How to Force a Shutdown and Restart your Microsoft Surface

Posted on by Summa Lai

If your Surface stops responding, or hangs, use the following methods to force a shutdown, and then restart.

Be aware, though, that whenever possible, you should shut down your Surface in the normal manner. See Surface power states for ways to do this normally. 

Video: Force a shutdown and restart your Surface

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/videoplayer/embed/RE4EIYM?pid=ocpVideo1-innerdiv-oneplayer&jsapi=true&postJsllMsg=true&maskLevel=20&reporting=true&market=en-us

Note: This video is available in English only.

Find your Surface

Find your Surface to see specific instructions for that model.

Option 1

These instructions apply to the following Surface models:

  • Surface Pro (5th Gen), Surface Pro 6, Surface Pro 7, Surface Pro 7+, Surface Pro 8, Surface Pro 9 (all models), Surface Pro X, Surface Pro X (Wi-Fi)
  • Surface Laptop (1st Gen), Surface Laptop 2, Surface Laptop 3, Surface Laptop 4, Surface Laptop 5, Surface Laptop Go, Surface Laptop Go 2, Surface Laptop Studio, Surface Laptop SE
  • Surface Book 2, Surface Book 3
  • Surface Go (all models), Surface Go 2 (all models), Surface Go 3
  • Surface Studio (1st Gen), Surface Studio 2, Surface Studio 2+
  1. Press and hold down the power button until your Surface shuts down and restarts and you see the Windows logo screen (about 20 seconds), then release the power button.
  2. After your Surface restarts, we recommend running the Surface Diagnostic Toolkit to make sure your device is updated and working as expected. For more info, see Fix common Surface problems using the Surface Diagnostic Toolkit.

Option 2

These instructions apply to the following Surface models:

  • Surface Pro, Surface Pro 2, Surface Pro 3, Surface Pro 4
  • Surface Book
  • Surface 2, Surface 3
  • Surface RT

If you have one of these Surface models, use this two-button shutdown process to make sure your device turns off completely:

  1. Press and hold the volume-up button and the power button at the same time until the screen turns off (about 15 seconds), then release both.

    The screen may flash the Surface logo, but continue holding the buttons down for at least 15 seconds.
  2. After you release the buttons, wait 10 seconds.
  3. Press and release the power button to turn your Surface back on. You should see the Surface logo.

Ref: Force a shutdown and restart your Surface – Microsoft Support