Windows RT 8.1 Recovery Image Download for Surface RT and Surface 2
Microsoft releases Surface RT Windows 8 recovery image to help users to fix bricked Surface after trying to update to Windows RT 8.1. If you recall the software giant had to pulled the Windows RT 8.1 update, due to some issues affecting a number of users.
During the weekend I wrote a guide with a set of instructions to help you get your bricked Surface RT tablet up and running again. However, the biggest problem was that users needed to have a previously created a USB recovery drive or needed to find someone with a tablet to create the Surface recovery image for Windows RT.
download windows rt 8.1 recovery image
If you're able to use your Surface or you have another Windows 11 PC, visit our Download a recovery image for your Surface page. From there, select your Surface and download a recovery image .zip file for the device you selected.
If you're able to use your Surface or you have another Windows 10 device, visit our Download a recovery image for your Surface page. From there, select your Surface and download a recovery image .zip file for the device you selected.
KickThatComputer found a temporary fix, requiring users to create a bootable USB drive, go into the command prompt, and type in "bootrec /rebuildbcd" at the C prompt. However Microsoft has released a Surface RT recovery image for Windows RT weighing in at 3.7 GB. As with the previous fix, Microsoft instructs customers to create a bootable FAT32-based USB drive, then copy the contents of the recovery image to the USB Flash drive.
Reports regarding the initial problem span Surface RT and third-party Windows RT tablets, but Microsoft's new recovery image option should work on the latter as well. So far there's no word on when Windows RT 8.1 will return to Microsoft Store. Meanwhile, below are the instructions to fix startup error 0xc000000d:
1) Download the recovery drive files. a) Go to b) In the Search box enter Surface RT Recovery and the press Enter. c) Tap or click on Surface RT Recovery in the search results and follow the instructions on the screen to download.2) When the download is complete, create the Surface USB recovery drive. a) Insert your USB drive into the USB port of your PC. b) From the desktop, open File Explorer. c) Tap and Hold or right-click on the USB drive and choose Format. d) Select FAT32 as the file system and enter a Volume label to name the USB drive, such as RECOVERY, and then tap or click Start. e) Tap or click OK to erase the contents of the USB drive. f) Tap or click OK when the format is complete. g) Copy the contents of the recovery image you downloaded to the USB flash drive.
I mentioned this recovery image previously in Tip: Be Prepared to Recover Your Surface Pro 3 No Matter What Happens. At the time, I thought these recovery images were only made available to Surface Pro devices. But as it turns out, they are also available for Surface RT, Surface 2, and Surface 3. So no matter which Surface you own, you can take advantage of this download should you need it.
An instruction PDF is made available alongside the RT recovery image, but in gist, this is the process to get back up and running again: A) Create a bootable flash drive and copy the recovery image to it; B) Fix the bootloader using /bootrec; C) Inside of Windows itself, use 'diskpart' to prepare the proper disk partition and then use another command to copy the recovery image over to it; D) Reboot and let the 8.1 update install.
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I use different Recovery Images for different regions with Win 8.0RT and Win 8.1RT, find & download ready custom images and trying to boot from... Use USB flash-drive 2.0 and 3.0 (different sizes 8 Gb, 32 Gb)
The system image is an important file stored on a dedicated recovery partition to restore or reset your computer. The recovery image can be used as a restore point for your system. If your computer runs into problems like partition loss or system crash, the recovery image can help you revert the OS to its normal state.
Step 1. Make sure that your Surface is turned on and plugged in, and insert the USB drive into the ports before you start creating the Surface Pro recovery image. If possible, we recommend you use a USB 3.0 drive.
Step 6. Now, double click the recovery_rd.img folder you just downloaded, press Ctrl + A keys to select all the files inside the recovery image folder, right-click them and select Copy.
Once done, make sure you Safely eject the USB drive from the taskbar. Then you can boot your Surface from the USB recovery drive and perform a reset/refresh of your system with the image.
