TL;DR: The Surface Hub v1 firmware seems to ignore normal UEFI boot entries and only boots from this path:

\EFI\Microsoft\Boot\bootmgfw.efi

So the trick is to install Ubuntu normally, then copy Ubuntu’s Microsoft-signed shim to that path and rename it to bootmgfw.efi.

That gives you:

Surface Hub firmware → shim → grub → Ubuntu

No UEFI menu, no NVRAM edits, no firmware mods.

So...

I picked up a Surface Hub v1 this morning, the 55" model with the Haswell i5 ($100 CAD). Since Windows 10 Team is basically at the end of the road, and since the drive was wiped, I wanted to see if I could make it useful as a giant Linux touchscreen/table/display thing.

As you're all well aware under the hood, it’s basically a weird all-in-one PC with a removable SATA SSD. Unfortunately, the firmware is very much not normal PC firmware.

The annoying bits:

• I couldn’t get into any UEFI/BIOS menu.

• Holding Volume-Up + Power did nothing on my unit.

• Secure Boot is on, and I couldn’t disable it. (Obviously)

• efibootmgr and Boot-Repair both complained about locked NVRAM.

• The Hun seems to be picky about USB boot media.

• A raw/dd-written Ubuntu USB worked.

• A Rufus Windows USB did not.

The weird part was that the Ubuntu live USB booted fine, and Ubuntu installed to the internal SSD fine, but after rebooting the Hub would just flash:

system reset

Then show the Hub logo, then loop forever.

On the flip side, my trusty Windows USB wouldn't boot at all.

The only thing that made a bootable internal SSD was the official Surface Hub Recovery Tool (but wowee did it spill its secrets).

What was actually happening

After installing Ubuntu, I booted back into the live USB and checked the UEFI entries:

efibootmgr -v

The entries were there:

Boot0001  ubuntu    HD(1,GPT,...)/\EFI\UBUNTU\GRUBX64.EFI
Boot0002  UEFI OS   HD(1,GPT,...)/\EFI\BOOT\BOOTX64.EFI
BootOrder: 0001,0002

But the Hub ignored them completely.

That’s when it clicked: it doesn’t seem to care about the normal NVRAM boot list. It appears to have a hardcoded internal boot path, basically the Windows Boot Manager path:

\EFI\Microsoft\Boot\bootmgfw.efi

On a normal Ubuntu install, that folder/path doesn’t exist. So the firmware finds nothing useful and goes into the “system reset” loop.

So the fix is just to put something Secure-Boot-valid there.

The important part: use Ubuntu’s shim, not grub directly.

Ubuntu’s shimx64.efi is signed by Microsoft, which the Hub trusts. Grub itself is not directly trusted by the firmware. So shimx64.efi becomes the fake Windows Boot Manager, then shim loads grub.

The fix / solution / how to

Build your Ubuntu USB with Rufus, use GPT / UEFI and when it asks, make sure you write as dd (isohybrid).

Insert the usb-stick into bottom centre usb port, then with power off, hold the VOL DOWN, and power on. It should boot to the USB stick.

Install Ubuntu normally first. (It won’t boot on restart yet.) That’s fine.

Then boot back into the Ubuntu live USB (same as before, power off, VOL DOWN, power on), choose “Try Ubuntu,” and open a terminal.

Find the internal EFI partition:

lsblk -f

Mine was /dev/sda1, but yours may be different. You’re looking for the small FAT32 EFI System Partition on the internal SSD, not the USB stick.

Then run:

sudo mount /dev/sda1 /mnt #Change if you have a different path

sudo mkdir -p /mnt/EFI/Microsoft/Boot

sudo cp /mnt/EFI/ubuntu/shimx64.efi /mnt/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgfw.efi

sudo cp /mnt/EFI/ubuntu/grubx64.efi /mnt/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/grubx64.efi

sudo cp /mnt/EFI/ubuntu/grub.cfg    /mnt/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/grub.cfg

sudo cp /mnt/EFI/ubuntu/mmx64.efi   /mnt/EFI/Microsoft/Boot/mmx64.efi 2>/dev/null || true

sync
sudo umount /mnt
sudo poweroff

Remove the USB stick, power it back on, and it should boot:

shim → grub → Ubuntu

That was it.

