How To Install Ubuntu On Microsoft Surface Go 2 (& Boot Into Bootable Ubuntu USB Stick)

[@XRayPecs]

Thanks so much for this video... I was going crazy trying to install Ubuntu on a Surface Go 1 and your video got me past the USB drive not being recognised.

[@LogainAblar]

Thanks for this video. Good stuff. Personally, I wasn't working with a Surface Go 2 to install Linux, I was working initially with the Surface Pro 3 and then a SurfaceBook 2. Booting from USB wasn't a problem at all but mileage varies of course. Seeing a secondary method to do this is great to see though just in case it's needed in future. I went with Linux Mint and the only problems I had after install were with the kernel and battery drain. After install, Everything worked great with Linux Mint except the touch functions of the screen, which means the pen didn't work either and the camera didn't work. I didn't really care about the camera as I never use it on my laptops. After researching for a few minutes, I installed the SurfaceLinux kernel which enabled full touch screen and pen use. For the battery drain, did a bit more research and after a few minutes, I installed auto-cpufreq to better manage power drain. Power consumption can be pretty high after a Linux install on Surface devices. Linux on Surface has been fantastic for me overall, even for gaming. Of course the Pro 3 being a under powered unit similar to the Go 2 isn't going to run God of War or CoD, but smaller, older games run really well on Intel integrated chips (for the uninitiated, think, Transistor, Quake, Ion Fury etc). The Book 2 on the other hand is more capable running titles like WarFrame, Monster Hunter: World, Dark Souls II etc. Anyways, thanks again for the video. It's more usable knowledge which is always good!

[@CW-le8wc]

Thanks, I'm in the process of doing the exact same thing. The Surface Go 2 seems like the right device for portable linux. It would be cool if you made a followup video talking about your experience with the SGO2 and linux.

[@RandomiaGaming]

Great video! This deserves way more love. Totally helped me to install Pop OS on my surface go.

[@musicbaboon]

good and clear and quite professional in your way to present and add the disclaimer. thanks. it worked for me with the recovery restart usb approach.

[@neohubris]

had an issue with "No Bootable Device" on original Surface Go which I was able to fix with a little help from this reboot section from recovery. Thanks!

[@ccroy2001]

Going through Windows Recovery works for other PCs as well. I dualboot Windows and Ubuntu on my Asus and occasionally a Windows firmware update will break dualboot by enabling secureboot, fastboot, or both. Just go into the Bios and fix it I have a Go3 that I love and am thinking of running Ubuntu on it. Thanks for the helpful video!

[@Girgburg]

Regarding the Surface go 3, I have one and can confirm the steps are almost the same. There is one extra step, you'll have the extra step of having to recover your drive when you turn off Secure Boot (cus if win 11 protections). As long as you know your windows account password associated with your go 3 it'll be no problem.

[@Life_4_ADV]

Heh 😁 Thanks to Your "tricks" (second one) I finally installed Linux Mint on my Surface GO. It has got second life. Thank You Dude !😉 EDIT: AT a first glance: it works smoothly and no bad issues...

[@mstl5646]

If you're using a USB-c hub to attach a standard USB flash drive, you may need to change the port on the usb hub to get the surface to recognize it

[@user-pf2qm5je3r]

thanks for this. my dad gave me his old surface go 2 and i hate windows. best guide ive found. surface go 3 next!

[@user-pf2qm5je3r]

also, liked and subscribed! thanks again.

[@davidcarpenter8734]

Wow, your video production is stellar. Best video on the topic thus far. Thanks, subscribed.

[@duclonghoang161]

Thanks for the guide mate!

[@casoanaamy]

Thank you so much! This was really helpful and definitely saved some nerves here 🙏🙏

[@qqqcalls]

Would love to see a review of your experience using Ubuntu on the Surface Go 2.

[@kgalasonkg]

Thank you for a simple Explanation !

[@dhammaplay5195]

Thank you! You really help me with my trouble on surface go. 👍

[@digibarnes935]

Sir, I thank you for this walk through it's been very helpful and informative! +1 like

[@adrianbrandheini319]

Great Video love it!

[@SteinBee]

If you hold shift and restart on the login screen it will open a menu. in that menu navigate to boot from devise -> linus lipus (or something like that) then it will boot into the installer

[@marioandresheviacavieres1923]

Gracias! great video and very helpful to me :)

[@crouchinghamster6407]

I had to use a Sandisk USB-C drive (SDDDC4-128G-G46) to get this to work (Ubuntu 22.04). Adapters between USB-A and C all failed. Thank you for making this video.

[@Jeroenisdope]

Thank you!

[@Rootish]

Can you make another video about this ubuntu on go2, please? What is working, what is not..

[@mariuszkarasek7228]

To restart to recovery mode hold left shift button and click restart button in start menu

[@baganatube]

Do you get to keep the Windows installation (i.e., dual-boot)?

