Microsoft distinguishes booting a Surface from USB from refreshing or resetting the computer. The USB drive must already contain an appropriate bootable operating system or recovery setup. Remove other USB devices first so they do not interfere with the intended startup choice.

For the hardware-button method, Microsoft instructs users to shut down, insert the bootable drive, hold volume-down and press the power button. The support page also describes starting through Windows recovery options when necessary. Follow the instructions for the Surface model and the prepared drive, rather than expecting an ordinary storage stick to become bootable merely by plugging it in.