Manually Install August Firmware Update-Win 8.1

[rstrube]

*UPDATE* See my reply below for the exact steps I used to install the August firmware/driver update on my Surface Pro running Win 8.1 RTM.

Hi Folks,

When Microsoft released the August firmware update they made it only available for Windows 8, and not 8.1.

Last August I installed the latest drivers and firmware from windows update (when running Windows 8).

I recently did a clean install of Win 8.1 RTM on my Surface Pro. After installing 8.1 RTM, windows update installed another firmware update (this one dated 6-2013), so I believe it actually installed an older version of the firmware on my Surface Pro - overwriting the August firmware.

Does anyone know if it's possible to manually install the August driver updates and firmware on Win 8.1?

Look at this link for instructions on manually installing drivers and firmware:

Deploying Drivers and Firmware to Surface Pro - The Deployment Guys - Site Home - TechNet Blogs

Thanks,

Rob

 

[rstrube]

I just attempted to manually install the August driver/firmware pack on top of my clean Win 8.1 RTM installation and it seems to work well. My issue was that after installing Win 8.1 RTM windows update downloaded an older Firmware and Driver package. This is because the August firmware and driver package was never officially released for Win 8.1.

At this point I can report that my Surface Pro is behaving much much better with Win 8.1 RTM. I would highly recommend performing these steps if you took the plunge like I did and installed Win 8.1 RTM.

Hopefully MS will release an official updated driver/firmware pack for windows 8.1 that can be installed via Windows Update.

Here are the exact steps that I performed.

0. Disable Automatic Windows Update - this is to prevent Windows Update for 8.1 from downloading the older drivers again. I set mine to notify me but not download or install anything.
1. Download the August Driver Pack from here: Download Surface Pro firmware and driver pack from Official Microsoft Download Center
2. Extract the ZIP file
3. In the extract directory, create a new file named InstallDrivers.txt.

For example I had C:\Users\Robert\Downloads\August2013SurfacePro\InstallDrivers.txt

4. Edit the InstallDrivers.txt with Notepad. Copy the following text into the file.

$ScriptPath = Split-Path -parent $MyInvocation.MyCommand.Definition

$files = get-childitem -path $Scriptpath -recurse -filter *.inf

foreach ($file in $files)

{

Write-host "Injecting driver $file"

pnputil -i -a $file.FullName

}


Note: the source for this powershell script is here: Deploying Drivers and Firmware to Surface Pro - The Deployment Guys - Site Home - TechNet Blogs

This powershell script will use the pnputil utility to install drivers that match hardware on your system.

5. Save the InstallDrivers.txt file.
6. Rename the file to InstallDrivers.ps1
7. Open PowerShell as an Administrator (note: make sure it's PowerShell and not PowerShell x86)
8. Navigate to the extract directory containing your InstallDrivers.ps1 file.
9. Execute the following command:

PowerShell.exe -ExecutionPolicy ByPass -File InstallDrivers.ps1

10. Make sure you reboot your Surface Pro afterwards.
11. Enjoy more up-to-date drivers and firmware on your Surface Pro running Win 8.1 RTM.

Note: You can then go ahead and install the updated Marvel Wireless Adaptor drivers. Check this forum for a link to this driver.