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Windows 11/10 won't boot

CIIauC

New Member
Joined
Apr 14, 2026
Messages
1
I recently bought a used Microsoft surface pro 5 for school and it came with window 11 pro pre-installed. I wanted to download window 10 for less bloat and RAM efficiency so I booted the installer up using USB and deleted all the partitions of the drive to get an unallocated drive 0 thing. That's were I ran into my first problem, it would say "Windows could not update the computer's boot configuration. installation cannot proceed" so I tried to re-install it. But in the middle of deleting the partitions I decided to go back which permanently deleted them. So I thought there wasn't any going back and kept trying but with command prompts I found from YouTube and eventually switched to downloading Windows 11. But then it started failing and chat GPT (yes I used AI I'm not that smart with tech) but still didn't work. And to put it out there the command "bootrec /fixboot" does not work.
 
Well to begin with, there is nothing on the surface's drive left to fix. Just so you know, you got a little too aggressive when you wiped everything including some handy utilities, just so you know.
Just guessing, your Surface may require a driver to make the drive function correctly.
So far these are all generic things that apply to most systems.
Rather than reinventing the wheel, read this:
https://www.stephanadler.com/b/article/surface-laptop-boot-from-usb-full-story.html
Evidently the Surface can be a little picky with USB sticks too. Try another USB stick if the first won't work.
It doesn't look like Rufus prepared boot USB sticks work for Surfaces, again, just guessing.
I know Microsoft's online articles aren't the greatest, they are unnecessarily complex and confusing, use those for referencing.
I don't hold the Surface in high regard, so be it. Just use and follow the Surface instructions. It's your new hardware so you should learn all the quirks of the Surface.
Try following only the Surface dedicated instructions, including the Microsoft installation software and downloaded from them. Once you get a USB stick that will boot and load Win 10, put it away in a safe place just in case you need to do this again.
Good luck and come back with any questions on specific steps of the process.
*Peace*
 

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