Microsoft has introduced a lot of tweaks and improvements on its Surface Pro 4, but no matter the changes or how perfect is the operating system coded, at one point in time, you will need to recover you tablet to the factory defaults settings, because of system failure or just because you might be thinking on selling your tablet to someone else.
However, depending on the circumstances, you’ll be able to use the built-in reset feature within Windows 10 to go back to the factory defaults without losing your data or deleting everything and starting fresh again. But if you can’t boot your Surface Pro 4 or things simply aren’t working the way it should, you might need to use the recovery image to fix your tablet.
Fortunately, Microsoft has updated its support page for its Surface line of devices and now users can download the recovery image for any Surface device, including Surface Pro 4, Surface Book, Surface Pro 3, Surface Pro 2, Surface 3, Surface 2, and Surface RT.
Downloading the Surface Pro 4 recovery image from Microsoft is free, but there are a few steps you need to follow.
Download Surface Pro 4 recovery image
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Head over to the Microsoft support page, sign-in to with your Microsoft Account, and you’ll need to register your Surface Pro 4 if you haven’t done it already. If you have already registered your tablet, it will appear in the list. Simply choose the device and click Continue.
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The link to download the recovery image for your Surface Pro 4 will appear, click Download to get the image. It’s important that you don’t save it directly into a USB flash drive, you’ll need to save it to your Surface or another PC.
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On “Step 3”, the support page will provide all the instructions you need to follow to create a Recovery Drive. The process involves connecting a USB drive, formatting it to FAT32, and copy all the unzip files into the drive.
Once you have completed the process, you can use the Recovery Drive with the recovery image to reset your Surface Pro 4 to the default factory settings or to refresh your device. Microsoft has documented the instructions to recover your Surface using a USB recovery drive.
Source Microsoft
Mauro Huculak is a Windows How-To Expert who started Pureinfotech in 2010 as an independent online publication. He has also been a Windows Central contributor for nearly a decade. Mauro has over 15 years of experience writing comprehensive guides and creating professional videos about Windows and software, including Android and Linux. Before becoming a technology writer, he was an IT administrator for seven years. In total, Mauro has over 21 years of combined experience in technology. Throughout his career, he achieved different professional certifications from Microsoft (MSCA), Cisco (CCNP), VMware (VCP), and CompTIA (A+ and Network+), and he has been recognized as a Microsoft MVP for many years. You can follow him on X (Twitter), YouTube, LinkedIn and About.me. Email him at [email protected].