Prerequisites
- Fresh Surface 8 Pro computer
- Valid MSDN subscriber account
- Windows 11 Pro retail license and its USB installer thumbdrive attached
- Another blank USB thumbdrive
Setup procedure
On Surface8, press Volume+ button on the left and press power button to boot UEFI bios. On security menu, enable secure boot from "Microsoft and 3rd party". On boot menu, delete existing Microsoft boot loader and enable USB boot with top priority.
On another Windows computer, download Ubuntu 20.04 Desktop x64 iso and create bootable USB using Rufus. Connect it to Surface and boot, Choose try Ubuntu (instead of Install Ubuntu), on Ubuntu start menu, run Terminal. On Terminal, sudo and fdisk /dev/nvme0n1 and delete all 4 partitions with d and write partition table with wq and shutdown the computer.
On another Windows computer, download Windows 10 2004 x64 iso image from MSDN subscriber downloads and create bootable USB using Rufus. Insert it and boot Surface, on network connection selection menu, press "I don't have network connection" on the left bottom of the screen. Installation finishes without entering any product keys, and Windows 10 home is installed.
Boot windows 10, disable all network connections on device manager. Insert Windows 11 pro USB thumbdrive and run setup.exe. Windows 11 Pro is installed without network connection, without Microsoft account.
Boot Windows 11, Enable the network connection on device manager. On Settings menu →System→Activation, press Change product key and enter your Windows 11 Pro retail license product key. Activation succeeded.
