can't reset surface RT

[cooperplace]

my surface RT has slowed so much that it can't do anything. I want to reset it, but when I try this, it asks me to insert media. I made a recovery USB disk but when I insert it, it says that the media is invalid.

What should I do?

 

[jnjroach]

Make sure the USB Drive is formatted as FAT32....what did you use to create the drive?

 

[GreyFox7]

Assuming you made a recovery disk from Windows a while back.... It's hard to say at this point what happened.

You can download a Surface recovery image from Microsoft and make a new recovery disk.
Save the file to disk and Extract all the contents to a folder.
Format a USB drive Fat32.
Select all in the extracted folder and Copy
Paste that into the root of the formatted USB.
WAIT... Do not remove the USB
Eject the USB, if it fails eject it again, repeat until success or Reboot.

Some USB drives have hidden partitions which might need to be removed. Use Diskpart clean on it if necessary then format the drive Fat32.

Remove any other USB drives or devices and also remove installed micro SD cards.

 

[cooperplace]

Make sure the USB Drive is formatted as FAT32....what did you use to create the drive?

yes it's FAT32, and in any case making the disk formats it first

 

[cooperplace]

Assuming you made a recovery disk from Windows a while back.... It's hard to say at this point what happened.

You can download a Surface recovery image from Microsoft and make a new recovery disk.
Save the file to disk and Extract all the contents to a folder.
Format a USB drive Fat32.
Select all in the extracted folder and Copy
Paste that into the root of the formatted USB.
WAIT... Do not remove the USB
Eject the USB, if it fails eject it again, repeat until success or Reboot.

Some USB drives have hidden partitions which might need to be removed. Use Diskpart clean on it if necessary then format the drive Fat32.

Remove any other USB drives or devices and also remove installed micro SD cards.

actually I think I've already done all of these; it's FAT32, I've used 2 different USBs, there are no partitions; creating the recovery disk includes formatting it.......

this is driving me mad

 

[GreyFox7]

actually I think I've already done all of these; it's FAT32, I've used 2 different USBs, there are no partitions; creating the recovery disk includes formatting it.......

this is driving me mad

I know it can be finicky ... Took me several tries to get one to work the first time.

Have you tried the Downloadable recovery image? It's possible there's an issue with your device that leaves a self created recovery drive FUBAR.
What brand USB are you using?
Make sure to Eject, eject, eject... sometimes I think it's still writing to the USB in the background and yanking it out leaves it corrupted.

 

[cooperplace]

thank you for the replies, much appreciated. I'm using Sandisk USBs, and I always eject, not just yanking it out. I've tried this now about 20 times.

Yes I'm using the downloadable recovery image.

"an issue with the device that leaves a self created recovery drive FUBAR?"

Hmmm not sure what to think of that. I've tried to create the recovery drives on the device itself and on a separate PC. Get the same result both times.

I think the problem is with the inadequate instructions Microsoft provides. I think there's some essential step that the microsoft engineers regard as so intuitive that they don't need to include it in the instructions, but none of the rest of us know what it is. And I'm trying to work it out now.

 

[cooperplace]

thank you for the replies, much appreciated. I'm using Sandisk USBs, and I always eject, not just yanking it out. I've tried this now about 20 times.

Yes I'm using the downloadable recovery image.

"an issue with the device that leaves a self created recovery drive FUBAR?"

Hmmm not sure what to think of that. I've tried to create the recovery drives on the device itself and on a separate PC. Get the same result both times.

I think the problem is with the inadequate instructions Microsoft provides. I think there's some essential step that the microsoft engineers regard as so intuitive that they don't need to include it in the instructions, but none of the rest of us know what it is. And I'm trying to work it out now.

Assuming you made a recovery disk from Windows a while back.... It's hard to say at this point what happened.

You can download a Surface recovery image from Microsoft and make a new recovery disk.
Save the file to disk and Extract all the contents to a folder.
Format a USB drive Fat32.
Select all in the extracted folder and Copy
Paste that into the root of the formatted USB.
WAIT... Do not remove the USB
Eject the USB, if it fails eject it again, repeat until success or Reboot.

Some USB drives have hidden partitions which might need to be removed. Use Diskpart clean on it if necessary then format the drive Fat32.

Remove any other USB drives or devices and also remove installed micro SD cards.

I've checked: there is no micro SD card.

 

[cooperplace]

BTW, it doesn't matter if I try to refresh or rest: same result each way

 

[GreyFox7]

BTW, it doesn't matter if I try to refresh or rest: same result each way

Hmmm... That shouldn't matter Have you tried booting directly to the USB? With it powered off hold the Volume Down button and press power on, keep holding the VD until you see it booting.

I have been using these lately with 100% success creating recovery drives and WinPE Boot disks. https://www.amazon.com/Patriot-Memory-Pulse-Flash-Drive/dp/B01FY9H8ME/

 

[cooperplace]

I know it can be finicky ... Took me several tries to get one to work the first time.

Have you tried the Downloadable recovery image? It's possible there's an issue with your device that leaves a self created recovery drive FUBAR.
What brand USB are you using?
Make sure to Eject, eject, eject... sometimes I think it's still writing to the USB in the background and yanking it out leaves it corrupted.

well, you're on the money, I kept on trying the same thing over and over, and eventually it worked. Maybe it just didn't like the USB.
The RT is now working nicely, but this sure has been frustrating.
Thanks for all the great advice from people on this forum, much appreciated.

 

[GreyFox7]

Marking solved although perhaps we need a tag for bludgeoned to death.

Edit: I tried to mark it solved (repeatedly) but it didn't work. LOL