README.1ST

Things to do before getting started

Identify Your Device

Confirm which device you have by looking at the Windows RT Devices page, this is important when performing a Bare Metal Recovery or creating a custom installation image with Windows Media Builder.

Some devices do use similar hardware but the operating system images are not interchangeable and although they may boot on the wrong device there will be numerous problems. For example, an image for a Surface RT will boot on a Surface 2 but many devices will not function due to incorrect or missing drivers.

Save the Recovery Partition

Windows RT devices shipped with a recovery partition on the eMMC which could be used to reset the device in the event of problems with the Windows installation or if personal data needed to be removed etc.

In situations where the recovery partition was lost Microsoft made Bare Metal Recovery images available for the Surface RT and Surface 2 but unfortunately the other manufactures do not appear to have made the same effort.

Saving the Recovery Partition from the device can be useful as a backup if its not possible to use an existing Bare Metal Recovery image or if there are issues with creating a new image manually or with tools such as Windows Media Builder.

Check Buttons

Before taking any action that could render the device unbootable all physical buttons on the device should be checked for functionality. Close attention should be paid to buttons that are required to Boot from USB, if the buttons that are needed are non-functional and the eMMC is cleared then the device would become unrecoverable until the buttons are repaired.

Boot from USB

Some users have reported an inability to boot certain USB drives on Windows RT devices, commonly these issues are reported on USB 3.1 drives and above however there have been some reports even with USB 2.0 drives. Boot failures have also been reported when the drive is connected to the device via a USB hub.

At the time of writing and in both cases such reports are inconsistent so it is recommended that the device is test booted from USB before making any changes that may cause the device to become unbootable.