How to Install Linux on a Microsoft Surface (Ubuntu 22.04 Linux Surface Kernel) 

Thank you for watching! What I have found after using this: Pros: Battery Life has been increased by a lot (especially in power saving mode) Increase of speed (a lot) Does not take long to boot Linux

This guide was been very helpful, as the official guide assumes you know how and when to proceed with installing the kernel. This is also going to be a very important project going forward, as millions of these devices would be headed for the landfill, as they can't be upgraded to Windows 11.

Oh yes! Finally! I've had this problem for so long and I've tried many ways to get the touch function to work on my Surface 2. I am so happy that I stumbled upon your video, very helpful and super easy to follow steps! I can now finally use the laptop properly! Thanks a BUNCH! 🙏

I have just installed Fedora 38 on Surface pro 4. Although I have not tested everything, so far it works. Thanks for the video!

For anyone who has trouble after the blue screen: If you press "Continue Boot" and it does not show the "View Key 0" and "Continue" screen directly after, do not panic, you can fix this easily. 1. On the black screen, select "Advanced Options for Ubuntu" 2. Select "Ubuntu With Linux generic" (the first option with that name is usually the right one). 3. Once on your desktop, open terminal and type "sudo apt remove linux-surface-secureboot-mok" (this will reset the blue screen basically) 4. Then reinstall it again (no need to restart your PC): sudo apt install linux-surface-secureboot-mok 5. Now restart your PC (you can type "reboot" in the terminal) 6. After the blue screen reappears, select "Enroll MOK" 7. Select "Continue" 8. Select "Yes" 9. Type the password "surface" 10. Select "Reboot" 11. Follow the rest of the video's tutorial from 11:04 onward Note: If you install the Surface Kernel on any Surface Books, it will require extra work to get the dedicated GPU working. With regular Ubuntu, it works perfectly fine, even the detatch feature works, but it does not support touch or pen. After installing the kernel, touch and pen work now, but only the Intel Integrated Graphics are detected. (I'm currently finding out how to get the dedicated GPU in the base detected, and I'll try to update this comment when I find a solution. From my research, it is entirely possible to get the Surface Book 3 working completely, besides the cameras) I hope people benefit from this

Thank you so much! This worked for me after I used ventoy and followed every step

That was the most ghetto yet one of the most useful tutorials for that :D Thanks Bradley.

awesome video, makes me want to try this myself and tinker more with random fun stuff like this

Great video, so simple, I got my Surface Pro 4 128GB up and running Ubuntu with wifi touchscreen ..... Just great and straightforward

This tutorial worked for me! I just ran into a couple of small issues. Like another user stated, simply clicking "Continue boot" at the MOK step did not work for me, even on Ubuntu, and I had to try again, and this time selected "Enroll MOK" and only then was asked to confirm and enter the password. This time it worked fine, but then, once in OS, I still had no touch controls or rotation, and though I had failed, but after a brief reserach, saw a comment on reddit about them not working with a keyboard attached. I don't have a surface keyboard, but I was using an external Asus keyboard through a dock. Disconnected it and they started working as intended. I don't usually use a keyboard or mouse with my Surface anyway, so it's not an issue, but also, just to confirm, I reconnected the keyboard and the touch continues to work normally, so probably just the first time thing.

Thank you for sharing! Very useful info!

Thanks for this helpful video! very important, simple and easy to understand, +1 subscriber!

Solid video, appreciate it guy.

Very helpful thanks Bradley. Lookin' handsome in the reflection.

Thanks for the video. I've got a PS5, tried Zorin OS with a bootable USB, the OS seemed fine. Screen wasn't working so this video will help me get the right kernel. I'm just amazed how fast yours went into USB boot mode. Mine after trying the OS has not been able to boot from USB any more. No matter if I factory reset, try other USB drives, secure boot on/off. USB is the top priority when booting, etc. it won't pass the black screen anymore. At least windows is booting fine 😂

Thank you so much for this video. I have a surface PC to repair in my work. You has safed my ass dude. Greetings from Germany

good video, thanks for posting; just curious if you have experience with the following; i want to follow your video and then be able to RDP from my (now) Ubuntu Surface to a Windows 11 desktop - any tips for that please?

