External monitor not working, Surface Laptop Go and Surface Dock 2

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External monitor not working, Surface Laptop Go and Surface Dock 2

David Zavah 0

I have a 1st gen Surface Laptop Go that I purchased refurbished from Amazon. I am using it with a Surface Dock 2 to an Alienware AW2724DM monitor via USBC to display port. All other functions from the dock work (Power, USB, & Network) but the monitor is not detected by the Surface Laptop Go. I have a Surface Laptop Studio 2 that I connect to the same setup and it works perfectly. All documentation I can find states that the SLG should be able to output video in this scenario. I feel like there is "something" blocking the video output to the monitor.

I have tried: a different Surface Dock, a Dell dock via USBC, & 4 different monitors with various connection types. I have tried the Project settings and monitor detection. I have cleared the display cache in Regedit. I have confirmed that all drivers for the SLG & Surface Dock are up to date. I have hard reset the SLG using in-OS Recovery, reinstall OS via USB installation media, and Surface Recovery image. The issue persists in Win10 and after the update to Win11.

As a refurbished device, it came with an Enterprise version of Win10. I reset the device when it first arrived using the in-OS recovery which brought me to the OBX for the original company (domain) and would not let me sign in with a consumer Microsoft account. I had to use the Surface recovery media to get to an OBX that would allow my MSA during setup. Is there something related to the Enterprise software that could block or not allow external monitor connection?

TL:DR - No external monitor function from an Enterprise SLG through Surface Dock 2. I feel like I've tried the standard solutions to no avail.

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Answer 1

Rez 855 Independent Advisor

Hi David.

Thanks for posting here in the community. I see that you have questions about getting your monitor to work with your Surface. Your Surface Laptop Go (the first one) works just fine with the Surface Dock 2, so the dock isn't the problem. The Dock 2 uses that Surface Connect port and can send video through its USB-C ports for any Surface from 2017 or newer, including your Laptop Go.

Based on your tests and steps you’ve taken, here are what I have found. The Surface Laptop Go's USB-C port can handle a 4K monitor at 60Hz.

So, the hardware is fine. Next, the old Enterprise image isn't the problem since you reinstalled Windows and it doesn't block external monitor functions.

Technically, the issue is either, a Laptop Go firmware/driver problem. So, the best next step you can do is to run first the Surface Diagnostic Toolkit app to see if there are any problems. If it shows a direct fail USB-C connection, the laptop’s usb C video output could be broken and might need servicing. Try to run Windows Update next as well, to install the newest surface laptop go drivers and firmware.

Coming from my own experience as well, I had to use a modified Windows ISO installer to be able to set up either a local or personal account.

Let me know what happens by just replying to this thread.

All the best,

Rez

David Zavah 0 Reputation points

2025-08-28T15:31:24.6566667+00:00

Rez, thanks for your reply. I will run the SDTK and report its findings.

Could I ask another question? Post gaining access to use my MSA by flashing the device with the Surface Recovery software and spending some time troubleshooting this issue, I decided to use the in-OS recovery in Win11, hoping it might fix the issue. For some reason it brought me back to the OBX for the enterprise domain. I was forced to reinstall using the SRS so that I could once again use my MSA. Why, if Windows was reinstalled did the onboard recovery take me back to the enterprise OBX?
Rez 855 Reputation points Independent Advisor

2025-08-28T15:47:41.1833333+00:00

Hi David, I ran into the same problem when fixing up old laptops and Surface devices disposed by comapnies and institutions. Two things that worked for me were using a tweaked Windows ISO (which stops the automatic device enrollment that asks for business accounts) or reflashing the BIOS/firmware. You could do the reflash yourself if you have the tools and know-how, or you could get a pro to do it. The BIOS/firmware settings and the company's settings are set so the Surface device can only be used with a business account, that is why you keep on getting the same OBX sign in screen.

I hope this is helps you. Regards,

Res
David Zavah 0 Reputation points

2025-08-28T18:38:46.5933333+00:00

That is helpful, thank you.

So, since it appears that the Surface Recovery Image doesn't reflash the Bios, could there still be something unique to this enterprise/company that has disabled external monitor support? My first try was to look for a display setting in the Bios but the Surface Bios utility is pretty bare-bones, at lease compared to a Dell Bios. The options are quite limited. I had assumed that the recovery image would rewrite the Bios too, so I didn't attempt a reflash. I will definitely look into re-flashing now.

I should have an opportunity to give the Surface Diagnostic Toolkit a try tomorrow.

Thanks Again!
Rez 855 Reputation points Independent Advisor

2025-08-28T19:51:48.9433333+00:00

You're welcome David. Go for surface diagnostic toolkit first and from there, let me know, then you do the bios reflash. But I still have a last option for you. I believe your first gen surface laptop go has a 10th gen intel processor. I'd personally recommend using a modded ISO as it's the easiest option to do or if you are using an untouched ISO for x64 devices, by removing the Autopilot.json file from C:\Windows\Provisioning\Autopilot using Shift+F10 during OOBE. That might do the trick.

Anyway, wishing you luck!

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External monitor not working, Surface Laptop Go and Surface Dock 2

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