture frame. It has been sitting by my desk for months, with powered plugged in. When I see it, the charging light is not on. I tried to turn on the Surface 2 but nothing happened. I reconnected the power a few times and the connector has light afterward. I let it sit for a few hours and try to power it on with and without power connected. Same black screen. I tried the 30s. And 30s + (power + vol for 15s). Still no difference. Are there any hopes?
 
D

Dialer777

New member
Jun 1, 2009
3
0
I have surface go with latest updates for windows 10. And I am having issues with onscreen keyboard and right bottom floating panel. Keyboard is typing wrong characters instead of displayed. I have Ukrainian and Russian keyboard along with English. Rus and Ukr keyboards type two different letters. English also sometimes buggie. It is not always. Sometimes those two letters are typed right. Especially after restart or updates. Sometimes after restart they begin to type wrong%((
Also when I call panel containing WiFi, Bluetooth and so on and then press the icon in tray again to hide it, it hides and then suddenly appears again. I have to touch somewhere on the screen to hide it:(
Also onscreen keyboard appears not always. Sometimes when I select some text field in Firefox it not appearing. I have to switch to Tablet mode to make it appear.
I have reseted windows, it helped, but then it began again.
Please help if some knows how to resolve this bugging behavior.
 
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DaneGleesak

DaneGleesak

Member
Oct 26, 2013
16
5
Dialer777 said:
I have surface go with latest updates for windows 10. And I am having issues with onscreen keyboard and right bottom floating panel. Keyboard is typing wrong characters instead of displayed. I have Ukrainian and Russian keyboard along with English. Rus and Ukr keyboards type two different letters. English also sometimes buggie. It is not always. Sometimes those two letters are typed right. Especially after restart or updates. Sometimes after restart they begin to type wrong%((
Also when I call panel containing WiFi, Bluetooth and so on and then press the icon in tray again to hide it, it hides and then suddenly appears again. I have to touch somewhere on the screen to hide it:(
Also onscreen keyboard appears not always. Sometimes when I select some text field in Firefox it not appearing. I have to switch to Tablet mode to make it appear.
I have reseted windows, it helped, but then it began again.
Please help if some knows how to resolve this bugging behavior.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you install windows directly from the windows 10 installer? or did you use the Image for Surface Go?
 
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    -Falco
    -Falco
    Ask questions for the Microsoft surface and only the Microsoft surface go here. They can range from hardware to software questions. Please try not to repeat questions. And please answer them in a nice way. Don't put people down because they don't know how to create a folder or something simple. and DON'T SAY GOOGLE IT!

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    Samsung galaxy s2
    Rom: Jedi knight 6
    kernel: Jedi kernel 2
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    GoodDayToDie
    You know, with all due respect to your chronic illnesses and such, the "android on RT" question could have been answered a lot faster by search than by making the post; they've been asked, and answered, so many times it's absurd. The questions about media players and such have at least the virtue of thinking we might know something that all the reviewers online don't, but that's not much of a virtue when it, too, has been discussed to death already.

    Look at it from our perspective: these are questions that we long-time members see over and over again, dozens of times in this forum alone. Often, even in the same thread! So yeah, we get tired of giving the same answers over and over, and to have somebody ask yet again, the assumption that they clearly haven't even tried to save us (not to mention themselves) some time with basic research is very easy to make. Yeah, the forum search feature is a miserable pile of fail, but xda-devs is very well indexed by Google, Bing, etc. and you can easily answer questions by checking there. The Bing search for Android "Surface RT" site:xda-developers.com gives almost 12 thousand results, and I can answer a few of your questions just reading the list without even clicking the links.

    Before you (or any other newbie) post on a site like this, bear in mind that there's basically four types of responses you're likely to get: noobs who don't know anything either, people who know and are willing to take the time away from working with other hackers/developers/experts to write you an answer, people who know that the answer can be found by search (they may be experts or total noobs or anything in between) and will tell you so, and no answer at all (which can be either because nobody knows or nobody can be bothered to tell you something so obvious). Basically, unless you think your question is both unusual enough and intriguing enough that people who know will bother responding to it, don't post it.

    This is not ideal, no. It's not terribly newbie-friendly, and it's not the optimal way to disseminate knowledge. But, this is an imperfect world. People have limited time. People have personal goals. People are not machines, willing to tirelessly spit out the same information day in and day out. At the end of the day, you should remember that XDA-Devs is a *developer* site. It's not a user site. The focus is on getting the most out of our devices, not answering the questions of people who don't even have what we consider to be baseline-level knowledge about the subject of mobile devices (such as the fact that ARM devices cannot be turned "into a Win7"; a question which makes about as much sense as if somebody asked if their sailboat could be made into an airplane or something).

