Unlock Surface Pro without keyboard?

Question

Hello I'm trying to unlock a Surface Pro without the keyboard attached. I work at a company that requires CTRL+ALT+Delete. We log into the surface with ANT group. Getting back to the subject, on the lock screen it says "Press and hold the power button, and than press the volume down button to unlock. (Or you can unlock by pressing CTRL+Alt+Delete.)"

However when i press and HOLD the power button and than press the volume DOWN button, or the volume UP button, nothing. I was able to get it to work once without the keyboard attached, but im not sure what magic took place to make it work. Could this be a driver issue that i need to reinstall? If so what driver? 

Thank you guys for your help.

Answer 1

on the lock screen it says "Press and hold the power button, and than press the volume down button to unlock.

Are you sure that message was meant for only your Surface?   E.g. on my Surface 2 Pro the equivalent of Ctrl+Alt+Delete involves the Power button and the Logo button.   I know that the Surface 3 overloaded the use of the Volume buttons because it doesn't have a Logo button but I haven't seen a description of the buttons for your machine.

Another workaround would be using Narrator but getting it started on newer Surface models would run into the same problem:  no Logo button and more overloading of the Volume buttons.

Also, I'm wondering if you can clarify what this procedure would imply on your machine, since it seems to suggest yet another way of overloading function via the Volume button but since my Surface 2 Pro Volume "button" is definitely a rocker switch I am very hesitant to try applying pressure at both ends of it the way this seems to imply should be possible:

<extract>

If you are in tablet mode, simultaneously press both the volume-up and volume-down buttons three times in quick succession (within two seconds).

</extract>

So, if you could press both at the same time that could make another possible combination with the Power button for simulating a Ctrl-Alt-Delete.   I have seen a picture of it and it still looks like a rocker switch to me but perhaps you can press yours in the middle and get an actual button effect that way?  Again, though I would definitely be hesitant to try applying force on both ends of a rocker switch.

HTH

Robert Aldwinckle

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Answer 2

does anything in

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/surface/forum/surfpro4/surface-pro-4-getting-past-ctrlaltdel-without/736e569f-675c-44b4-a097-274a16e7945b

help?

Answer 3

does anything in

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/surface/forum/surfpro4/surface-pro-4-getting-past-ctrlaltdel-without/736e569f-675c-44b4-a097-274a16e7945b

help?

In fact early on that reminded me that another possibility would be having a real On-Screen Keyboard (OSK.exe, which is possible I think) but then later in the thread I was also reminded that now Ctrl+Alt+Delete on it uselessly (in some cases) tells us to use the "User Tile" even when that feature is not available.  That's probably (another reason) why Hyper-V allows us to use Ctrl+Alt+End instead.  Who knows maybe "pressing" Ctrl+Alt+End using the OSK will help in this scenario too.  Heh.  For a moment there I thought that clicking an OSK Ctrl- had taken me out of the Lock screen, until I realized that I didn't have the Ctrl+Alt+Delete requirement in effect there.  Anyway I confirmed that the OSK can be made available (configured) for this scenario.  It remains to be discovered if the OSK has been made smart enough to understand that this is an instance where it should not be telling people to use a "User tile" instead.  

Then this idea, having an Accessibility tool already running, could mean that Narrator could still be available (at least to hear it say in this scenario "Double tap to activate" <eg>) provided it was configured.  It's just that Surface users who don't have a Logo button would have to have thought ahead enough to make sure it was running too.   This example makes clear how much better it would be having the Accessibility menu on the Lock screen not just the Login screen.   

https://aka.ms/Wafwll

FYI

Robert

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