Today I wanted to revert my Surface RT from Windows 8.1 Preview to Windows 8.0 again. Lucky me I created a Recovery Drive before, so no worry about that. How to create a Recovery Drive is described here: Guide to create a USB Recovery Drive for Windows RT. This time I mention the steps to revert it back again.
You have the choice to Refresh or Reset your Surface. When Refresh your PC you don't lose any files. When Reset your PC all of your files are removed. Tost be careful!
Important warnings: Things you need to know before resetting Surface. After a reset, Surface returns to its factory settings.
-All your personal files, settings, and apps will be gone. You’ll have to set up Surface as if it were brand new.
-Windows and the apps that came with Surface will be reinstalled as part of the reset process, but you will have to reinstall Windows Store and desktop apps that did not come pre-installed on Surface.
Reset Surface from a USB recovery drive
- Open the Settings charm, tap or click Power, and then tap or click Shut down. (Or, tap or click the Power icon in the lower-right corner of the sign-in screen.)
- Attach the USB recovery drive to Surface.
- Hold the volume-down (-) rocker.
- Press and release the power button.
- When the Surface logo appears, release the volume rocker.
- Choose your language options.
- Choose your keyboard layout.
- From the BitLocker screen, tap or click Skip This Drive.
- Tap or click Troubleshoot.
- Tap or click Reset your PC.
- Tap or click Next.
- Tap or click Windows RT 8.1 as the operating system currently on your Surface to be reset.
- Tap or click No, keep the existing partitions.
- Tap or click Just remove my files.
- When Surface displays All ready to go, tap or click Reset.
Surface will reset back to factory settings.
Everything went fine in my situation. As long you have a Recovery Drive, you can revert to default in just a few minutes. Just great!
As mentioned in my blogpost before, Windows 8.1 Preview is available for download. I choosed to upgrade my Surface RT already, because You'll be able to upgrade to the final edition of Windows RT 8.1 when it becomes available. If you're currently using Windows RT, you won't be able to uninstall Windows RT 8.1 Preview. Just enjoy the new Windows 8.1 experience!
I prefer to create a USB Recovery Drive first. This is very handy when your Windows RT device will not boot properly. It can be used to recover back or repair your Surface RT.
Let's get update my Surface RT. First you need to install a Windows Update which will - after reboot - make the necessary connection to MS Store. After selecting "Download" the update process is starting.
Just wait till the update process is finished. There will be a few necessary restarts during the update process. In my situation it all went fine. After a few hours (didn't watch at time) it was finished.
Just great to have Windows 8.1 Preview ready on my Surface RT now! What I didn't expected is a 3GB more free space available then before (from 12GB to 15GB free space). How's that possible?
First experience seems very good to me!
Update 16-7-2013: If Windows 8 users decide to simply wait until the final version of Windows 8.1 is released, and bypass installing the preview build, the good news is that they won't have to reinstall their apps. Some more good news: Windows 8.1 is expected to use less hard drive space compared to Windows 8, thanks to Microsoft making the move to remove older and temporary files, along with improving NTFS compression. Source: Neowin.net
When you want to install Windows 8.1 (Preview) on a Windows RT device, but not sure how to recover back just follow this guide. It can be used for repair also, so having a USB Recovery Drive is always a good option! In my case I use it for a Surface RT 32GB.
To create a USB Recovery Drive for Windows RT, simply use the step-by-step guide below:
1. Plug in a USB drive with at least 4GB of free space to your Windows RT device (Surface).
2. While in Windows Desktop, open Windows Explorer, click Desktop and select Control Panel.
3. From Control Panel, select "System and Security" and then "File History".
4. Next, in the bottom-left corner of the window, tap "Recovery", and then select "Create a Recovery Drive".
The recovery wizard will launch and guide through, then it will copy the recovery partition to the USB drive. After that it's possible to delete the recovery partition to clean up diskspace on your Windows RT device (Surface). I didn't do that, just for sure..
With the recovery partition you can repair Windows RT anytime! When Windows RT will not boot, use these steps for repair:
Warning: Be advised that following these instructions will reset Windows RT to factory settings, which means that all data and settings will be wiped out! Proceed with caution.
1. Shut down your Windows RT device (Surface) and insert the USB Recovery Drive.
2. While holding down the "Volume Down" switch, press and release the Windows RT Start button. After a few moments, the device will start and loads the recovery partition.
Follow the onscreen instructions to reset your Windows RT device.
The USB Recovery Drive is very handy when your Windows RT device will not boot properly. It can be used to recover back or repair your device (Surface). Hope it helps!
New downloads available for TechNet or MSDN subscribers. Let's download the bits and start installing evaluations!
- Windows Client 8.1 Preview
- System Center 2012 R2 Preview
- Windows Server 2012 R2 Preview
- Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials Preview
- SQL Server 2014 CTP1
Source: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-US/
Good news, after many announcements yesterday at TechEd 2013 Europe, Microsoft announces Windows 8.1 Preview today during Build conference in San Francisco, CA.
You can go to preview.windows.com and download the update for your Windows 8 x86/x64 and RT devices.
You will be prompted to grab a standalone Windows Update install to prepare your system. When that update is installed - and your device reboots - you will get an immediate prompt to head into the Windows Store and download the entire update.
If you are a TechNet or MSDN subscriber you can download the Windows 8 x86/x64 ISO’s immediately. For Windows RT you must go to preview.windows.com to get it done.
Let's download the bits and start installing evaluations! Hope to upgrade my notebook and Surface RT soon :-)
