Unsync surface pro 9 from laptop?

Question

I just bought a surface pro 9 (windows 11) that automatically synced to my laptop (windows 10). I would like to use my surface pro 9 as an entirely separate PC. How do I unsync it from my laptop and clear the contents/start over?

Answer 1

Hi Michelle!

Thanks for reaching Microsoft Community. We're here to help and let's work on this together.

With your query on how to Un sync, to Un sync your Surface Pro 9 from your laptop, you can follow these steps:

1. Go to the Start menu on your Surface Pro 9 and click on the Settings icon (gear icon).
2. In the Settings menu, click on Accounts.
3. Under Accounts, click on the option that says "Sync your settings."
4. Turn off the toggle switch for "Sync settings" to disable syncing between your Surface Pro 9 and your laptop.

To clear the contents and start over, you can perform a factory reset on your Surface Pro 9. Please note that performing a factory reset will erase all data and settings on your Surface Pro 9, so make sure to back up any important files before proceeding. This option reimages the entire device, including the partition on the hard drive. It is the most complete form of reset. Before you begin, you must have at least an empty 16GB/32GB of USB Flash drive and it must be formatted to FAT32 prior to downloading the Recovery Image. 

To proceed, please follow the detailed instructions in Creating and using a USB recovery drive for Surface - Microsoft Support.

Please let us know with how it goes. We look forward to hearing from you.

Regards,

RodelioP.

Answer 2

Thank you! I just got the surface pro 9 today, do I still need a flash drive?

Also there’s no toggle for me to turn my syncing off. The closest thing I can find is “one drive folder syncing” under windows backup and I’d still like to have that done.

Thank you!

Michelle

Answer 3

Hi Michelle!

Thanks for getting back to us and apologies for the delayed response as I have been out of office.

With your query, yes, you would need the flash drive to perform the reset.

If you want to turn off syncing for OneDrive, you can do so by following these steps:

1. Right-click on the OneDrive icon in the system tray (bottom right corner of your screen).
2. Click on "Settings" in the menu that appears.
3. In the "Account" tab, click on "Unlink this PC" to stop syncing your files to OneDrive.

Note that this will stop syncing all files and folders in your OneDrive account to your PC. If you want to continue syncing some files and folders, you can select them individually and choose to "Free up space" to remove them from your PC but keep them in OneDrive.

Hope this helps!

Regards,

RodelioP.

Answer 4

Hi Michelle!

We haven't heard from you in 72 hours, so we will consider your issue resolved. If you do need further help, please create a new thread to discuss your concerns through this link: Create a new question or start a discussion (microsoft.com) as we will not be monitoring this thread going forward.

Thank you for understanding.

Regards,

RodelioP.