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1. Embed this notice
   Foone🏳️‍⚧️ (foone@digipres.club)'s status on Thursday, 26-Feb-2026 23:29:50 JST Foone🏳️‍⚧️

   the curl download failed with a connection reset after 17 minutes and 20gb!

   so I tell curl to resume it, and... the server starts over from the beginning.

   MICROSOFT'S STUPID SERVER DOESN'T SUPPORT THE RANGE HEADER

   • Embed this notice
     Rich Felker (dalias@hachyderm.io)'s status on Friday, 27-Feb-2026 08:22:06 JST Rich Felker

     in reply to

     @foone This is the kind of hardware you're supposed to salvage to run something other than the original OS on.

   • Embed this notice
     Foone🏳️‍⚧️ (foone@digipres.club)'s status on Friday, 27-Feb-2026 08:22:07 JST Foone🏳️‍⚧️

     in reply to

     BTW this is one of my favorite kinds of projects.
     You pick a shiny computer out of the garbage saying "why would anyone throw away this expensive fancy new computer?" and then slowly over the course of multiple days you Learn Why

   • Embed this notice
     Foone🏳️‍⚧️ (foone@digipres.club)'s status on Friday, 27-Feb-2026 08:22:08 JST Foone🏳️‍⚧️

     in reply to

     also the Surface IT Tool verifies _something_ (I wasn't able to confirm what) with the microsoft servers before it'll write you an image, even if you have the image already downloaded.

     So I highly suspect this method will break in the future

   • Embed this notice
     Foone🏳️‍⚧️ (foone@digipres.club)'s status on Friday, 27-Feb-2026 08:22:08 JST Foone🏳️‍⚧️

     in reply to

     I should just make an image of the final recovery drive it creates, and stick that on the internet archive. DD it to your own 32gb drive and bypass all the nonsense

     Thomas 🔭🕹️ repeated this.
   • Embed this notice
     Foone🏳️‍⚧️ (foone@digipres.club)'s status on Friday, 27-Feb-2026 08:22:09 JST Foone🏳️‍⚧️

     in reply to

     because the way it suggests to make a recovery image doesn't create a recovery image this locked-down fucker will boot.

     Only the Surface IT Tools recovery images will boot, and Surface IT Tools can't download files worth shit, so good fucking luck getting that 22gb image

   • Embed this notice
     Foone🏳️‍⚧️ (foone@digipres.club)'s status on Friday, 27-Feb-2026 08:22:10 JST Foone🏳️‍⚧️

     in reply to

     so the easy migration tool they had available can't be installed and even if you could install it, it wouldn't work

   • Embed this notice
     Foone🏳️‍⚧️ (foone@digipres.club)'s status on Friday, 27-Feb-2026 08:22:10 JST Foone🏳️‍⚧️

     in reply to

     So instead you've got these instructions, which do not work:

     https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/surface-hub/surface-hub-2s-migrate-os

   • Embed this notice
     Foone🏳️‍⚧️ (foone@digipres.club)'s status on Friday, 27-Feb-2026 08:22:11 JST Foone🏳️‍⚧️

     in reply to

     I think the fundamental problem with this device is that they ship it in a super-locked-down mode that can't do anything unless you install more software from the Microsoft Store... and as of last December it can't talk to the Microsoft Store anymore.

   • Embed this notice
     Foone🏳️‍⚧️ (foone@digipres.club)'s status on Friday, 27-Feb-2026 08:22:12 JST Foone🏳️‍⚧️

     in reply to

     okay so if you are unfortunate enough to get a Surface Hub 2S and want to make it run Useful Windows (linux would be nice but I haven't figured out how to boot it) instead of Broken Windows, you need to:
     1. Get the Surface IT Tools
     2. Go through the whole SEMM mode enrollment with the private key and such
     3. Try to create a Surface 2S MTR 22H2 recovery disk. The download will fail
     3a. MITM Surface IT Tools to get the URL of the 22gb file you need.

   • Embed this notice
     Foone🏳️‍⚧️ (foone@digipres.club)'s status on Friday, 27-Feb-2026 08:22:12 JST Foone🏳️‍⚧️

     in reply to

     3b. write an addon for mitmproxy to redirect Surface IT Tools to a local server you control
     4. actually make the recovery disk
     5. Recover the Surface Hub 2.
     6. It boots into Skype setup
     7. Exit and log into administrator, password is "sfb"
     8. Delete the Skype account and uninstall Microsoft Teams Rooms
     9. Run Win11 updates

   • Embed this notice
     Foone🏳️‍⚧️ (foone@digipres.club)'s status on Friday, 27-Feb-2026 08:22:13 JST Foone🏳️‍⚧️

     in reply to

     Windows if you fuck me here after all I've been through, I swear to god...

   • Embed this notice
     Foone🏳️‍⚧️ (foone@digipres.club)'s status on Friday, 27-Feb-2026 08:22:14 JST Foone🏳️‍⚧️

     in reply to

     And the machine can finally, FINALLY after 4 days become useful and a real computer:

   • Embed this notice
     Foone🏳️‍⚧️ (foone@digipres.club)'s status on Friday, 27-Feb-2026 08:22:15 JST Foone🏳️‍⚧️

     in reply to

     IT LIVES! AND WE HAVE UNKIOSKED WINDOWS 11 IoT!