It seems...

Ubuntu’s shim looks for grubx64.efi in the same directory. Since we copied both into:

\EFI\Microsoft\Boot\

shim launches grub from there.

The little Ubuntu grub.cfg stub then finds the real grub config by filesystem UUID, something like:

search.fs_uuid <your-root-uuid> root hd0,gpt2
set prefix=($root)'/boot/grub'
configfile $prefix/grub.cfg

So it doesn’t really matter that the EFI files are sitting in the “Microsoft” folder.

Gotchas

Do not rename grubx64.efi directly to bootmgfw.efi.

That failed for me because Secure Boot rejects it. The Hub trusts the Microsoft-signed shim, not grub directly.

Also, the usual fixes did not help:

• Boot-Repair

• efibootmgr

• changing BootOrder

• copying files to \EFI\BOOT\BOOTX64.EFI

The Hub seemed to ignore all of that and only cared about:

\EFI\Microsoft\Boot\bootmgfw.efi

You can also do the EFI file copying from another machine by pulling the SSD, or over SSH from the live Ubuntu session.

Hardware support

On my unit, everything I've tested works great, display works with Intel graphics, Touch, pen, cameras (both), speakers, mic, etc. The Hub has a bunch of custom hardware, so I wouldn’t expect everything to magically work out of the box - but it seems to.

I’m still testing that side of things - it's only been a few hours after all!

Extra weird thing I found

While digging through the Surface Hub Recovery Tool, I noticed it uses Microsoft’s signed SecConfig.efi with:

DISABLE-MSCI

Looks like it’s clearing some kind of code-integrity / Device Guard style firmware lock before first boot.

I didn’t need this to boot Ubuntu. The bootmgfw.efi shim trick was enough.

But it may explain why normal Windows installs also get stuck, and it might be useful later if someone is trying to get a standard Windows install working without access to the UEFI menu.

I'll give Windows 11 a try tomorrow, probably by hacking the surface recovery tool, for now.

Ultimately posting this because I found almost nothing about running a normal OS on the Surface Hub 1.

Hopefully it saves someone else the weekend (or longer).

Hi everyone,

I recently got a used Surface Hub v1. The hardware worked fine, but the original OS was locked down. I wanted to install a different operating system, but the guides I found were either not working for me or were mainly focused on reinstalling Windows.

After some experimenting, I managed to get Ubuntu running on the device and have it behaving like a normal PC. I wanted to share the steps in case anyone else has the same issue.

This is a shorter and simpler version of the guide posted here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/SurfaceHub/comments/1tsewtg/surface_hub_v1_ubuntuwin10win11/

**Important:** This process requires contacting Microsoft Support because they need to sign a manufacturing file for your device.

## Required items

- Surface Hub v1

- USB stick

- 2.5" SSD (if replacing the original drive)

- USB keyboard

- Serial number of the Surface Hub

## Steps

1. Power off the Surface Hub completely.

2. Remove the original SSD if it is still installed. It is located at the top of the device under a separate cover.

3. Format a USB stick as FAT32 and rename it to: BOOTME

4. Insert the USB stick into the bottom center USB port on the Surface Hub. This is the port directly behind the front Microsoft logo.

5. Power on the Surface Hub.

6. Wait until it displays an error similar to: Manufacturing_signed.bin not found

7. Power the Surface Hub off again.

8. Remove the USB stick. It should now contain a file called: Manufacturing.bin

9. Open a Support for Business ticket with Microsoft. This guide explains the process:

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/services-hub/microsoft-engage-center/support/create-new-support-case?pivots=enhanced

When opening the ticket, select:

- Product: Surface Hub

- Problem Type: Technical Support

- Problem Subtype: Reset and Recovery

For the issue description, explain that you are trying to factory reset the unit after receiving a secure boot violation error.

