Can't install Windows on Surface Laptop 1. Gen - "serial number_Surface Laptop_Microsoft Corporation.Dfi not found"

Question

Can't install Windows on Surface Laptop 1. Gen - "serial number_Surface Laptop_Microsoft Corporation.Dfi not found"

Anonymous

I cannot reinstall Windows to my Surface Laptop 1. Gen.

I'm getting the "serial number_Surface Laptop_Microsoft Corporation.Dfi not found" error after I wanted to do a system recovery via the windows options when I could still start and use the Surface normally.

It doesn't start any other way either, I tried it with Rufus using a generic Windows 10 and Windows 11 image (which was successful like 2,5 years ago) - and the "Surface Recovery Image" method to get the stock Win 10 S OS.

(https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/surface/creating-and-using-a-usb-recovery-drive-for-surface-677852e2-ed34-45cb-40ef-398fc7d62c07) and (https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/surface-recovery-image) used.

I tried with the "SurfaceLaptop_BMR_151_16.302.2.zip" - the newer version and the "SurfaceLaptop_BMR_151_12.761.0.zip" - the older version.

I have access to the UEFI but disabling secure boot and changing the boot order didn't help either.

When selecting "Management" in the UEFI and "Install from USB" I'm gettin the error in Picture 1.

I watched a lot of videos and read a ton of forum entries but I couldn't discover a working solution for this problem.

At this point I'd be happy to have any working OS on the Surface, doesn't really matter which one :<

Any way I try to install a OS I get the error "serial number_Surface Laptop_Microsoft Corporation.Dfi not found". How do I get rid of it?

Does somebody know, how to fix this?

Elsewise I'm stuck in a restart loop where it tells me that the PC was unexpectatly restarted and restarts itself over and over with another error message, not booting normally. (Picture 2, German language)

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2 answers

Answer 1

Hi T A W,

Welcome to Microsoft Community.

I'm Hahn and I'm here to help you with your concern.

The error you're encountering, "serial number_Surface Laptop_Microsoft Corporation.Dfi not found," indicates that the Surface Laptop is failing to locate the Device Firmware Interface (DFI) file required during the recovery or installation process. This issue often occurs during a reset or when trying to reinstall Windows, especially on Surface devices.

If you have made changes to the UEFI settings, consider resetting them to the default settings and then retrying the recovery process.
Reformat the USB Drive: Make sure your USB drive is formatted as FAT32. If the drive is formatted as NTFS, it might not be recognized properly by the Surface UEFI.
Extract Files Correctly: After downloading the recovery image, make sure to extract the files directly onto the root of your USB drive, not inside a folder.

If you have access to another working Surface device, you might also consider using it to create and test the recovery media. If the issue persists, there might be a deeper hardware issue with your Surface Laptop 1st Gen.

Your Sincerely

Hahn. W - MSFT | Microsoft Community Support Specialist

Answer 2

Hi for everyone reading.

I don't exactly know what made the difference that I could get it to work this time, but it worked nontheless.

So I formatted the stick with FAT32 via the windows explorer options with 16kilobytes unit size and unchecked the quick format option. I tried using the the "SurfaceLaptop_BMR_151_16.302.2.zip" which is the "Surface Laptop 128GB M - Windows 10 Pro in S Mode Version 20H2" version. I made sure the stick was FAT32-formatted and extracted the zip-file.

I also tried using a new 32GB USB Stick, which might also could have made a difference since I used a 64GB stick before which was partioned.

Then I disabled secure boot and changed the boot order that booting from USB stick is the first priority, I reboot and it booted the OS from the stick.

I wanted to document the process for everyone stumbling across the error (including me in the case of needing to do it again) and the issue for me has been resolved.

I attached the screenshots for a better understanding.

Thanks for helping out.