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Upgraded Surface to RT 8.1 - Recovery Media

G-man

Member
If I have upgraded to 8.1 on the original surface, then I create a recovery media on a flash drive. Is this 8 or 8.1 when I restore?
 

oion

Well-Known Member
The recovery drive image is the factory settings, so for the Surface RT that means Windows RT 8.0 without Outlook and with IE10 (among many other differences).
 

fredoffsamee

New Member
I'm not sure this is correct.

-today I just got my surface rt (thxs ms for sales price of $199)
-after charging up and doing all the updates I made a usb recovery stick 3.44gb in size used space
-I then went to MS store and did the 8.1 RT update,and right away made another usb recovery stick and it is 1.99gb in size
-so i now have two usb recovery sticks and I'm guessing the first one has rt 8.0 and the second one has rt 8.1

***note*** I can confirm after you do a upgrade to RT 8.1 if you do a complete reset (like as if fresh from store) you Surface will stay with RT 8.1!
 
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ChemCat

New Member
Factory reset is now 8.1. inspired by this question, I just did a reset of one of my surfaces just to see what happens.
 
OP
G-man

G-man

Member
I have two identical RT's Do I need to create a Flash Recover drive for each, or can the single recovery in a pen drive be used for both?

Is it possible to create this on a DVD with an external drive?
 

oion

Well-Known Member
I'm not sure this is correct.

-today I just got my surface rt (thxs ms for sales price of $199)
-after charging up and doing all the updates I made a usb recovery stick 3.44gb in size used space
-I then went to MS store and did the 8.1 RT update,and right away made another usb recovery stick and it is 1.99gb in size
-so i now have two usb recovery sticks and I'm guessing the first one has rt 8.0 and the second one has rt 8.1

***note*** I can confirm after you do a upgrade to RT 8.1 if you do a complete reset (like as if fresh from store) you Surface will stay with RT 8.1!

Hmmm, thanks for the verification.

I'll have to update my article. Good to know.

Edit to add: Basically to retain WinRT 8.0 for any reason, like the ability to do the soft jailbreak and/or keep IE10, any new Surface RT owner should create the recovery drive BEFORE upgrading to 8.1 to retain for true factory condition. And then you can make another recovery drive AFTER upgrading to 8.1.

I have two identical RT's Do I need to create a Flash Recover drive for each, or can the single recovery in a pen drive be used for both?

Is it possible to create this on a DVD with an external drive?

Identical devices, so the same recovery drive will work fine. Not sure about an optical disc solution at the moment.
 
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fredoffsamee

New Member
-I wonder if you could go back to 8.0 using recovery usb stick as with updated firmware as part of 8.1 maybe it wouldn't work? (I'm to chicken to find out)

-As far as putting either 8 or 8.1 onto a dvd I don't really see why not....as when you boot using - vol and power button routine your then given the option to boot from usb stick or dvd....so simply copying usb recovery files (after you have made one) over to a dvd,should work
 

ChemCat

New Member
-I wonder if you could go back to 8.0 using recovery usb stick as with updated firmware as part of 8.1 maybe it wouldn't work? (I'm to chicken to find out)

-As far as putting either 8 or 8.1 onto a dvd I don't really see why not....as when you boot using - vol and power button routine your then given the option to boot from usb stick or dvd....so simply copying usb recovery files (after you have made one) over to a dvd,should work

No you cannot. Inspired by your post, I just tried.
 

ChemCat

New Member
-did you try using a recouvery usb stick you made when you had 8.0?
-when asked did you say to repartition drive?

-another option might be to use the image of 8.0 microsoft put out for when people had issues upgrading to 8.1.
Download Surface RT Recovery Image (Windows RT 8.0) - North America from Official Microsoft Download Center

You should try it. Life is full of risks. Jump in and join those of us who are adventurous. I just worked a 60+ hour week. I'm more interested in just lounging around.
 

fredoffsamee

New Member
Na...already had enough fun (read my post about 8.1 and external video color issue)...ill stick to 8.0 until someone who had done the upgrade to 8.1 can confirm there having no color issues using a external monitor (colors acting more like 256 then true colors).
 
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