Solved Going back to Windows 8.1 from 10

[plnguyen]

I'm trying to go back to Windows 8.1 from Windows 10 but it does not seem to work. I tried doing recovery through Settings. Reset PC resets it keeps it on Windows 10. Doing recovery gives me a blue screen error (see picture 1).
I also tried to download the surface pro 3 recovery image (SurfacePro3_BMR_10_3.4.1.zip) from Microsoft. Their instructions says to extract the .zip file into a USB drive and try booting from it. It gives me this black screen error (see picture 2).
I tried calling Microsoft support about this and they have no idea what went wrong and suggested I goto a Microsoft Store for support (none is near my house).

I got a feeling I'm overlooking something. Any help is appreciated. Thank you.

 

[GreyFox7]

The boot USB is formatted fat32?

 

[plnguyen]

Yes

 

[GreyFox7]

Someone before had a problem downloading the recovery image, redownloaded it and it worked.

There are some threads about repairing bcd but they are messy...
http://woshub.com/how-to-repair-uefi-bootloader-in-windows-8/
http://superuser.com/questions/460762/how-can-i-repair-the-windows-8-efi-bootloader

 

[ctitanic]

The USB needs to be bootable.

http://www.intowindows.com/bootable-usb/

 

[GreyFox7]

Whoever is writing the documentation is doing a really crappy job and that's understating it.

 

[plnguyen]

Hey everyone, I managed to boot to the USB drive with the extracted 6.4gb (SurfacePro3_BMR_10_3.4.1.zip) file. However, when I try to restore, it tells me I don't have a valid Windows disk. Sigh. Anyone else got anymore ideas? =/

 

[ctitanic]

Hey everyone, I managed to boot to the USB drive with the extracted 6.4gb (SurfacePro3_BMR_10_3.4.1.zip) file. However, when I try to restore, it tells me I don't have a valid Windows disk. Sigh. Anyone else got anymore ideas? =/

Did you read this:

http://www.surfaceforums.net/threads/going-back-to-windows-8-1-from-10.12278/#post-96440

 

[plnguyen]

Did you read this:

http://www.surfaceforums.net/threads/going-back-to-windows-8-1-from-10.12278/#post-96440

Yes I followed the instructions and made a boot CD. When follow on screen instructions but when I click on reset PC, it tells me I don't have a valid Windows Disk in.

 

[ctitanic]

Yes I followed the instructions and made a boot CD. When follow on screen instructions but when I click on reset PC, it tells me I don't have a valid Windows Disk in.

Do you mean bootable USB?

 

[plnguyen]

Whoops. Yes bootable USB.

 

[plnguyen]

I boot into the USB drive that has the contents of the image (SurfacePro3_BMR_10_3.4.1.zip). I'm now stuck at the "Insert your windows install or recovery media to continue".