[@Shocker8MTA]

This seems a good ideea and i will try it once windows finish repairing windows first. Is locked itself while trying to install ubuntu and had to unlock with bitlocker I have a surface pro 4 and i think your info works on most surfaces tried buttons to boot on to usb and tried on bios I will come back with an update after i will install it

[@mtfkarukera]

Thank you so much. I tried both methods on my surface go 3, with no success. I'm interested in feedback on successful experiences.

[@PhuongHa-xz2uz]

very helpful. thanks

[@pogzie]

Were you able to try dual booting Windows + Ubuntu (installed on an SD card)? I cant seem to get it to work. After some digging some people are saying that you cant directly boot to SD on SG2s or something. Im considering just wiping my primary partition for a full Ubuntu install. Repartitioning my 128GB main drive is out of the question, its already too damn small.

[@OctillionthTech]

Yea. I can confirm that it is not possible to directly boot to an SD Card on the Surface Go 2. If you want to dual boot, you're gonna have to re-partition the internal drive. I personally just wiped off Windows from my SF Go 2 and currently use Kubuntu (Ubuntu based linux distro) on it. There's nothing wrong with how Ubuntu runs on the SF Go 2, but I personally like Kubuntu better as a linux distro (its a matter of preference). And I haven't run into any major issues with either Ubuntu or Kubuntu on the SF Go 2 so far (your experience may vary). If you do end up going with a full Ubuntu install, my advice is to get an extra USB drive and turn into a Windows 10 installation USB drive BEFORE making the switch to Ubuntu. Having a Windows installation USB drive on hand not only makes it easier to switch back to Windows (if you have to), but there are also tools in the Windows installer that will make the process of distro hopping (switching from 1 linux distro to another) easier on the SF Go 2. I know that sounds silly, but Microsoft did not make it easy to get Ubuntu (and other linux distros) installed on this device and sometimes you just gotta rely on their own tool (windows installer) to move things along. And in case your wondering, the Surface Go 2 never has any issues booting into the Windows 10 installation USB drive (using method #1 in the video). It just has a lot of issues with Ubuntu and other linux installers.

[@MH-ie1sg]

Thanks... You're a life saver!

[@tobiadeyemi1870]

Thanks so much for this

[@jesioowskiszymanski3604]

Thanks a lot, the second way whas the best!!

[@cmjones222]

Does your wifi work, I did this install... No wifi adapter found... 🤦🏽‍♂️

[@alexjohnson4759]

Same boat right now lol

[@decastro76]

Hi, you do a new clean install or a dual boot with windows and Ubuntu?

[@OctillionthTech]

In my case, I did a clean install. Due to how limited the internal storage on my Surface Go 2 is, it really wasn't worth trying to dual boot with Windows and Ubuntu. That said, dual boot is possible on Surface Go 2.

[@johncalorino675]

I'd like to see a video on how Ubuntu Unity 20.04.4 LTS works on the Chuwi hi 10 X.

[@ResultedLyricsFPV]

Would this bypass the SEMM locks on windows? I’ve got a SG2 that’s enrolled in SEMM and I can’t unenroll it cause I don’t have the key and can’t get it but I’d love to use this thing as a BetaFlight device for my FPV Drone. Is there any way to unenroll it from SEMM or flash a clean version of the firmware on it? Any help would be awesome.

[@yonodroid3852]

Sir, i have old surface (win 8) RAM : 2GB with 32GB storage. Do your method is suitable for my surface

[@ItDaBiz]

Windows 11 pretty much killed this tablet, using pretty much the entire 64gb drive just for the OS and being slow as mollases now. Good to know that Linux is doable on this.

[@johnkunze5362]

Well done.😊❤,jpk

[@supersecretninjame]

how can you rove the splash screen? Im running ubuntu on my surface laptop go and I dont like the windows splash screen. How do I remove it?

[@dalirkosimov4623]

When I use the browser (I'm using Brave), it's very chunky and just awkward to use. Is this the same with everyone else or do I have to change something?

[@pasclus.2955]

Hey, I was looking for this for a while thank you for doing this, I have a question if I want to play mobile games on the surface go 2 can Ubuntu do? or if it can't what OS can, thank you Edit: Mobile game that is in the play store like PUBG or Genshin impact

[@ahmeth7302]

@PASCLUS. you could use prime OS, it can run android apps natively

[@pasclus.2955]

Thanks you for help

[@thechuck141]

Man love to see a update just got one these online it but windows seems clunky slow.

[@iheuzio]

Bootable media has to be in GPT for the install type not the MBR

[@stoneman5852]

What abt the dual boot? I don’t have a hardware keyboard & can’t select on GRUB THANKS

[@taibimalika4032]

thank you please work in tablette surface windwos 1.8 rt

[@kgalasonkg]

Linux mint is what I will try to make work.

