Cut to the chase: Surface Pro 3 January Cumulative Driver & Firmware Update Avaialble as MSI

Microsoft’s Surface Tablet/hybrid has been steadily gaining traction in as both a consumer device and a business tool. I use mine for both personal and business use. I haven’t turned on my iPad in over 5 months and I’m only using my laptop as a test bed for pre-release versions of Windows 10. My Surface Pro 3 has become my go to device. My mobile phone and Surface meet 95% of my requirements without any compromise.

Microsoft has been rolling out Surface drivers and firmware updates through the Windows Update service. This works great for personal devices but IT departments have struggled to keep the devices updated using their traditional tools.

Problem Statement

Enterprises need the ability to roll out Surface Updates with procedures that adhere to best practices and integrate into the processes that are already in place for other domain joined devices such as Windows Intune and System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM).

The Homebrew Solution

What does a smart Sysadmin do to solve the problem? He (or she) builds their own cumulative update payload that includes all updates including (patches, firmware, and drivers). Make it easy to manage and install in unattended mode with a smart wrapper like PowerShell or Windows Installer / MSI.

The Microsoft Solution

Microsoft has released a solution that meets all of the requirements of the homebrew solution but you don’t have to build it yourself. Here’s a link to the January payload. There are multiple files that can be downloaded from the link. Select the Surface Pro 3 January 2015 MSI.zip

It will install all drivers and firmware that have been released through January 2015. As new updates are released new MSI files will be available for download.

Some notes:



It doesn’t contain all Surface Pro 3 drivers, just the driver updates Touch firmware updates are not included It will create an entry into add/remove programs There is an option that allows the installation operations to be logged verbosely for troubleshooting

Here’s a good post with a step-by-step that explains how to use the MSI with System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) and System Center Updates Publisher (SCUP).