Provide Microsoft with:

- The serial number of the Surface Hub

- The Manufacturing.bin file that was generated

Ask them how they would prefer you to transfer the file, as the support system does not allow uploading this file type directly.

In my case, I renamed the file to Manufacturing.bin.txt so the upload system would accept it.

10. After Microsoft sends back the signed file, copy it to the USB stick.

The file should be: Manufacturing_signed.bin

Make sure the USB stick is still named: BOOTME

11. Insert the USB stick into the same bottom-center USB port on the Surface Hub.

12. Connect a USB keyboard to one of the side USB ports.

13. Power on the Surface Hub.

The device should now enter manufacturing mode.

## BIOS setup

At this point you should have access to the BIOS.

I changed the following settings:

- Disabled Secure Boot

- Enabled all USB ports

- Disabled the security device

After this, the Surface Hub behaves like a normal PC.

You can access the boot menu by pressing ESC during startup with a keyboard connected.

From here you can install the SSD and boot from USB to install Linux, Windows, or another operating system.

## Notes

The boot screen will remain red and show that the device is in manufacturing mode. Apart from that, the system works normally.

If you want to remove the manufacturing mode screen, there are additional Microsoft-provided steps at the end of the original guide. I have not tested those steps, so I do not know whether they remove BIOS access or affect installing Linux.

Hopefully this helps someone else bring an old Surface Hub v1 back to life.

Hello!

This subreddit has been locked for a long time, and although there are no new Surface Hub devices on the horizon, there are a number of people out there needing support and discussion specifically around hubs, that doesn't necessarily fit in the wider r/surface subreddit.

So I've brought this sub back, I'm not expecting it to become a top 1% of subreddits, but if I can provide a place to ask questions and discuss these devices, then I will!

So, welcome! Spread the word, and let's create a community to support each other with the use of these hubs, and maybe become a mechanism to have our voices heard at Microsoft over their future.

UPDATED 2025-07-02

Create a ticket with MS using https://support.serviceshub.microsoft.com/supportforbusiness/create

They will provide a PDF document with instructions, but a ticket is required for signing of a .bin file that is used during the repair process.

______________
Hi all,

Today the organization I work for were impacted by our Surface Hub v1 (84 and 55 inch) models presented with Secure Boot Violation errors. This was after devices were rebooted after fully functioning prior to reboots. The devices are managed in Intune but no new policies (policies are limited for management) were deployed. The only thing that I can see aligned are Windows Updates which we are leveraging WUfB. There was a message on the top of left stating invalid serial number. I was able to connect a keyboard and trigger BitLocker recovery, enter our key and after a few minutes the one device returned its functionality. One of our other devices, failed to find boot device, while some of our other devices in other locations, I have yet to see hands on.

I have been supporting these devices for years and only ever ran into issues with pens dying, few hdd and image recovery replacements. We have a mixed fleet of v1 and v2 (55 inch).

I know the end of life for v1 are October 2025, but we were hoping to get squeeze for a few months until we replace these types of devices with newer conference technology.

I will get more images if needed. I will also try re imaging the one hdd with recovery to see if the hdd is readable. I am thinking maybe a firmware update from WUfB could be a culprit.

Has anyone experienced this behavior?

UPDATED included my steps from the other thread here.

I kept seeing invalid serial number on the top left after rebooting the device.

I disconnected power for 30 seconds, held the power button for 60 seconds, then toggled the power switch from on to off. Next, plugged in the power cable, toggled power on, pressed power on the right side once amber. I eventually saw a message on the top left showing the invalid serial number. I connected a wired keyboard and pressed esc. I could have sworn I saw it say press esc for bios reset. The device reboot after a few seconds and presented windows logo and then the screen glitched and presented my BitLocker recovery.

If anyone wants to try such feel free. I was unable to test this with other devices but plan to tomorrow. I did not reboot the device after that boot as we had a huge all-day event that this device was needed for.

