If your Surface Pro (2017) isn’t working, or you’re ready to sell it, you can reset the tablet to its default factory settings using the official recovery image.
Surface Pro without a number is the successor to the Surface Pro 4 with updated hardware and over 800 new custom parts, and while this may be the tablet of choice to run Windows 10, eventually, you’ll need to restore the device to its default factory settings. It could be as a result of system failure, performance issues, or simply because you want to sell the tablet.
While you can always use the reset feature built into Windows 10, if your Surface Pro (2017) won’t start, or things aren’t working correctly, you’ll need to use the recovery image to wipe the system and reinstall the OS.
If you need to reset your Surface Pro tablet, Microsoft has updated its support site to make available the recovery image for every member of the Surface family, including Surface Laptop, Surface Book, Surface Book with Performance Base, Surface Pro (2017), Surface Pro 4, Surface Pro 3, and older devices.
In this guide, you’ll learn the steps to download the Surface Pro (2017) recovery image from Microsoft.
How to download Surface Pro (2017) recovery image
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Head over to the Microsoft support page, sign-in with your Microsoft Account, and you’ll need to register your Surface Pro if you haven’t done it already. If you have already registered your laptop, it will appear in the list. Simply select it and click Continue.
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The link to download the recovery image for your Surface Pro will appear, click Download to get the image. It’s important that you don’t save it directly into a USB flash drive, instead you need to save it to your Surface Pro or another PC.
Surface recovery image download -
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.
Create Surface recovery drive instructions
After you’ve completed the process, you can use the Recovery Drive with the recovery image to recover your Surface Pro to the default factory settings or to refresh your laptop without losing your files and programs. Microsoft has documented the instructions to recover your Surface using a USB recovery drive.
Alongside the recovery image, Microsoft is also making available the Surface Pro (2017) drivers and firmware in case you need to install them manually.
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].