settings and window key inoperable

Question

I cannot open settings or window key for reset or get to "repair" windows PRO nor am I able to get windows 11 iso or get to recovery on USB or load windows from USB.

Answer 1

Hold the Power button for 30 seconds until the screen goes completely black and any lights turn off, even if it looks like it's just sitting at a black screen. This clears any stuck boot state before you try again.

Press Volume-Up held + tap Power to enter UEFI

If you cannot even enter UEFI, the issue may be hardware related.

A normal Windows 11 ISO is not always the best choice for Surface devices. Microsoft provides model-specific recovery images that include the correct drivers and firmware.

You'll need another PC to:

Download the Surface Recovery Image for your exact model.

Create the recovery USB (at least 16 GB).

Surface Recovery

Answer 2

Because Settings, the Windows key, and booting from USB are all failing, the installation is likely badly corrupted. The supported paths from this state are:

1. Try Windows Recovery Environment (no USB needed yet)
   Force the device into Windows RE and use built‑in repair tools:
   1. Turn the Surface off.
   2. Turn it on and as soon as the spinning dots appear, press and hold the Power button for 5–10 seconds to force a hard shutdown.
   3. Repeat this hard shutdown twice.
   4. On the third start, Windows should boot into the Recovery Environment.
   5. In Windows RE, go to Troubleshoot → Advanced options and try, in order:
      • Startup Repair
      • System Restore (if restore points exist)
        If these succeed, Windows should boot normally again and Settings/Windows key should start working.
2. If Windows RE tools do not fix it: reset the Surface from Windows RE
   If Windows RE is accessible but normal boot is still broken:
   1. In Windows RE, select Troubleshoot → Reset this PC.
   2. Choose whether to Keep my files or Remove everything.
   3. Follow the on‑screen instructions to complete the reset.
   On a Surface that still boots to Windows, the same reset can be started from Start → Settings → System → Recovery, but in this case Settings is not available, so Windows RE is the path.
3. If the device will not enter Windows RE or reset fails: use a Surface USB recovery drive
   When Windows will not start or respond, a USB recovery drive can reinstall Windows and return the Surface to factory condition. This:
   • Reinstalls Windows.
   • Deletes personal files.
   • Resets settings.
   • Removes apps that were installed.
   Steps (require another working Windows PC and a USB drive):
   1. On a working PC, go to the Surface Recovery Image Download page and download the factory recovery image for the exact Surface model.
   2. Create a USB recovery drive using that image as described in Creating and using a USB recovery drive for Surface.
   3. On the problematic Surface, make sure it is turned off and plugged in.
   4. Insert the USB recovery drive into the USB port.
   5. Press and hold the Volume down button, then press and release the Power button.
   6. When the Microsoft or Surface logo appears, release Volume down.
   7. When prompted, choose language and keyboard layout.
   8. Select Recover from a drive (or Troubleshoot → Recover from a drive). If asked for a recovery key, select Skip this drive.
   9. Choose Just remove my files (faster, for keeping the device) or Fully clean the drive (slower, for recycling/selling).
   10. Select Recover and wait while the reset completes.
4. If none of the above work and no recovery drive is available
   If the PC will not start, recovery options do not work, and there is no recovery drive, installation media must be created on another working PC and used to reinstall Windows completely. This is done by downloading Windows and creating bootable installation media, then booting the Surface from that media and reinstalling Windows as described in Reinstall Windows using the installation media.

All of these options are destructive to some degree. If important files are not backed up, use another PC and external storage to copy data off the drive (for example, via a command prompt in Windows RE) before performing a full reset or clean reinstall.

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References:

• Reset or recover your Surface
• Creating and using a USB recovery drive for Surface
• Reset your PC
• Recovery options in Windows
• Need to perform a reset of my PC, but settings won't open and the latest update hasn't fixed Recovery Mode - Microsoft Q&A
• Task bar search and Windows button not working - Microsoft Q&A
• Stuck in bitlocker key loop after entering the correct key.Can't reset or access Windows - Microsoft Q&A

Answer 3

I don't think my Last answer posted, so I'll try again. I try to. All of those things. Before I posted but thank you very much because I'm sure others will find that helpful, especially those links. I found on Microsoft Help for Surface website, While I was researching,

I did find success with other steps that I just finished. I was able to get to the. command prompt. as well as other things that responded by right clicking on the window icon on my taskbar. That got me thinking. So, I ran a couple new tasks in task manager with control. Alt Delete as administrator; these two commands seemed to do the trick: sfc /scannow and DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

I tried a few other things that Maybe weren't necessary, but. I did check. These as well. I'll go ahead and list for others that may see this post...

Windows Logs → System via right click on win icon

check for repeated:

• Disk errors
• NTFS errors
• DistributedCOM errors right when the machine hangs

also :

start ms-settings:

explorer.exe ms-settings:

net user TestAdmin Password123! /add

net localgroup Administrators TestAdmin /add

chkdsk C: /scan

wmic diskdrive get status

eventvwr.msc