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Microsoft Surface 2 Windows RT 8.1

Basilis
By Basilis
in Windows
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Hello to the whole community. I have a somehow stupid question to all of you.

Currently I have in my possession a Microsoft Surface 2 Windows 8.1 RT and since this is my only let's say my only PC I would like to know if it is possible somehow to change the operating system to something else or if it is possible to upgrade it to Windows 10. Below I am attaching some photos of the specifications.

system info.png

systeminfo2.png

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https://linustechtips.com/topic/984521-microsoft-surface-2-windows-rt-81/
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Their used to be a way to run Linux and andriod on one but, pretty sure Microsoft cracked down on the exploit to do so. Don't think anyone ever bothered to find another way to install a diff OS due to lack of interest and Microsoft really locking down those devices.

R7 2700x (4.3ghz), Gtx Titan Xp Galactic Empire (Watercooled), 2x8 Gskill Trident 3200mhz, Asus Crosshair VII Hero Wifi, Corsair 900D, SAMSUNG 960 PRO M.2 256gb, Samsung 850 evo 500gb, 4x3tb 7200rpm Segate Barracudas in Raid 10 EKWB Custom Loop, Corsair AX1500i Power supply

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3 hours ago, Basilis said:

Hello to the whole community. I have a somehow stupid question to all of you.

Currently I have in my possession a Microsoft Surface 2 Windows 8.1 RT and since this is my only let's say my only PC I would like to know if it is possible somehow to change the operating system to something else or if it is possible to upgrade it to Windows 10. Below I am attaching some photos of the specifications.

 

The thing is those devices with RT are usually ARM devices, so good luck on trying to update the OS.

Personal Rig:

CPU: i7-11700K  | Mobo: MSI Z490-A PRO | RAM: 2x G.SKILL Ripjaws V Series 8GB = 16 GB  | GPU: ASUS GTX 1070 Strix (I know I need to upgrade) | Storage: Samsung 970 Evo Plus 250 GB, WD Blue 1 TB, WD Red 2 TB, and WD Red 4 TB | Case: Enermax Ostrog Black and White | PSU: EVGA 750GT 80+G | Cooling: Noctua NH-U12S in Push/Pull with Black Noctua Industrial Fans, 2 120mm Noctua Chromax Fans, and Corsair AF120 on the side panel | Display: 22" Asus VE228 1920 x 1080 and a 32" Samsung (of somesorts) 1920 x 1080 on a WALI Arm (I share displays/desk with two builds) | Mouse: Logitech M705 | Keyboard: Logitech K350 | Random: 90mm of CableMod RGB Magnetic Strips | OS: Win 11 Education x64 

32" Samsung CF397 1920 x 1080

Linux/test Box:

CPU: Ryzen 5 2600  | Mobo: ASRock AB350M mATX | RAM: 2x Crucial 8 GB DDR4 = 16 GB | GPU: Asus GT 1030 | Storage: Sandisk SSD Plus 120 GB, Samsung 970 Evo 256GB SSD, 2x 2TB Seagate IronWolf NAS Drives  | Case: Cooler Master N200 mATX | PSU: EVGA 400W | Cooling: Stock Cooler and 3x Cooler Master 120mm Fans | Display: 22" Asus VE228 1920 x 1080 and a 34" LG 43WL500-B 2560 x 1080 on a WALI Arm (I share displays/desk with two builds) | Keyboard: Logitech K270 | Mouse: Logitech M185  | OS: Ubuntu 22.04 LTS and Windows 10 Pro x64

 

13" Macbook Air M1:

CPU: Apple M1 8-Core and 7-Core "GPU"  | RAM: 8 GB DDR4  | Storage: 256 GB | Display: 2560 x1600 Retina Display | Mouse: Built-in trackpad and Logitech M557 | Keyboard: built-in keyboard and Logitech K480 | OS: MacOS Monterey

 

Laptop (Acer Pedator Helios 300 2017 edition) (Don't use as much anymore since graduating college and mostly using my Macbook and HP Elitebook for Work):

CPU: i7-7700HQ  | RAM: 16 GB DDR4  | GPU: GTX 1060 6 GB | Storage: Samsung 980 500 GB SSD and Seagate 1 TB Firecuda | Display: Acer IPS 15.6" 1920 x 1080 Display | Mouse: Logitech M557 and built-in trackpad (never use lol) | Keyboard: built-in keyboard and Logitech K480 | OS: Windows 11 Pro x64

 

Home Theater Setup

Computer: M1 Mac Mini w/8GB RAM and 256 of Storage (plus a external 500GB Samsung T7 for Plex) | TV:LG 4K - 55" UQ9000 LED | Speakers: Sonos Ray and 2 Sonos One SLs for Rear Surround | Media Box: Apple TV 4K | Consoles: Xbox Series S and Nintendo Switch | Mouse/Keyboard: Logitech K400 | HDHomerun Flex 4K and HDHomerun Flex Duo

 

Other Devices I use:

Phone: iPhone 13 Mini 128GB  | Tablet: iPad Mini 5 64GB LTE | Earbuds: Airpods 3 | Watch: Apple Watch SE 44mm

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49 minutes ago, This_guy1998 said:

The thing is those devices with RT are usually ARM devices, so good luck on trying to update the OS.

In case there was any doubt, the screenshot clearly shows it has a tegra 4 which is most definitely arm. That wouldn't really matter, there are plenty of linux distros for arm, but ms locked the tablet down...

Don't ask to ask, just ask... please 🤨

sudo chmod -R 000 /*

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Nope, it can't be done. You're stuck with Windows 8.1 RT.

 

The RT has a locked bootloader, which means that you can't change it to boot let's say Ubuntu.

It also has secure boot permanently enabled, which means that even if you could get to the stage where the device tries to load another OS, it will refuse to boot because only software signed with Microsoft's key will work.

And last but not least, the Surface 2 has a Tegra 4 processor, which Windows 10 doesn't support. You could get a GNU/Linux distro to run on it, but the other things I mentioned hinders that.

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