Corporate Microsoft Surface Hub 1 Factory Reset

Hi Serra, Gabriele, 

Please note that this is a user-to-user support forum. Moderators, contributors including external Microsoft employees cannot directly intervene in Microsoft product features or access back-end systems. My role is limited to providing technical guidance on reported issues, requests, or ideas. 

I understand that would be wonderful if we could reuse and repurpose electronic devices, giving them a second life instead of letting them go to waste. 

From what you shared, without the Surface Hub Administrator credentials you won’t be able to follow the standard reset path from the Settings experience. Additionally, the Surface Recovery Image download page isn’t the intended channel for Surface Hub v1 recovery, so the serial-number error you see there aligns with using a workflow that doesn’t apply to this device family. 

The practical next steps are contact the former company / IT admins to remove the Hub from management/tenant and provide the required admin access (and BitLocker key if applicable).  

In the meantime, please try to check out and follow this guideline Use the Surface Hub Recovery Tool for Surface Hub v1 - Surface Hub | Microsoft Learn  

I hope the process goes smoothly. Thank you so much for your understanding.  

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For a Surface Hub 1 that needs a factory reset and has no available admin credentials, use the built‑in reset or, if that fails, reimage the SSD with the Surface Hub Recovery Tool. The standard Surface “Recovery Image” page and serial-based downloads do not apply to Surface Hub 1.

1. Try a reset from Windows Recovery Environment (no admin password required):
   1. Ensure the BitLocker recovery key for this Hub is available. Without it, reset will fail.
   2. Power on the Surface Hub and wait for the Welcome screen.
   3. Use the physical power switch on the bottom of the Hub:
      • Turn it off while on the Welcome screen.
      • Turn it back on; when the Surface Hub logo appears and spinning dots show, turn it off again.
      • Repeat this power‑on / power‑off cycle until “Preparing Automatic Repair” appears.
   4. When Windows RE appears, select:
      • Reset > Local reinstall > Fully clean the drive.
   5. Confirm when asked Are you ready to reset this device? by selecting Reset.
   6. Allow the process to complete (can take up to several hours). Do not power off or unplug during reset, or the device can become inoperable and require service.
2. If the built‑in reset cannot be used or fails, reimage the SSD with Surface Hub Recovery Tool:
   1. On a separate host PC (64‑bit Windows 10 1607 or later), download and install SurfaceHub_Recovery_v2.7.139.0.msi from the Surface Hub Tools for IT page.
   2. Ensure prerequisites:
      • Internet connection.
      • USB 2.0 or later port.
      • USB‑to‑SATA cable (preferably one of the tested models listed in the documentation).
      • 10 GB free disk space.
      • The original Surface Hub SSD (or a replacement SSD supplied by Microsoft Support; third‑party SSDs are not supported).
   3. Run Surface Hub Recovery Tool on the host PC:
      • Start the tool and select Start.
      • Proceed through Guidance and select Next.
      • In Select image, choose 20H2 or 22H2, then Continue and Download image.
      • Wait for the ~8 GB image to download.
   4. When prompted, connect the Surface Hub SSD via the USB‑to‑SATA cable.
      • The drive must enumerate as “LITEON L CH-128V2S USB Device”. If it appears under another name, use a different cable (preferably one of the tested models) until it is recognized correctly.
   5. When the drive is recognized, select Start to begin imaging and confirm the warning that all data on the drive will be erased.
      • The tool repartitions, formats, and copies the system image. This typically takes about 30 minutes but can be longer depending on USB speed and antivirus.
   6. Reinstall the SSD into the Surface Hub and boot it. The device should start the first‑run experience so it can be set up as new.
3. If reimaging fails or the device remains unbootable:
   • Follow the troubleshooting guidance in the Surface Hub Recovery Tool documentation (for example, removing partitions in Disk Manager if error -2147024809 appears, or changing cables if the drive is not recognized correctly).
   • If the tool still cannot reimage the drive or the Hub cannot boot after reimaging, contact Surface Hub Support for Business and Education for further assistance.

References:

• Reset and recovery for Surface Hub (v1)
• Use the Surface Hub Recovery Tool for Surface Hub v1
• Surface Recovery Image Download
• We could not get pass this error message on the Surface Hub3 - Microsoft Q&A
• Creating and using a USB recovery drive for Surface