Outside of the usual schedule, Microsoft is pushing out today a new firmware update for its Surface Pro 3 tablet. However, today’s release isn’t just a regular update, this is a significant firmware update aimed to enterprise customers.
The release is labeled as “System Firmware Update – 3/26/2015” and Microsoft states the following improvements:
Surface Pro UEFI (v3.11.760.0) adds support for enterprise disk encryption, enhances the advanced configuration settings for device security, and adds configurable support from the operating system for provisioning scenarios.
However, the Surface Pro 3 update history only mentions half of the changes, according to the Surface for IT Pros blog, the pro version of the tablet also receives the following improvements:
Modifications to boot process: It is now possible to configure UEFI to allow the system to boot from alternate devices such as USB flash drives and PXE, without requiring Volume Down button to be pressed at boot time.
Advanced device security capabilities: Many customers have asked for advanced device security capabilities. To support such unique scenarios, customers can now selectively disable following hardware ports on the device: side USB port, docking ports, front camera, rear camera, on board audio, microSD card, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth. Customers can also choose to disable Boot from Network (PXE) capability.
OS Configurable Settings: To help large enterprise customers support their provisioning scenarios, Microsoft has added an interface to allow UEFI configuration settings to be managed remotely. In an upcoming update, we will be releasing a downloadable tool that commercial customers can use to configure UEFI settings on their devices.
Surface Pro UEFI update (v3.11.760.0) improves customer experience while installing the firmware capsule updates.
Improves performance of EFI applications such as third-party disk encryption software that loads before Windows.
Improves the reliability of the ESC key functions in pre-OS environments, such as Bitlocker Recovery screen.
Finally, the update resolve the scenario where sometimes the drivers would not load properly within the operating system, the device would function well, but the driver would show a yellow mark in Device Manager. This would prevent the drivers from loading when trying to attach a cover or plug in a USB device.
The March firmware update for Surface Pro 3 will download and install automatically, but you can always go to Windows Update to install the update manually.
Source Microsoft (link 1), (Link 2)
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 14 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 20 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].