[@HoNiGLaNo]

Did I observe correctly that you used a regular Ubuntu distribution and not the tablet specific Ubuntu Touch?

[@OctillionthTech]

You are correct. I went with the regular Ubuntu distribution.

[@specthanatos]

Did you get the screen rotation to work?

[@ailurusfulgens4904]

That's a great vidéo But somehow when i choose the exact same option the surface just restart with windows. I can't manage to understand why

[@OctillionthTech]

Which Surface device are you using? Surface Go 2 or some other model?

[@bobh5261]

So how do you choose boot from Bios after ubuntu has been installed? Since before you had to get the option in Windows

[@OctillionthTech]

I unfortunately haven't found a way to do it from the Bios. If you don't mind me asking, is there a specific reason as to why you need to be able to choose boot from Bios after installing Ubuntu? Cause depending on what the purpose is, there are some workarounds I could suggest.

[@dollarstoreloudiamondphillips]

Oh, nice! I was actually thinking about doing that with Tails or Whonix. Thank you, sir!

[@johngreene6783]

If I remember correctly, there is a setting in the BIOS to change the first boot device to USB

[@OctillionthTech]

Sadly, changing the boot order in the BIOS does not fix the issue described in the video. Weirdly, it does work when trying to boot into a Windows installation media BUT it just doesn't work when trying to boot into a linux installation media.

[@josemlmify]

No "github" kernel, driver or any other stuff?... Thanks for the video.

[@OctillionthTech]

You're referring to the Surface kernel and whatnot? Well, I decided to skip that topic in this video cause those adjustments didn't seem to do much to improve the linux experience on the SF Go 2. Which isn't that surprising. Quite a lot of the amazing work that the Surface Linux community has done over the years has (in one form or another) ended up in the mainstream Linux distros. So, even without the Surface customized Github stuff, Ubuntu tends to work quite well on Surface devices by default. Now the Surface kernel does tend to bring better touch screen support and battery management than the average linux kernel does, *but* the Surface Go 2 never really seemed to do any better with the Surface kernel than it did with the mainline kernel that comes with default Ubuntu. There was just no noticeable difference. My rational was that there was no need to further complicate the video with steps for something that didn't seem to do much to improve the experience. Of course,there are plenty of other Surface devices that do benefit greatly from the Github kernel/driver stuff. The SF Go 2 just wasn't one of them.

[@jma7379]

I now have Ubuntu installed. How do I create a bootable USB now? D-:

[@stevengross7984]

I tried to install the latest version of Linux Mint Cinnamon- version 21 - on my Surface Go 2. I was able to install it and WiFI functions without any additional drivers needed. However, the SHUTDOWN does not work correctly and hangs up. I could not find a way to get this to work properly. Interestingly, (with disabling SafeBoot in the BIOS) the Boot Up menu from Grub came up on boot and worked properly. HOWEVER, as stated I could not get SHUTDOWN to work properly and in order to turn of the Surface, I had to do a hard shutdown with the Start button - not good. I then tried the prior version of Linux Mint v20.3 because the instructions online did not indicate this problem. AND NO MORE SHUTDOWN PROBLEMS. However, as stated online, the GRUB Boot loader no longer works correctly and one has to go to the special boot as described in the video. If anyone can help fix the shutdown problem, I would love to hear about it so that I can update to the latest version of Mint (210. Thanks!! Steve

[@OctillionthTech]

I recently experienced this same shut down issue with my Surface Go 2 (currently running Kubuntu 22.04) and I've seen similar reports from other users as well. As far as I can tell, the issue seems to have to do with the linux kernel 5.15. I don’t know the specifics behind it, but kernel 5.15 has been a bit of a headache for Surface Go devices. Along with the shut down issue, kernel 5.15 seems to have also caused sleep mode issues, power button issues, and other random issues for Surface Go devices. By the way, we didn't see these issues on the Surface Go devices *until* the kernel 5.15 rollout, so it seems accurate to say that its the cause behind these issues. Since kernel 5.15 is the one that Ubuntu 22.04 (and newer linux distros based on it) uses by default, the shut down issue (along with the other issues) seem to commonly get brought up by Surface Go users who are upgrading to the newest vesion of Ubuntu/Ubuntu based linux distro. Now the solution to your shut down problem is to either wait until Linux Mint pushes out an update to the linux kernel *or* to manually upgrade the linux kernel. According to some Surface Go users, manually upgrading to linux kernel 5.18 or the new kernel 5.19 does seem to get rid of the shut down issue. Unless you’re willing to wait, I think manually upgrading the kernel is the best solution for your case. In my case, my Kubuntu set up on the Surface Go 2 happened to still have a slightly older, pre-5.15 version of the linux kernel installed on it. Since this older kernel did not experience the issues present with kernel 5.15, I manually set things up to have Kubuntu boot with this older kernel by default and I haven’t had to deal with the shut down issue ever since. It’s admittedly not the most elegant solution, but I don’t have the time to go meddling with new linux kernels right now and it’ll do until Ubuntu pushes out a new update to the linux kernel. Anyway, hope this helps!