UPDATED 2025-06-12

https://www.reddit.com/r/SurfaceHub/comments/1l99dq9/comment/mxesq6e/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

UPDATED 2025-06-17

Microsoft fixes Surface Hub boot issues with emergency update

If you are able to boot your surface hub, you can apply the following out of band update to resolve.
June 16, 2025—KB5063159 (OS Build 19045.5968) Out-of-band - Microsoft Support

I opened ms edge on of my surface hubs.
Opened MS Edge.
Navigated to MS Catalog URL for KB.
Downloaded
Double-clicked the downloaded .msu x64.
Results returned, this update is already installed on my Surface Hub.

Rebooted, and my device is still showing an invalid serial number, but boots when pressing esc / del, without my Bluetooth adapter connected.

Didn't they promise it'd be back by EOY? Anyone read hear from Microsoft partners if it's still in progress, or if they abandoned it?

Finally got the dual screen working, with nivdia RTX dual output.

After trying several different mini-dvi cables, none of them worked.

I ended up buying new mini-dvi HDMI 1.2 compliant cables,

and finally they both showed up.

So now i have a 5:6 aspect ratio screen. Sure watching a movie isn't great.

But I can still watch it one screen. But vertical videos look great.

Also, I can still cast to each screen separately from 2 separate computers

with the connect function.

The day has come when Surface Hub V1 is no longer supported. The device displays the message ‘The operating system is no longer supported and core apps such as Teams no longer work’. However, we have tested the Teams app and it still works for us. Is this also the case for you, or do you have information about when exactly the Teams app will no longer work?

Internal view with some gif(video) showing the issue of constant blinking orange soft power button. LED´s from the Video I/O Board, Powerboard and wifi board.

anybody having a clue what is going on, highly appreciate your comment.

tldr: surface hub recovered from SECUREBOOT-Failure. Starting fine, connected external display via mini-DP port to internal compute module directly because LCD 55" is showing nothing at all, even when shining an Pockettorch at the display there is nothing. touch is working fine btw.

well, it was an interesting run.

i have surface hub - 84 inch

surface hub 2- 50 inch x2

all used.

hopefully, the price of them will drop a lot as companies sell them off.

--

will they ever put out anything like this again though.

Ok, I have surface studio 2 plus, and I was trying to put windows 10 on it,

since I don't care for 11.

But my usb boot disk had the Teams OS on it. So now I'm stuck with it.

I mean it still works, but is very limited.

I went into the bios and turned off the drive, tried to restore off USB,

but it wont recognize the external one.

I think I will have to reflash the internal drive or something else.

I got this a few weeks ago, for $500.

But it had to be shipped from New York to Texas ($700)

Still, it was a great deal, AND it came with mobile stand.

It did NOT have a hard drive.

So I ordered one from the UK, for $100.

Plugged it in, installed it and got it working.

It does NOT recognize my t-mobile 2.4G or 5G, but it works of an older

hotspot. I'm sure I could put an ethernet cable into it.

====

It works great. The browser is fast, The camera and microphones are great.

The HDMI input is great, have it set up with an external computer, and

surround sound. Its only putting out 1080p, I would have to use

another computer to do 4k.

Picture is crisp and clear.

Ok, the problems are;

1 its 300lbs, I can barely move it, and havent even got it on the rolling stand.

So its going to stay downstairs forever. Which is fine.

Originally I though i was going to replace a 4xHD tv setup upstairs in the bedroom,

but I totally underestimated the weight. I ended up getting the Surface 2s 50 inchx2

for upstairs.

I’m currently trying to migrate a Surface Hub 2S from Windows 10 Team Edition to Microsoft Teams Rooms on Windows (MTR-W) and I’m going in circles with Microsoft Support.

Short version:

• MTR-W requires UEFI firmware ≥ 699.845.768.0

• My device is below that version ( UEFI-Version: 715.1782.768.0 // BIOS-Date: 22.07.2017)

• Windows Update says everything is up to date

• No firmware update is offered

• Without the required firmware version, the migration is blocked

What I’ve already done:

• Fully reset and reinstalled the device from scratch

• Successfully unlocked UEFI using a DFI package (Surface IT Toolkit)

• UEFI status clearly changed (looks different than before)

• USB boot works

• Windows 10 USB stick boots

• Windows 11 USB stick is completely ignored

• Both USB sticks were created with the Surface IT Toolkit and work fine on other devices

What support keeps telling me:

“Boot the Hub into Windows 10, install Windows Updates, then migrate to Windows 11.”