God, you have done a really great job !!!

Great video! Installed Ubuntu on my surface pro 7.. there is a problem with the display resolution.. it says 2736x1824 in the display settings but there is a gap horizontally on both sides.. any ideas how to fix this?

Nice Video. Thank you lot. Someone knows if you need the Keyboard for the installation? My Surface 4 Pro do not recognize a Typecover anymore (tested with a working one...).

Thanks so much for this video! Have a question - what if we choose "Encrypt the new Ubuntu installation for security" at 6:13? Is there a patch for entering the LUKS password using the onscreen touch keyboard for a Surface Pro device? I know there's a wiki page for this on the github, but it only talks about Surface Laptops and Book models via Surface Aggregator Module. If anyone knows whether the above can be done on a SP4/5/6+ device, please let me know. Many thanks in advance!

Does this work on Microsoft Surface RT with ARM CPU? Thanks

Who maintains the kernel ? Is it an official release for ubuntu? Also were you able to use the surface pen with some apps?

Thanks for tutorial, man. I tried running Linux on my otherwise pretty useless (slow and hot with Windows 11) Surface 6 a few months ago, and failed miserably. I mean, the OS installed fine, but I just couldn't figure out the Surface Kernel part of the process (a total noob in Linux). Now with this step-by-step tutorial, I feel like I can give it another shot. Will let you know how it plays out:) Also, subscribed!

Thx for the tuto, Please can you make a tuto for surface pro 9. I tried several methods but still can't start with Bootable USB. thnx

I did follow the steps in the video to the second and a few times (installed Linux more than once) but I always end up with the same result: The surface (pro 4) boots into ubuntu 22.04 linux, but after about 5 seconds the device goes crazy. It continuously switches focus, so I cannot even enter a command in the terminal. So, although it seems like the touch and pen are working, there is no way it is useable.

Bookmarking this video to upgrade from W10 to Ubuntu any time soon!

great tutorial

Great tutorial! One question: does touchscreen also work with other desktop environments like Mate or Cinnamon?

I don't need to install surface-linux-kernel to make touch screen work. Does this mean I don't have to go through linux serface kernal set up from 7:40?

Not sure if it's different because I'm installing Fedora, but at 10:48, selecting continue to boot didn't work or give me a password screen and gave me errors when trying to boot using the surface kernel. I had to boot into the regular kernel, uninstall & reinstall the linux surface kernel via terminal to get the blue option boot screen again and select "Enroll MOK" first.

for anyone having problem with registering secureboot key, press enter on the MOK prompt, and next the bluescreen appears, click on ENROLL MOK not CONTINUE TO BOOT like the video said, and click continue and then type in SURFACE as password

Does this supposed to work camera after install of kernel?

I installed surface kernel on my surface 3, but still the cameras don't work. I'm running elementary OS 7.1

tried it but got grub command loading? due to two operating systems trying to boot at the same time

can i do the same thing with a dual boot system (Windows 11 & Ubuntu)?

How can i put the cameras working in Surface Pro 5. Its the only thing that is not working... Can someone help me please?

Good guide

Do you know if surface slim pen2 would work?

I want to buy surface pro 7 I5 1035g4 8/128 I'm a pentester and im not sure if the cpu can handle this: Multi Tabs in firefox Burpsuite Brute force...?

Partition scheme is MBR or GPT ? thanks in advance

Kinda run to a problem. My surface pro 9 doesn’t reboot at all. Wether on windows or Linux. Even after trying different boot configurations . What went wrong and how to fix this ????

Does Face login (Window Hello) and fingerprint sensor work?