[@chokdeesam2365]

@@OctillionthTech and now, how is it ? Thank you so much

[@sc611]

I wonder how to boot from usb after you erase Windows 10 and have only ubuntu on your sfg2, since method 1 can't be used and you have no windows then to use method 2. quite confused.😥

[@OctillionthTech]

If you need to boot from USB to replace Ubuntu on the SF Go 2 with some other linux distro or to do a fresh install of Ubuntu, then there's an easy (but very tedious) way of getting it done. It involves using a Windows 10 installation drive to first wipe the device BEFORE booting into an Ubuntu (or whatever OS) installation USB drive. I can make a video on the steps to do this if you're interested. If you want to keep your Ubuntu installation on the SF Go 2 BUT need to be able to boot into a different bootable USB drive... I don't know of a good way to do that. Frankly, the SF Go 2 device wasn't really made for that sort of thing, so I think you might be better off using something else for that particular use case.

[@jakerosper9239]

Better battery? Better use of ram?

[@chokdeesam2365]

Very good question !

[@coolmannorm]

Yeah I can’t boot to usb to install a different OS because buttons are not working and the OS installed currently is Ubuntu very frustrating

[@OctillionthTech]

Assuming you're using a Surface Go 2, check out my other video about the 4 methods that you can use to get the Surface Go 2 to boot into a bootable USB drive. Specifically method #3 should work for your use case: kzbin.info/www/bejne/oKqVhZyOmJpnabs

[@coolmannorm]

@@OctillionthTech I figured it out I had to have my flash drive bootable to UEFI I had to use Ventoy and install it to the flash drive and then drop the ISO I was using (Zorin) onto the drive then it booted just fine

[@coolmannorm]

@@OctillionthTech basically what you said in your video 😂

[@coolmannorm]

@@OctillionthTech but cheers to making old hardware useable again it’s now my daily travel device.

[@kotcraftchannelukraine6118]

It is Ubuntu arm64 or amd64?

[@AndrewMaksym]

Please share the link to that rad lookin' bluetooth keyboard.

[@joshuafp5727]

Mine keeps booting into GNU GRUB, can anyone help?

[@rajatvats8627]

can u please make a video on how to install windows on duet chromebook

[@OctillionthTech]

Unfortunately, that's not something that you can do with the Duet Chromebook. At least there isn't a way to do it right now.

[@nadirzenith1298]

@@OctillionthTech Do you know if the Lenovo Chromebook Diet can be completely converted into Linux? Like can I completely convert it to Linux Mint, Zorin OS, or MX Linux?

[@olepisac]

do i keep my files ?

[@jojobobbubble5688]

Might be time to get a tablet

[@dennisschaffer9243]

needed to remove bitlocker at first, then tried method #1, then method #2 then method #1 again remove - plugin the usb - method 2 -> it works 😂🎉

[@arash19812002]

Can some one tell me how can i make bootable USB for GO2??

[@kenanartiran8064]

I have not the admin passwort, how can I disable it?

[@randallraygoza9397]

method 2 should work

[@MrLawalker]

Thx my bro!

[@joachimbramson1991]

[help?] That's pretty much what I'm doing, plus the fight with bitlocker. No matter how many times I restart, the usb is recognized in w10 but not as bootable, through UEFI or advanced options/recovery method. So I'm stuck at 3:35. Not sure what to do but try another 100 times.

[@jundaaaaaaaaaa]

Did u manage to fix it? Experiencing the same issue rn

[@joachimbramson1991]

@@jundaaaaaaaaaa nope, I gave up, sorry. I got that SG2 for free and I'm not upset enough to waste more time trying. Win10 it is...

[@Alejandra-ik3rr]

You have to update your usb device ports. Log into windows open device manager. Check which USB device your USB is named as. Select and install updates. Restart your computer and then follow advanced startup again and your USB should be read just like it is in the video.

[@travisbowser3008]

Can you use touch

[@OctillionthTech]

The touch screen works.

[@SeshachalamMalisetti]

What about functionality? Do the cameras work? LTE? Is it a dual boot?

[@sorintruta5200]

Good joob man....

[@pierreoffice3823]

😘

[@ran4erep]

dude, r u drunk? Windows updates does not update your BIOS

[@OctillionthTech]

On Microsoft Surface devices, automatic updates to the BIOS/firmware are done through the Windows Update settings page. It's different from how its usually done with other Windows laptop, but that's how it's done on Surface devices (probably has to do with how it's a device made by Microsoft).