Where to download Surface recovery images? How to create a Surface recovery USB drive and use it to reset the Surface? All these answers have been illustrated in the given post. In addition, we also provide solutions to fix the Surface recovery USB drive not working issue.
If you have any other questions about the Microsoft Surface recovery image topic, please leave them down in the comment area. Well, you can send us an email via [email protected] when you have difficulty formatting the USB drive with MiniTool Partition Wizard.
As of today, the updater is still offline, and Microsoft has not provided any updated information about a fix or when the updater will return. But it has posted the Surface RT recovery image, which can be applied to a bootable USB drive and used to restore the device to its original shipping state (with Windows RT 8.0).
One of the handier features of Windows 8/8.1/RT has been the ability to refresh the installation or wipe the installation clean without having to rummage around for installation media. This has been the case with respect to Microsoft's range of Surface tablets given that the recovery image is stored on the device itself which has made recovery a fairly straightforward process.
However, things may not always go according to plan. The recovery image on your Surface could become corrupted or perhaps you've deleted the recovery image from your device to free up additional space. The latter situation could be even worse if you end up losing the USB drive containing the recovery image.
Microsoft's standing recommendation has always been to create a USB recovery drive for Surface owners using the included tool in lieu of it actually providing downloadable recovery images. The sole exception to date was the release of the Surface RT recovery image when users faced problems updating to Surface RT 8.1.
Thankfully, you can now download the official recovery images for any Microsoft Surface from the original Surface RT all the way through to Surface Pro 3 at the Microsoft site. Make sure you login with your Microsoft account that you use to login on your Surface as that will help the page recommend the appropriate image to download in the first step. Then, it's just a matter of downloading the selected image, creating the recovery drive and using it to refresh or reset your Surface.
It is unclear as to why Microsoft has taken so long to offer downloadable recovery images but at least now Surface owners have another avenue of recourse should the regular recovery methods be unavailable. However, these images may be useful for those who want to try out the Windows 10 Technical Preview on their Surface whilst having the option to go back to Windows 8.
hello ,I have Surface RT ,Please assist how to update from current Windows 8.0 to 8.1 ?i tried downloading recovery image from MS support site after entering serial number of device , i got zip file named SurfaceRT_BMR_10.8.17.0_2.zipi reset the RT by using this file ,still it was samse OSplease assist how to get Windows RT 8.1 ?Br,Prince
I'm trying to help a friend with a Surface 2. Originally the issue he was having was that it would not power on even when plugged in. For some reason that started working fine and he was able to use it. It had sat idle for some time so he decided to catch up on Windows updates of which there were a fair amount. In the morning when he turned the Surface on he gets the Surface logo, then the spinning circle as if it's about to load but what he ends up with is a black screen. And ever so often. the system tray icon for wifi flashes a little but it's over on the left side of the screen and not at the bottom but a little higher up. Once in a while he gets a cursor with a spinning circle that disappears rather quickly. He has no important data so I downloaded the recovery image for this model from Microsoft and followed their instructions to create a USB recovery key so I could just restore it back to square one. I formatted the drive for FAT32 as they said. I follow their instructions to boot from the flash drive but it never does. I just keep getting the same black desktop and occasional flashing icon. The system had 8.1 on it still.
Thanks for the response and the link. I'll give it a try. I'll track down the instructions I used to make the recovery drive and post them to show you but I definitely do not recall some of these steps being in there and that may make the difference. The instrucions I found (which I believe were Microsoft) simply said download the image, make sure the USB drive is formatted for FAT32 and extract the image to the drive.
It uses the same steps to complete the upgrade with the last part being to recreate the full recovery volume. Some news sites are saying the MS image will revert you to 8.0, it does not. It will complete the 8.1 upgrade and then the extra steps are to recreate the on-device recovery volume with the 8.0 image which only applies if you rollback sometime in the future.
Possibly. Did you create the boot disk using the same type of machine? It might be that the recovery disk is missing the drivers that let it see the disk. If you do have a windows DVD then try booting with it and do a repair install as the DVD often has more drivers included that may help.