Surface X SQ2 update to Windows 11

Hi HSC Tech Team,

Thank you for reaching Microsoft Community. I understand that you are having trouble upgrading your Surface Pro X SQ2 to Windows 11. I understand your frustration and I appreciate your patience. The Surface Pro X SQ2 is one of the devices that is compatible with Windows 11, and it should receive the update through Windows Update settings.

Can you please check on this page and see if a Windows 11 Surface Recovery Image is available for your Surface: Surface Recovery Image Download - Microsoft Support

If yes, you can use the image in doing a clean installation of Windows on the device through USB Recovery to force the upgrade to Windows 11. This option will reimage the entire device and reload Windows including the drivers and firmware. It is the most complete form of Reset and it will wipe out everything on the device. You will need also a 16GB/32GB of flash drive that must be formatted into FAT32 prior to downloading the Recovery Image. I'll just include the steps and guide below incase needed.

However, please note that we do not recommend forcing the upgrade to Windows 11 on the device to avoid any possible issues and we recommend that for the Surface Pro X, you can just have the upgrade through Windows Settings. I understand that it had been 3 days already and still the device is not offered with the Windows 11 upgrade. Kindly check if the device still has enough space for the upgrade.

How to Download, Create and Use a USB recovery drive

To download the Recovery Image:

• You'll need another working device running on Windows.

1. Go to: Download the recovery image for your Surface

2. Sign in with your Microsoft Account

3. From the list of Surface devices available, select the device that you need a recovery image for
   Please note that while you will only be presented with devices that are currently registered on your account, you will also be presented with the option to get an image for a different type of device. If you try to use this option, you will be prompted to enter the serial number for that device

4. Download the recovery image using the button on the page

5. When the download bar pops up at the bottom of your screen, save the file in a location you will be able to find it.

 Format USB Drive:

• Note: Formatting a recovery drive will erase anything that is already stored on your USB drive. Make sure to transfer any important data from your USB drive to another storage device before using it to create a Surface USB recovery drive.

1. Insert your USB drive into the USB port of your PC.

2. From the desktop, open File Explorer

3. Tap and hold or right-click on the USB drive and choose Format

4. 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

5. Tap or click OK to erase the contents of the USB drive

6. Tap or click OK when the format is complete

Create a recovery drive:

1. On your Surface or PC, open recovery image that you downloaded by double-clicking it or right click then select Extract and then Extract all.

2. Select the USB drive you formatted earlier for the location and click Extract.

Use a USB recovery drive to reset your Surface:

1. Shutdown the Surface

2. Insert the USB recovery drive into the USB port

3. Press and hold the volume-down (-) rocker

4. Press and release the power button

5. When the Surface logo appears, release the volume-down (-) rocker

6. Surface will start the recovery software on the USB recovery drive

7. When prompted, choose your language options and keyboard layout

8. Select Troubleshoot

9. Select Recover from a Drive. Choose Remove Everything and Fully Clean the Drive. Recovering this PC.

10. If prompted, select Repartition the drives

11. If prompted for BitLocker Key, tap Skip this Drive

Kind regards,

Marrion

Hi HSC Tech Team,

We haven't heard from you, so we assume that your issue has already been addressed. We will not be monitoring this thread moving forward so, if you need further assistance, please create a new thread to discuss these concerns by clicking this link: Create a new question (microsoft.com)

Thank you for understanding. 

Kind regards,
Marrion