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Windows RT Refresh - Diaster! please help

mdfire

Member
Ive been using my surface since launch with no problems. I was getting a few hang ups so I tried to do a refresh tonight. I dont know what has gone wrong but it is barely functioning now. Before the refresh I had 7GB free, now it is saying I have only 162MB. It keeps freezing requiring a reboot and at one point I lost the start screen.

Its saying I need 21 updates (including firmware) but when I try to download nothing happens.

Should I try to do the refresh again? Dont really want to do a reinstall
 

jnjroach

Administrator
Staff member
Look under you C: Drive and see if there is a Windows.old folder, if so delete it and then apply the updates and it should work. If not do a complete restore.
 

R0bR

Member
I think something is wrong with the refresh, I was having some minor issues with my Surface so I did a refresh and it was a fail. I don't think I had that much a variance in my remaining storage but all the Apps were stuck on "Installing...", my Start Screen would consistently get unresponsive and multiple reboots did nothing to help. I ended up just doing a factory reset which was not that painful since I don't keep any files local to the Surface. The reset was pretty quick, since I sync everything to my online account all my settings pretty much came back shortly after logging in. Then I just went to the store swiped down from the top, selected "Your Apps" and chose my Surface from the drop down (I have multiple Windows 8 systems tied to my account) then selected all the apps I wanted back. Of course had to organize all my Apps on my Start Screen, which I think took the longest amount of time, but everything was running well. Actually, I'd say that everything now is running even better than it did when I first got my Surface.

The complete restore I think is rather painless for the Surface RT since we don't have to deal with desktop Apps, except for Office but that's just a Windows Update. A whole different story for Windows 8, I would hope a refresh works for that version.
 
OP
M

mdfire

Member
Everything working fine this morning but I still only have 7.6GB of space left. I checked which apps where taking up space and there is a Youtube download app which says it has over 6GB. However, all videos are stored on an SD card:disappointed: Surely the app alone isn't that size?
 

bosamar

Well-Known Member
Everything working fine this morning but I still only have 7.6GB of space left. I checked which apps where taking up space and there is a Youtube download app which says it has over 6GB. However, all videos are stored on an SD card:disappointed: Surely the app alone isn't that size?
If it was me I'd try uninstalling the app, then check the space, and reinstall the app, check space again....
 

Omni

Active Member
I think something is wrong with the refresh, I was having some minor issues with my Surface so I did a refresh and it was a fail. I don't think I had that much a variance in my remaining storage but all the Apps were stuck on "Installing...", my Start Screen would consistently get unresponsive and multiple reboots did nothing to help. I ended up just doing a factory reset which was not that painful since I don't keep any files local to the Surface. The reset was pretty quick, since I sync everything to my online account all my settings pretty much came back shortly after logging in. Then I just went to the store swiped down from the top, selected "Your Apps" and chose my Surface from the drop down (I have multiple Windows 8 systems tied to my account) then selected all the apps I wanted back. Of course had to organize all my Apps on my Start Screen, which I think took the longest amount of time, but everything was running well. Actually, I'd say that everything now is running even better than it did when I first got my Surface.

The complete restore I think is rather painless for the Surface RT since we don't have to deal with desktop Apps, except for Office but that's just a Windows Update. A whole different story for Windows 8, I would hope a refresh works for that version.

I too had this on my surface when I did I refresh. I just left it for the evening and eventually it sorted itself out. I think it just tries to install all your apps at once and bogs the system down.
 
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