Microsoft released new versions of its Surface Tools for IT Pros that support the freshly released Surface Pro and Surface Laptop. For those unfamiliar, this collection of services are designed to help IT Pros deploy Surface devices in their organization and enable them to create custom images used specifically for enterprise deployments.
“This update includes new versions of the Surface Enterprise Management Mode (SEMM) tools Surface UEFI Configurator and Surface UEFI Manager, Surface Dock Updater (SDU), Surface Data Eraser (SDE), and Surface Deployment Accelerator (SDA),” explained Microsoft on its blog for IT Pros. You can read the update notes for each specific tool below, though please note that none of them can run in a Windows 10 S environment:
- The Surface Deployment Accelerator v2.0.8.0 provides support only for Surface Pro and does not replace Surface Deployment Accelerator v1.96.0405 which supports Surface 3, Surface Pro 3, and Surface Book.
- The Surface Data Eraser USB creation utility v3.2.36 adds support for the storage devices of Surface Studio, Surface Pro, and Surface Laptop (Surface Pro devices with 1TB storage are not currently supported). To erase the storage device of a Surface Laptop with Windows 10 S, you must first create the Surface Data Eraser USB drive using another computer with a Windows 10 Pro or Enterprise environment.
- The Surface Dock Updater utility v2.1.15.0 adds support for Surface Pro and Surface Laptop. Surface Dock devices connected to Surface Laptop with Windows 10 S will receive firmware updates through Windows Update and do not require the Surface Dock Updater to stay up-to-date.
- The Surface UEFI Configurator v1.0.74.0 adds support for Surface Pro and Surface Laptop and a new ability to generate a USB drive with WinPE that can be used to enroll a device in Surface Enterprise Management Mode. Surface Laptop devices running Windows 10 S can be enrolled in SEMM using the USB drive generated by the Surface UEFI Configurator, or otherwise can be enrolled by upgrading the device to Windows 10 Pro or Windows 10 Enterprise.
All these tools can now be downloaded on the Surface Tools for IT page in the Microsoft Download Center, and we invite you to check Microsoft’s blog for IT Pros if you need additional information.
