How to get a recovery disk to boot on my Surface Pro 11th Edition, Snapdragon X.

Hi Dan,

Thanks for reaching out Microsoft Community Forum. I totally understand your concern on trying to reboot but you were stuck in reboot loop and you cannot get to the recovery boot screen. i'll help guide you throughout the process.

First you need a USB recovery drive made with Microsoft’s tool and also make sure you selected Surface Pro 11 (Snapdragon X), the USB must be formatted as FAT32. Lastly, use a USB-C to USB-A adapter if needed (Surface only has USB-C ports

Steps on how to Boot from USB:

** Step1: Force Shut Down the Surface

• Hold the power button continuosly for 20 to 30 seconds
• Then keep holding until the screen goes black and stays off

** Step2: Boot from the USB

• Plug in the USB recovery drive
• Then hold the Volume Down (-) button
• While still holding Volume Down
• Next is press and release the Power button
• Continue holding the Volume Down until Surface logo appears

It should now boot from your USB recovery drive

** Step3: Start Recovery

• Once it boots from USB:
• Choose Troubleshoot
• Then reset the PC
• And keep or remove files
• Then recover from a drive (clean install)
• Or use Command Prompt

Tips:

• Just make sure your USB recovery drive is for ARM (Snapdragon X) and not Intel
• Do not use USB hubs
• Plug the USB directly into the Surface

-If it is not working, try to use a different USB stick.

I hope this helps and works for you.

Best Regards,

Kelvin || Independent Adviser

Hello Dan,

Welcome to Microsoft Community.

At this point, you need to find another computer to create a recovery drive that is compatible with the Surface Pro 11 you are currently using.

Now, your Surface Pro 11 is constantly restarting, which means you can't perform any operations on it directly. I guess you might have referred to the information in the following supported connections, tried to force off your Surface Pro 11, and then restart it. But now it might be constantly rebooting in a loop:

Force a shutdown and restart your Surface - Microsoft Support

So, if holding down the power button for 20 seconds fails to end this cycle, then what you need to do now is to follow the guidance steps in the following support link. On another computer, first download the recovery image compatible with your Surface using the serial number and complete the creation of the Surface-to-specific USB recovery drive. Finally, use it to try to restore your Surface:

Creating and using a USB recovery drive for Surface - Microsoft Support****

The video in the link has complete guiding steps that can assist you in completing all of this. If your Surface has no hardware failures, then this is usually effective.

Editor:

It seems that you have carried out the relevant operations when I was writing the reply message, right? Could you make it clear to us what the last page you saw on the screen was?

Has this step in the video been achieved?

I have to confirm whether your Surface still has the conditions that can be operated at this time, and is this a problem with the USB flash drive. I might give priority to recommending that you get a new USB flash drive and then create a new USB recovery drive (provided that it is made correctly). If your Surface cannot be restored even with the new USB recovery drive, I would directly suggest that you send your device to the Surafce technical support team. You need to register the Surface and fill in the service order:

How to get service or repair for Surface - Microsoft Support ****Best regards, 

Ian-Ng - MSFT | Microsoft Community Support Specialist