    If you're looking for a site devoted to answering the questions ordinary people have about Surface, as opposed to one about experts sharing information on hacking a Surface, try something like http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/surface. Yes, linking to external sites which arguably compete with XDA is against the forum rules, but I'd argue that it largely falls under "post in the correct section" too; based on this thread, I'm not sure that you could be said to be *contributing* anything here, except the admittedly useful reminder that we can be a bunch of arrogant snobs at times. That's true, and it's something we should pay attention to, but it doesn't actually help you any.

    In fact, given how unlikely it is that the next person like you will read this post before asking for the 11902nd time, writing it is probably a net detraction from XDA's usefulness too. But it's already written, so I may as well post it and hope.
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    C-Lang
    arisgiann said:
    Thank you but the problem remains with the calender app. When i am trying to add my google account it says that sync is unavailable.
    Click to expand...
    Click to collapse

    First of all, is this a work account? If so, IT could be blocking it or something. Assuming it's not, go to your calendar on the website and try going into settings. Share the calendar to your Microsoft live mail address. Once that's done, sign out of GMail and go to your Livemail. Open the invitation to join, make an account, and just use that account to sign into your calendar in Windows ? :good:
    Long, complicated method, but should work!

    -------------------------------------------------
    Hit the thanks button if I helped!
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    C-Lang
    arisgiann said:
    Hi.
    I've tried lot of times to add my Google account to my RT but allways says that the details are incorect.

    Does anyone knows the reason for that?
    Click to expand...
    Click to collapse

    When you say Google, I'm assuming you mean GMail in the mail app or contacts in the people app. I've added mine and it works fine. However, you might want to try logging into your live account (I'm assuming you have one since you have a surface) and hooking up your two accounts there. To do this, go to live.com and click on your name on the upper right-hand corner. Then click on account settings. Login with your password again and go to permissions on the left-hand side. In the following screen click add accounts. There you can add Google contacts. For mail however, there are other ways to link.

    -------------------------------------------------
    Hit the thanks button if I helped! :D

    ---------- Post added at 01:07 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:58 AM ----------
    Wischm0pp said:
    Often, when I change the system volume using the volume rocker it kinda gets stuck into it. For instance if I press the Vol+ button it goes all the way up to 100 and the volume indicator won't fade away until Vol- is pressed. Also it doesn't seem to recognize any touch input while being stuck.
    Also it seems to be a software misfunction since I can't tell anything weird regarding the volume rocker. Seems to work normal on the hardware side.
    Click to expand...
    Click to collapse

    Hey, this is most likely a hardware problem. I had a similar issue with mine (only I could still change the volume with touch). Does it do the same thing with the touch/type cover? This would tell you if it's a hardware problem.
    However, I got mine replaced 'cause my headphone jack stopped working. The volume rocker was then fixed and has been fine ever since. Oh, and have you tried resetting or refreshing in case it is software? If you're going to get it replaced anyway (just call Microsoft, explain what happened and tell 'em you want it replaced, they'll do it for you) you may as well try that first.
    Hope this helped!

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    Hit the thanks button if I helped! :D
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    schettj
    everal said:
    software
    1. why does imap in the windows rt mail app works not correct, i think there must be a restriction for sync of max directorys, so the app is not usable, i missing many directorys from my german 1and1 mail hoster (the same on desktop pc win8 pro)?
    2. why does the surface rt go offline on 5% battery, shutting down os and no oppinion to start the tablet with the less power?
    3. why i cannot deinstall apps from windows rt app store?
    4. how i can global disable live titles?
    5. very great powershell v3, but i missing "powershell ise", will it be available in future?
    6. how i can switch my language from my default osd-keyboard between writing this words (from german to english), i found no key on osd for this?
    7. how i can change to different skydrive-accounts in metro-app (the mapped 7gb ist wrong, based on @outlook-com), becouse i have a another old account with 25gb, based on @web.de)
    8. does in future coming a fix which enable automatic osd-keyboard in desktop-mode?
    Click to expand...
    Click to collapse

    1) do you have the correct imap prefix set? How many folders do you have?
    2) probably because deep cycling the battery under 5% reduces overall battery life
    3) you can't? http://www.wpcentral.com/microsoft-surface-rt-tip-deleting-apps
    4) http://superuser.com/questions/496906/how-can-i-remove-live-tile-updates-in-windows-8
    5) possibly never, but I agree that would be awesome
    6) don't understand - keyboard should use your global language setting
    7) you could always share your bigger skydrive's account with your smaller skydrive account - that should make the space accessable from the smaller account. Do that in the skydrive web interface.
    8) ?
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