QUERY: MICROSOFT SURFACE 2

I recently aquired this Microsoft Surface 2 RT Model 1572. it happens to be in mint condition for being a model made in 2013.
It has one major problem that I have been determined to fix. But everything I find & do turns out to be a dead end. It will not connect to the internet.
It will connect to my wifi but that's as far as it gets. It has Internet Explorer as a browser, but being outdated, it is apparently useless.
When trying to access IE, I get this msg. "This Page Can't be Displayed" I've tried various browsers with the same results. Everything else on the tablet
works great. Being that it's such a neat, clean little machine, I feel determined to make it work. I have milked the internet trying to find a solution with no luck.
I have reset it to factory specs. as well.

Perhaps someone here has been around one of these machines & hopefully would have an answer other than tossing it. Thanks.



"Where There's a Will, There's a Way"

You can try using Sidekick browser to see if that works any better than that out of date version of IE. I've never actually looked into what goes on in a Microsoft Surface device before but they sure are locked down heavily. You might need to download the install file to a USB stick to get it onto the tablet.


https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/surface/forum/all/surface-rt-browser/4f72afb9-433b-4232-b3f2-779f6b4e4c22

https://www.meetsidekick.com/download/

fink, I've read the article also. Tried sidekick & still got the same message. I also read an article titled JAIL BREAK.
whereas you can break microsoft's command over what done with the tablet. However, it was quite elaborate & maybe too risky. Probably could have done it years ago, but too old now dwelve into something like that now.
But will keep searching. Thanks, fink............

Windows RT is a different breed of Windows.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_RT

As far as I can see you should still be able to access a command prompt window in Windows RT. Find "run" and type cmd and then just for kicks see if you can ping a website. Just wondering if the problem is totally the browser or something else in networking not working.

in a command prompt window type

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ping www.yahoo.com

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hit enter and see what results or message you get.

Yes, RT is definetly a different breed.
Fink, not sure how to ping a website from cmd. And with CMD, it has be by administrator or nothing works. I fiddled with it the other day & noted that........

So....you're able to select YOUR wi-fi and enter the password?

I know nothing about RT...but can you access the firewall settings and see if IE is allowed outside access?

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not sure how to ping a website from cmd

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Click Start and in the run space

Type cmd

right click command prompt and choose "run as adminstrator"

in the black cmd window type ping www.google.com



https://youtu.be/JHWo6YTGYKM?t=54

Gotcha thanks. Will give it a shot.......

Hey fink, this going to sound stupid, but I forgot to ask you, what do I do after ping the url?
It reacted as it should but what next ?

What message did you see when you pinged.

Just round trip packets: Reply from:142.251.4.46. bytes = x32ms.
X 4............................................
Round Trip in mili seconds: Minmum 47ms.
Max...... 50ms


thats all...........

I forgot to mention, I can also access the registry which is the same as all MS registries.

I have seen multiple posts with this same issue, but none that had any actual fixes that worked.

I assume that you have Windows 8.1 (not Windows 8) RT installed.

Things to try:

1. Connect a USB to Ethernet adapter and see if that works. Note than not just any adapter will work. See the posts below:

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/...b-659318b78283

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/...a-ef040e3b6038

2. Update to Windows 10 for ARM. See the video links below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Dio73_-Y5U

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7I8OQKBrTA

Note that support for Windows 8.1 will end on January 10, 2023.

So now that we know you can ping it means the device does have a working network set up and the issue is far more likely a functional browser or lack thereof.

My searching has been unable to conclusively find if a portable browser run on a USB drive might work on a Surface tablet.

It's free and easy to set up. I'd give it a try with Firefox browser to see what happens.
I wouldn't hold my breath because it looks like Microsoft has really done their best to shut this system down as much as possible but let us know.

https://portableapps.com/apps/internet/firefox_portable

You can't run x86 apps on RT. Even if you were to "jailbreak" it to gain admin access, you'd still need to find apps that were specifically compiled to run in RT.

I Sure appreciate all the help here! One of the biggest problem, is that it's a 32bit system.
And it's also Windows 8 RT (I'm quite certain) . Being that HD is a special one with no easy access,
I can't just format the drive & start over. The only options available just resets. Firefox won't go either. I set up
Firfox portable on a thumb drive & also on the surface desktop. The HD is only 25.3gb & I've used over half of it
already. Windows.old contains1.97gbs & windows 10.gbs
I'm going to see if I can round up a version of win 8.1, try to clear the drive & hope to do a new install.
I was also wondering if by chance there might be something in the registry that I could remove & sever the restrictions?

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One of the biggest problem, is that it's a 32bit system.

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The problem is that it's on an ARM CPU, not an x86 CPU like a typical laptop or desktop.

That also means you can't just install Windows like a typical laptop or desktop. It's more like trying to install Windows on an Android tablet.

jdc2000 posted some links about installing an unofficial build of Win10 for ARM. I don't know anyone that's tried it, but that's probably the only viable option.

Ah, it looks like someone is working on an Otter browser port for ARM. That's worth a shot before attempting the whole Win10 route.

https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/a...arm32.4267593/

Thanks Midknyte; I'll check into that.....

I DLed the Otter Browser to a thumb drive & tried but no luck. The same old story: "This app can't run on your PC"

I am wondering about Diskpart? I've used it many times to set up HD's for reformating by using its "clean process"
I brought it up on this Suface & got to as far as "List Partition". But that's as far as I dare go for the time being.
Is there any other function of Diskpart other than the "Clean" of a HD?

And the registry. Anything there that I could do to disrupt the: "This App Can't Run on Your PC?

If we could get this thing to work, I think we would be a first. :))

Wikipedia > Windows RT

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Windows RT is a deprecated mobile operating system developed by Microsoft. It is a version of Windows 8 or Windows 8.1 built for the 32-bit ARM architecture (ARMv7).

First unveiled in January 2011 at Consumer Electronics Show, the Windows RT 8 operating system was officially launched alongside Windows 8 on October 26, 2012, with the release of three Windows RT-based devices, including Microsoft's original Surface tablet.

Unlike Windows 8, Windows RT is only available as preloaded software on devices specifically designed for the operating system by original equipment manufacturers (OEMs).

[...continues...]

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I don't see how diskpart would help.

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And the registry. Anything there that I could do to disrupt the: "This App Can't Run on Your PC?

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Did you try the "jailbreak" tool yet? You can't run third party apps otherwise. There is a whole FAQ at XDA. It doesn't look like it's been updated in a long time, though.
https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/r...-tool.2092158/

No Midknyte, I have not tried Jailbrake yet. I sorta shelved the project for a while.
I need to catch up on a lot of other stuff. I get so wrapped up in stuff like the surface thing
that I get way behind in other things. If I happen to get something good out of the project,
I'll post it here. Thanks to all for their input..............