Hi Bradley, First of all, thank you for this outstanding work. I thoroughly followed all your explanations and tried again and again but I always got the same error right after the final reboot : "error : bad shim signature. error : you need to load the kernel first. Press any key to continue ..." Please, let me know what is going wrong. Best Regards ... Christian Aussourd

how long did you have to wait on the screen at 5:13? feels like mines been idling there forever

Does it run fast? Please upload a video showing how fast it is for doing the most common tasks. Thanks in advance

I had Ubunto installed on my Surface Pro 8. But I couldn't get the keyboard and trackpad working, so I deleted it. There was also an entry in the UEFI that said "ubuntu" and I deleted that. My plan was to try to reinstall, because I had (by then) learned that there were other drivers you needed from Github (like your video shows). But now when I put the ubuntu USB in the USB-C port and try to book, it locks up on the screen that shows the unlocked lock (because I disabled Secure Boot, as required), and the Surface logo below that. It just stays there all day, if you don't do a hard reset. USB is set to be the initial boot disk. If you remove the USB and restart, it will boot into Windows 11 Home, which is the second choice in the UEFI. I have been trying to get past this for more than a week now. Any advice?

Anyway to run linux on ARM SPX SQ2?

Hi Bradley. I tryed to probe before to install Ubuntu without a fisical keyboard and I fault. The multitouch function not working. Could you comment what's the keyboard model that you used on the video. Thks!

Install the secure boot MOK, then reboot (without updating Grub?), cause my Surface Pro 5 doesnt reboot again... I get the microsoft logo... I managed to get around that by NOT installing the secure boot, then it DOES reboot, I'd like secure boot if I can get it, but part of me now things "Its working, screw secure boot"

hi, can i request from you to make a guide to install linux on m. surface pro using wsl?

PLEASE HELP I got to the set where you reboot in Terminal @10:30. Now my computer is frozen at the screen with the windows icon and lock icon. After 5 minutes I turned it off and on again using the power button, but no change. Please, anybody know what could have happened?

I'm super confused. After an install on a Surface Pro 4, it prompts to remove usb and then press enter. No matter what it will not start. It shows the window screen start up with a red line across with an unlocked lock and that's it. I've tried different versions of Mint. I can't figure out how to get past this. What can possibly be wrong? Secure boot is off. The install is fine and then nothing. Please help.

Work on surface rt?

Is secure boot required for ubuntu install?

Thanks Bradley, great video. I just want to confirm that I can install Ubuntu in dual boot mode with Windows? It looked like that's what you did. I have an old Surface Pro 2 running Windows 10.

No matter what I do, I cant get the imaged USB to launch after setting the USB option. Always comes up saying there's no bootable device and then throws me back into the UEFI menu.

Hello Bradley, I have a surface book 1 that is quirky, do you think that I could install ubuntu on it? Also, what model surface did you do this on?

Hello, I have a Surface Pro 5 and installing Ubuntu 22.04, i installed surface Linux but once i hit reboot after installing secure boot i get stuck on the Microsoft logo. I reinstalled the software and redid everything in your video with the exact same result of just being stuck at the microsoft logo. any help with this?

Thanks!

I first installed Ubuntu correctely but failed installing the linux kernel. Then I installed windows again on my surface but now I can´t even install the ubuntu. It just get stucked at a black screen with the windows logo. Anyone knows how to get rid of this bug? Thanks, great video

can u do mintos on surface??

Does this work on a surface rt ARM? Thanks

I was able to install debian but it was command prompt only. But this is great

can I install Ubuntu 22.04.3 LTS 64bit on my surface rt 32bit

Is installing that Surface kernel even necessary? For example, I could care less about touchscreen on my Surface Laptop 5. Am I not able to just run with the stock Ubuntu kernel?

The kernel is installed but the secure boot isn't working. I'm using Parrot which is debian I believe

Which ver. Surface Pro on video?