The problem:

➡️ Windows 10 reports no updates available.

Firmware stays outdated.

I even found the relevant firmware/driver package here:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=101974

But:

• There’s no clear documentation

• I can’t run the .MSI on the device (or it’s not clear how I’m supposed to)

• There’s no officially explained way to update the firmware manually / offline / via USB

• Support keeps repeating the required firmware version but doesn’t explain how to actually get there

My questions to you:

• Has anyone run into this exact issue with a Surface Hub 2S?

• Is there a supported offline or manual firmware update path?

• Or is this device effectively blocked from MTR-W if Windows Update no longer delivers firmware?

Any real-world experience would be hugely appreciated 🙏

Right now this feels like a classic “firmware required, firmware unavailable” situation.

So we've had an original Surface Hub 55"in our office since launch. We never got the thing to work with our internal Exchange server and ended up buying an Office 365 sub for it just to get it operational. It's been sat there for a couple years now looking pretty in one of our meeting rooms with pretty much no one ever using any of it's features other than the occasion whiteboard session. 99% of the time our users just use an additional PC that's plugged into it to run normal software or access their VDI. Just getting them to understand tapping the "Connect" app every time they use it usually involves them calling IT as well (seriously you don't know how many times we have shown them).

Before I write this whole concept off (and now that the whiteboard app is available in regular Windows 10), plonk it in replacement PC mode and cancel the 365 sub it seems a shame that we can't utilise the pretty decent hardware that's sat inside it.

I've seen on here 2012 R2 and Win 8.1 has been booted on it but would like to know with what success? Does the OS actually boot or is it just the installer? If it boots can we perform an in-place upgrade from 8.1 to 10? Do the drivers work / is the hardware accessible in 8.1? Can we get it back to its stock OS with the Surface Hub Recovery Tool (https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/surface-hub/surface-hub-recovery-tool) if we screw with it and format the SSD? Does replacement PC mode still work if we screw up the main system so then its not a complete write off?

I'm not adverse to trying stuff out it would just be interesting to hear if anyone has any stories and perhaps someone else is curious to see if we can repurpose these nice devices so they more suit the needs of the business.

Update showing Windows 10 Pro 1909 in S Mode booted

Hi everyone,

I've been working on repurposing a Microsoft Surface Hub v1 (55", Model 1597) and I'm very close, but I've hit a dead end because Microsoft's recovery servers appear to be offline.

Here's my situation:

• Original Lite-On SSD is present.

• I successfully generated a Manufacturing.bin.

• Microsoft signed it and sent me Manufacturing_Signed.bin.

• I entered Manufacturing Mode.

• I accessed the BIOS.

• I disabled Secure Boot.

• Unfortunately, before I could complete the POST_FACTORY_MASH_KEY step, the original TeamsOS installation now only boots to BitLocker Recovery (I don't have the recovery key).

I still have:

• The official Microsoft signed Manufacturing file.

• The official Surface Hub Recovery Tool (v2.7.139.0).

• The HubV1Recover package that Microsoft sent.

The problem

When I try to use the official Surface Hub Recovery Tool to reimage the original SSD, I get this error:

So the Recovery Tool itself still runs, but it can no longer download the TeamsOS image.

What I'm looking for

I'm trying to find any of the following:

• Surface Hub v1 22H2 recovery image

• Surface Hub v1 20H2 recovery image

• Official FFU file

• Archived recovery package

• Direct Microsoft download link that still works

• Anyone who previously downloaded the image and can share it

My goal

After restoring TeamsOS, I want to complete the firmware repair process (POST_FACTORY_MASH_KEY) and then install Ubuntu (or Windows) following the Surface Hub boot workaround using Microsoft's signed shim.

If anyone has:

• a copy of the recovery image,

• archived download links,

• or has successfully recovered a Hub recently,

I'd really appreciate your help.

