Surface pro 9 type cover and tablet mode issues

Question

It seems like there's a widespread issue with Surface pro 9 not entering tablet mode when the keyboard is disconnected.

Steps to reproduce this issue:

Remove the type cover from the surface pro 9

Expected behaviour:

The laptop should enter tablet mode

Current behaviour:

The laptop does not enter tablet mode

The on screen keyboard does not show up on clicking on input boxes

Workarounds:

1. After removing type cover, put the laptop to sleep and wake it up again
2. Fold the type cover all the way to the back so that it touches the back of the surface and then remove it

Additional information:

The device worked as expected out of the box - this problem happened after installing the latest firmware update from Windows update.

The surface app and windows is on the latest version

There is another question in the forums which has not received any reply either: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/surface/forum/all/surface-pro-9-wont-enter-tablet-mode-after/f2446401-9b15-4373-9f16-38792b731277

This same issue has been discussed on reddit as well:

1. https://www.reddit.com/r/Surface/comments/13vdv1o/surface_pro_9_tablet_mode_issue/
2. https://www.reddit.com/r/Surface/comments/13ftz9r/surface_pro_9_not_entering_tablet_mode_when_type/
3. https://www.reddit.com/r/Surface/comments/145mgqi/surface_pro_9_type_cover_issues/
4. https://www.reddit.com/r/sysadmin/comments/11r23w0/surface_pro_9_touchscreen_keyboard_not_appearing/

My question is, since this issue was first reported more than 2 months ago, why has there been no fix of this from Microsoft's side considering that SP9 is one of their premium flagship devices. This attitude is just unacceptable and is making people loose their trust in Microsoft as a company.

Answer 1

Hi Harshit Dwivedi,

Thank you for reaching Microsoft Community. I understand that you are having issues on your Surface Pro 9 where it does not enter tablet mode whenever the typecover is detached.

We would like to ask for a few more details on this for us to further isolate:

• May I know which Surface Pro 9 configuration do you have? 5G or Intel?
• What Windows version, edition and OS build is your Surface running on? To check, go to Settings > System > About and see under Windows specifications.
• Also, please provide us also the current firmware installed. Open the Surface app, select Device Information then take a screenshot of the details and share it to us here but please hash first or hide the serial number.

For now, please try first doing a force shutdown on the device by pressing and holding down the power button for 20 seconds to clear the hardware cache of the device. If issue persists, please run also the Surface Diagnostic Toolkit on the device to run some system checks and repairs.

Let me know how it goes.

Kind regards,
Marrion

Answer 2

Hi Marrion, thanks for the reply.

FYI - a lot of people are waiting for your reply on this thread - https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/surface/forum/all/surface-pro-9-wont-enter-tablet-mode-after/f2446401-9b15-4373-9f16-38792b731277

To answer your questions;

I have the Intel version of SP9 running Windows 11 Home and on 22H2 version (22631.1900 build).

I updated to the insiders build yesterday in the hopes of it fixing this issue for me to no avail - I was on the public stable build before that.

The firmware screenshot is attached below:

Answer 3

Hi Harshit Dwivedi,

Thank you for reaching Microsoft Community. I understand that you are having issues on your Surface Pro 9 where it does not enter tablet mode whenever the typecover is detached.

We would like to ask for a few more details on this for us to further isolate:

• May I know which Surface Pro 9 configuration do you have? 5G or Intel?
• What Windows version, edition and OS build is your Surface running on? To check, go to Settings > System > About and see under Windows specifications.
• Also, please provide us also the current firmware installed. Open the Surface app, select Device Information then take a screenshot of the details and share it to us here but please hash first or hide the serial number.

For now, please try first doing a force shutdown on the device by pressing and holding down the power button for 20 seconds to clear the hardware cache of the device. If issue persists, please run also the Surface Diagnostic Toolkit on the device to run some system checks and repairs.

Let me know how it goes.

Kind regards,
Marrion

Hi there!

I am one of those who posted about this issue on Reddit. Unfortunately, the issue persists.

Received no support from Microsoft whatsoever since Last time they offered to have the machine be returned but just too hassle for me.

I'm from Manila.

Hope you guys can fix this through some bug fixes or updates. I am absolutely disappointed with your aftermarket service.

Nico

Answer 4

Hi Harshit Dwivedi,

Thank you for reaching Microsoft Community. I understand that you are having issues on your Surface Pro 9 where it does not enter tablet mode whenever the typecover is detached.

We would like to ask for a few more details on this for us to further isolate:

• May I know which Surface Pro 9 configuration do you have? 5G or Intel?
• What Windows version, edition and OS build is your Surface running on? To check, go to Settings > System > About and see under Windows specifications.
• Also, please provide us also the current firmware installed. Open the Surface app, select Device Information then take a screenshot of the details and share it to us here but please hash first or hide the serial number.

For now, please try first doing a force shutdown on the device by pressing and holding down the power button for 20 seconds to clear the hardware cache of the device. If issue persists, please run also the Surface Diagnostic Toolkit on the device to run some system checks and repairs.

Let me know how it goes.

Kind regards,
Marrion

Hello Marrion_Y

This issue is still here. Can you confirm a fix is being worked on? I have a fully up to date brand new Pro 9 W11P and have tried everything.