Surface Pro 6 wont boot up OS or enter safe mode.

Question

I updated my Surface Pro 6 running Windows 11 two days go, and once I rebooted it gave me the blue error screen. After it got the error info it came to another screen saying the OS could not start properly, after pressing F8 it came to another screen saying it needed my Bitlocker key to access startup settings. Once I put the key in it gave me the startup options and I did safe mode, and it didn't boot up it did the same thing, restarting to the blue error screen an its a type of loop. Any help or advice would help with this problem.

Answer 1

Hi Asama Azim,

Thank you for reaching Microsoft Community and sorry to hear about the issue you encountered on your Surface Pro 6 2 days ago after upgrading to Windows 11.

It is possible that there were some interruptions during the upgrade which caused some corruptions on the update components and thus, causes the issue.

When you entered the BitLocker key of the device, were you able to get to the Choose an option screen of the device? If yes, kindly try first doing a Startup repair by selecting these options on the Choose an option screen: Troubleshoot > Advanced options > Startup repair then follow the prompts. If that does not help, try uninstalling the latest updates through the Choose an option screen also by going to: Troubleshoot > Advanced options > Uninstall updates. Try first the Uninstall latest feature updates option and if still device is unable to boot, try the other option which is the Uninstall latest quality updates.

If in case the issue persists after those options, I'm sorry but we may have to do a clean installation of Windows on the device through USB Recovery using the available Surface Recovery Image. This option will reimage the entire device and reload Windows including the drivers and firmware. It is the most complete form of Reset and it will wipe out everything on the device. You will need also a 16GB/32GB of flash drive that must be formatted into FAT32 prior to downloading the Recovery Image. See the steps below for guidance.

How to Download, Create and Use a USB recovery drive

To download the Recovery Image:

• You'll another working device running on Windows.

1. Visit the page to Download the recovery image for your Surface
2. Sign in with your Microsoft Account
3. From the list of Surface devices available, select the device that you need a recovery image for
   Please note that while you will only be presented with devices that are currently registered on your account, you will also be presented with the option to get an image for a different type of device. If you try to use this option, you will be prompted to enter the serial number for that device
4. Download the recovery image using the button on the page
5. When the download bar pops up at the bottom of your screen, save the file in a location you will be able to find it.

 Format USB Drive:

• Note: Formatting a recovery drive will erase anything that is already stored on your USB drive. Make sure to transfer any important data from your USB drive to another storage device before using it to create a Surface USB recovery drive.

1. Insert your USB drive into the USB port of your PC.
2. From the desktop, open File Explorer
3. Tap and hold or right-click on the USB drive and choose Format
4. Select FAT32 as the file system and enter a Volume label to name the USB drive, such as RECOVERY, and then tap or click Start
5. Tap or click OK to erase the contents of the USB drive
6. Tap or click OK when the format is complete

Create a recovery drive:

1. On your Surface or PC, open recovery image that you downloaded by double-clicking it or right click then select Extract and then Extract all.
2. Select the USB drive you formatted earlier for the location and click Extract.

Use a USB recovery drive to reset your Surface:

1. Shutdown the Surface
2. Insert the USB recovery drive into the USB port
3. Press and hold the volume-down (-) rocker
4. Press and release the power button
5. When the Surface logo appears, release the volume-down (-) rocker
6. Surface will start the recovery software on the USB recovery drive
7. When prompted, choose your language options and keyboard layout
8. Select Troubleshoot
9. Select Recover from a Drive. Choose Remove Everything and Fully Clean the Drive. Recovering this PC.
10. If prompted, select Repartition the drives
11. If prompted for BitLocker Key, tap Skip this Drive

I understand that you may have some important files on the device and since doing a clean installation would delete these files, we may try first retrieving the files through these steps below:

1: Connect a USB to the Surface

2: Boot device to Choose an option screen

3: Select Troubleshoot > Advanced options

4: Select Command Prompt

5: Select your account set up on the device if prompted

6: If prompted for the BitLocker Recovery Key, enter it

7: Once you have the Command Prompt window open, type notepad then hit Enter

8: On the Notepad window, select File then choose Open

9: It will open up the File Explorer window

10: Navigate to the files that you want to recover

11: Right-click on the files then select Send to

12: Select the USB drive

Kind regards,

Marrion

Answer 2

I'd try and see if we could order a USB from them, lord knows what happens while we download or install. Everything needs to be Cor...repted, then fixed a long time.

Answer 3

Thank you so much for taking time out of your day to address my situation!

I have downloaded the recovery image just in case. Once I put the BitLocker Key it takes me to the startup settings and the only options it gives me are

1. Enable debugging
2. Enable boot logging
3. Enable low-resolution video
4. Enable Safe Mode
5. Enable Safe Mode with Networking
6. Enable Safe Mode with Command Prompt
7. Disable driver signature enforcement
8. Disable early launch anti-malware protection
9. Disable automatic restart after failure

I have tried all of these options and nothing has seemed to work. It wont take me to the Choose an option screen. If there was another way I could reach the uninstall updates and latest feature, I'm sure it would solve the problem. As for the recovery image, I did exactly as instructed, press and hold the volume-down (-) rocker, press and release the power button, when the Surface logo appears, release the volume-down (-) rocker. The Surface did not start into USB recovery drive. It went to the blue screen. If I press and release the power button while holding down the volume-up rocker it brings me to the Surface UEFI. Would I be able to do anything from there? If it helps any the error code it gives me before the BitLocker screen is, Error code: 0xc0210000

Answer 4

Hi Asama Azim,

Thank you for the response and sorry to hear that you are unable to boot to the Choose an option screen through those steps. For this, since you are able to go to the UEFI environment of the device after attempting boot to USB, try this instead:

On the UEFI screen, go to Boot Configuration

Make sure USB flash drive is connected

Under Configure boot device order, look for the USB storage option

Swipe USB storage from right to left

You should get a prompt stating "Boot this device immediately"

Click OK

The device should then attempt to boot from the USB then go to the Choose an option screen after select the language and keyboard layout

Let me know how it goes.

Kind regards,

Marrion

Answer 5

Hi Asama Azim,

We haven't heard from you, so we assume that your issue has already been addressed. We will not be monitoring this thread moving forward so, if you need further assistance, please create a new thread to discuss these concerns by clicking this link: Create a new question or start a discussion (microsoft.com)

Thank you for understanding. 

Kind regards,
Marrion