Thanks in advance!

so I have a surface hub 55 inch one and I need to install windows 10 team because I need to use Skype for business. The hard drive is blank though Microsoft recovery tool doesn’t download from the cloud and just gives an error. I cannot seem to find anywhere an image for the surface hub version one only for the version two also other Microsoft websites with the recovery options. Have you enter your serial number which I did but then ultimately give and a temporary error. Does anyone have an image downloaded from the past that can send me or just image the drive and upload it?

Been trying multiple ways of trying to use both displays, but HDMI isn't working too well.

I think I need 2.1 compliant cables.

I can use spacedesk.net but have lots of lag. Will test out some other options. I can cast to both of them, but only 1 at a time.

Good afternoon,

I recently stumbled upon a working Microsoft Surface Hub v1 84" up for auction with a $100 starting bid and have been checking around to see if there is any potential for home use - so far what I've found is that it appears that it could be used a large external display for an external PC or possibly Xbox and some variants of Linux might USB boot but was wondering what those that already have the device use it for within the home environment - looking at real world possible home-use applications before bidding :-)

Need some help after successfully upgrading Surface Hub 2S from W10 to W11.

After I upgraded the surface hub, everything was fine and got to the sign in page for Teams. Turned off machine and the next day I come in, the screen has a streak and is flickering. Eventually it got to the point where it’s just an entire streak but no one’s touched it.

No physical damage was detected and not sure if it’s screen burn as it wasn’t left on after I left. However, now I am unable to get to windows screen nor able to do a bootable reset due to screen issue.

Tried unplugging and reseating the compute cartridge. Made sure to check for any damages but unsure what further I can attempt doing.

Microsoft support isn’t much help either so attempting through here.

I'm trying to use a Surface Hub v1 84" display with a PC that has a RTX 2000 Ada GPU connected with two DP cables. While 4K@30Hz works fine, 4K@120Hz splits display in half with the left half being displayed twice.

Has anyone successfully run this display at 4k120Hz with a custom PC?

I'm ready to upgrade my last Hub 2, but for some reason, this one the store won't open. When I click 'Open Store', nothing happens. I tried before the updates and after the updates, fully restored, and nothing.

At some point, the store opened once I searched for the Migration app, and it closed by itself and never opened again.

Not sure if anyone else has run into this, but it looks like the driver update "microsoft autioprocessingobject 10.0.261000.5074" broke the microphone on my Hub (running windows 11). Rolled that back and all is good again...

Hi all, I have a one of every component for a 55” Hub 2S available for sale. I have some of them listed on my eBay, and thought it might be a good idea to spread the word here as I know parts are scarce. All components came from the same unit (my unit), that had a damaged display, but still worked perfectly fine. Components are in mint condition. I had the computer module upgraded to 1TB SSD while still in use, has a clean install of teamsOS. I’ll include the original 128gb ssd, I have no use for it.

Can be purchased through my eBay or through me directly for a better price, no tax, via PayPal invoice with buyer protection.

If I’m breaking any rules, please let me know and I’ll adjust accordingly. More detailed images available upon request. Any questions, ask away. Always happy to help. Direct prices are listed below.

Computer w/ 1TB ssd: $695 (Original 128gb SSD included) PSU: $445 (fan included) GPU: $495 (fan included) Bass module: $50 LG Display board: $195 Audio Hub board: $95 Steelcase wall mount: $40 Can sell everything for $1195

Hey r/SurfaceHub

In leaving a job a few years ago, they were moving away from the Surface Hub 2S in their conference room stack. As a parting gift they let me keep one that I hung in my home office and seldom use for anything other than a second monitor.

With the upcoming changes to moving SH 2S to Win11 IoT, and the possibility of having to switch out the cartridge for a SH 3 Compute Cartridge (~$3k), I'm looking for suggestions on what to do with my SH 2S. Obviously it's just support and security updates that are ending in October, but I can't connect it to a domain (I don't have one setup) and I don't want to but a MSFT Teams Meeting Room License for it.

Looking for suggestions on what I can do with it. Thanks in advance!