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debit281's avatar
debit281
Level 2
11 years ago
Solved

Problem making USB boot for Surface Pro 3

I have tried to produce a bootable USB drive using Symantec System recovery v11.0.2 to boot my Surface Pro 3 in Win 8.1. The Symantec System Recovery program appears to have successfully produced a bootable USB drive but it does not boot with my surface pro 3. I can make a USB bootable drive with my surface pro 3 as part of Win 8.1 and it does boot to restore my surface pro 3 to the way it was received from the factory. The SSR made bootable USB I made was to a fat32. I copied an ISO of the 64 bit Symantec boot disk to my surface pro 3 and then used it to produce the Symanted System recovery USB in the Symantec System Recovery program. I did not select to make it customizeable. Do I need any additional drivers or knowledge to make a working Symantec System Recovery USB drive? Hopefully if I can get it to boot I could then restore from another USB flash drive that has an Symantec Image (backup) of my system in the event of disaster.

Backing Up
Backup and Recovery
Recovering
SSR 2013
System Recovery
Windows 8
  • debit281's avatar
    debit281
    Level 2
    11 years ago

    Yes I used the wizard in SSR. I did not know there was any other way to create a recovery USB drive for SSR. The wizard showed it completed successfully but it does not boot the Surface Pro 3. Is it possible that the USB drive needs to formated use NTFS rather than FAT32?

  • criley's avatar
    criley
    Moderator
    11 years ago

    I think this may be due to the fact that the Surface Pro 3 is UEFI based.

    Please refer to:

    http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH200293

    The following may help to workaround this:

    http://www.urtech.ca/2014/06/solved-how-to-enter-the-bios-uefi-on-a-microsoft-surface-3-tablet/

  • criley's avatar
    criley
    Moderator
    11 years ago

    By the way, if this is the problem (and I suspect it is), this 'limitation' is resolved in SSR 2013 R2:

    http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH225253

  • debit281's avatar
    debit281
    Level 2
    11 years ago

    I used Symantec System Recovery v11.0.2  which tech support said is compatible with Windows 8.1 and UEFI. I thought v11.0.2 was SSR 2013 R2 but I now suspect SSR 2013 R2 is newer (just came out this week?) and is release v11.1.0 in which case I may have to get the newer version if it will solve my problem. In v11.0.2 I selected under tools to Create a Custom Symantec Recovery Disk. Up pops a welcome to the symantec system recovery disk wizard. I pointed to the .iso file on my hard drive that I made for the 64 bit Symantec System Recovery system that I made from v11.0.2 since the Surface Pro 3 does not come with a DVD/CD drive. I then selected to create a Symantec System Recovery Disk on DVD or USB device selecting my USB Sandisk Cruzer. I did not select to save a copy of the custom Symantec System Recovery Disk (ISO file) but I did select to skip Symantec System Recovery Disk Customization. The program then worked a while and stated I had successfully created a Custom Symantec System Recovery Disk. I tried booting to this disk by starting my Surface Pro 3 while holding down the volume down button and it did not boot to the USB drive. I made one USB boot drive formatted for FAT32 and one for NTFS and neither works. In Windows 8.1 if I choose update and recover I can produce a bootable USB drive that will boot and recover my system to my copy of the original factory windows image so it appears a bootable USB can be created by Windows just not by Symantec System Recovery.

  • criley's avatar
    criley
    Moderator
    11 years ago

    Yes, R2 just released this week.

    Support are correct, 11.0.2 (2013 SP2) is compatible with Win 8.1/UEFI. However, there is this limitation as far as USB SRD and UEFI is concerned. This limitation no longer applies in R2.

    FYI; you can download a trial version of R2 here:

    https://www4.symantec.com/Vrt/offer?a_id=88749

  • debit281's avatar
    debit281
    Level 2
    11 years ago

    R2 appears to have solved the problem. Thanks for the help.