Hello. I have a problem. The first time I booted from USB, Ubuntu installed very well. After kernel update I had an error. Couldn't boot, neither Ubuntu nor Windows. Then I reinstalled W11 with USB. The only system I can install is Windows. Ubuntu, Fedora, all not bootable from USB. I tried with a third party and also without secure boot. The interface gets stuck at the Windows logo when I try to install third-party software via USB. On another PC the USB installation works, only the interface refuses to load the installation

10:36 when I reboot here I get stuck on the surface logo. Any fixes?

I'm having issues booting from USB this are the steps I have done so far: I have disabled secure boot set USB as first boot device I have made two sticks, Ubuntu & Linux Mint Both OS boot fine on my PC Dualboot (Win-Linux) none of them boots on Surface Pretty sure both were formatted FAT32 and done in Linux using native USB writer Also done another stick, today using Rufus on Windows formatted NTFS, again it boots fine and is usable while live, on my PC, but comes with error while booting on Surface. I have made a post on GitHub and Linux Mint forum, but so far no answer. Also got in contact with Microsoft today , but obviously after having chatted with 4 different people, they told me to go and check Linux help... Any advice would be really appreciated. Cheers

Hello, a question, what surface model is it? and what components does it have?

It's stuck on surface logo I didn't get the blue screen

Couple of questions 1. what to do if we see the red lock 2. does the pen works?

I got stuck after the kernel update and did not get prompted to insert the surface password. And did not manage to make it boot again so i ended upp rolling back to Windows :( Will try again when there is a nativ client for GeforceNow for LInux :)

Is I think correctly, that after this trick I'll have two OS linux and Windows?

They still haven't gotten the surface pen to work properly like it does on windows just yet.

does installing ubuntu prevent the flickering ??

After installing the kernel and rebooting my PC is stuck on the windows logo. Does anyone know how to fix this?

Fails to boot surface kernel, have to revert to original kernel.

Will all of this work with Linux Mint?

わかりやすい動画でした。 ありがとう!!ﾟ+｡:.ﾟ(*ﾟOﾟ *)ﾟ.:｡+ﾟ

Is this Surface Pro 4 in your video ?

Does this work on ubuntu 24.04?

it says for me "couldnt find bootable OS" Edit: nvm I disable secure boot and it worked but I am getting black screen after i press install or try ubuntu

I wonder if anyone has tried this on a surface pro 9?

Is it still Dual Boot even though I have Ubuntu, can I still switch to Windows 11 when I need to?

Working for Surface book 3 gtx 1650m????????

This doesn’t work for me.. « couldn’t find a bootable OS »

anyone tried this on a surface go?

Almost no substantial additions to the process on your part. But still a nice little walk-through, to see the process once.

这是后台系统出了问题

I've been running Zorin Linux distro for years on my Surface and will never go back to Microsoft.

you don't use rufus you're supposed to use balena etcher

Your errors are pathetic, my Surface book 3 after trying to use a live version before installing Linux stopped working and now it no longer turns on.. :(

Why are you doing this???

will it work in surface 2 ?

On my Top recent Surface pro 9 (intel) I installed Last Ubuntu. Everything is Ok except to activate Secureboot. During Reboot after key install and continue, tablet boot without asking me the key 'surface'. I do many time with remove/install key and I cannot obtain success. I am a little bit confuse with this process. Before to proceed, this step, 1) UEFI Security is without "Secure boot" 2) I install the key 3) I reboot and there is no possibility to install 'surface' in ad'hoc windows. In your video when you perform this UEFI security is "Microsoft and 3rd parties". When I select this option before to proceed secureboot installation the tablet refuse to boot ... Any idea ! (Later I saw comment from @WarriorAlexOG and I have to try _ dont work...) Thank's for your perfect work do describe this installation in depth for beginner's.

How can i put the cameras working in Surface Pro 5? Its the only thing that is not working... Can someone help me please?