   • Embed this notice
     Foone🏳️‍⚧️ (foone@digipres.club)'s status on Friday, 27-Feb-2026 08:22:15 JST Foone🏳️‍⚧️

     in reply to

     The trick was installing MTR (Microsoft Teams for Rooms) and then logging into the passworded Administrator account ("sfb": "Skype For Business") and deleting the Skype account. Now it boots to 11 IoT and I can run updates

   • Embed this notice
     Foone🏳️‍⚧️ (foone@digipres.club)'s status on Friday, 27-Feb-2026 08:22:16 JST Foone🏳️‍⚧️

     in reply to

     There are two recovery images I have that work. One of them boots to an environment that can't use the store and can't run software until it gets to the store.
     The other can't log in because Skype is gone

   • Embed this notice
     Foone🏳️‍⚧️ (foone@digipres.club)'s status on Friday, 27-Feb-2026 08:22:17 JST Foone🏳️‍⚧️

     in reply to

     This machine is a fractal paperweight

   • Embed this notice
     Foone🏳️‍⚧️ (foone@digipres.club)'s status on Friday, 27-Feb-2026 08:22:18 JST Foone🏳️‍⚧️

     in reply to

     It just showed that it was logging into a user account named "Skype"

   • Embed this notice
     Foone🏳️‍⚧️ (foone@digipres.club)'s status on Friday, 27-Feb-2026 08:22:18 JST Foone🏳️‍⚧️

     in reply to

     Yeah I can't get past the setup. It gives me two accounts, Skype and Administrator, and the latter is passworded, and the former doesn't work because I can't login to a Skype account

   • Embed this notice
     Foone🏳️‍⚧️ (foone@digipres.club)'s status on Friday, 27-Feb-2026 08:22:19 JST Foone🏳️‍⚧️

     in reply to

     It replaced the windows logo during boot with the teams logo

   • Embed this notice
     Foone🏳️‍⚧️ (foone@digipres.club)'s status on Friday, 27-Feb-2026 08:22:20 JST Foone🏳️‍⚧️

     in reply to

     okay I have made a recovery disk by using the MITM download hack

     how much do you want to bet this thing won't even boot?

   • Embed this notice
     Foone🏳️‍⚧️ (foone@digipres.club)'s status on Friday, 27-Feb-2026 08:22:20 JST Foone🏳️‍⚧️

     in reply to

     it boots! it's now recovering

     this may finally get us incrementally closer to a version of windows that actually works

   • Embed this notice
     Foone🏳️‍⚧️ (foone@digipres.club)'s status on Friday, 27-Feb-2026 08:22:21 JST Foone🏳️‍⚧️

     in reply to

     I lied. mitmproxy is now redirected to my local server, and Surface IT Tool is downloading from it.

     annoyingly slowly, actually. Only 51Mbps? this is 22gb!

     (it's probably because mitmproxy is handling all the bytes instead of letting nginx do it)

   • Embed this notice
     Foone🏳️‍⚧️ (foone@digipres.club)'s status on Friday, 27-Feb-2026 08:22:22 JST Foone🏳️‍⚧️

     in reply to

     I have downloaded the file and I'm now copying it onto my local server.

     why didn't I just download it on my local server in the first place, so I wouldn't have to copy it across my house's network?

     good question.

   • Embed this notice
     Foone🏳️‍⚧️ (foone@digipres.club)'s status on Friday, 27-Feb-2026 08:22:22 JST Foone🏳️‍⚧️

     in reply to

     okay the files all moved locally so I can just make mitmproxy point it at the different URL. but I think I have been screaming at this problem enough for one day, so I'm going to stop for tonight.

     the surface hub has not defeated me yet, I fight on

   • Embed this notice
     Foone🏳️‍⚧️ (foone@digipres.club)'s status on Friday, 27-Feb-2026 08:22:23 JST Foone🏳️‍⚧️

     in reply to

     my best guess for what is happening: I'm getting randomly loadbalanced onto a bunch of very overloaded servers.

   • Embed this notice
     Foone🏳️‍⚧️ (foone@digipres.club)'s status on Friday, 27-Feb-2026 08:22:24 JST Foone🏳️‍⚧️

     in reply to

     annoyingly I already deleted the file I downloaded earlier.

     (I'm juggling laserdisc archival files right now, so my laptop has a VERY full hard drive, and I thought I was done with that file when it failed verification)

   • Embed this notice
     Foone🏳️‍⚧️ (foone@digipres.club)'s status on Friday, 27-Feb-2026 08:22:24 JST Foone🏳️‍⚧️

     in reply to

     my first attempt and curling it stalled at 16mb.

     not gigabytes, megabytes.

     hey microsoft could I mail you some blank floppies and you just return 'em with the file on it? that might be easier at this point

   • Embed this notice
     Foone🏳️‍⚧️ (foone@digipres.club)'s status on Friday, 27-Feb-2026 08:22:25 JST Foone🏳️‍⚧️

     in reply to

     bad idea: I already MITM'd this once.

     I download the file with curl and stick it on a local fast server. Then I set up mitmproxy to silently rewrite requests to their shitty server to my local one, which will be an actual server that works and doesn't randomly drop connections once out of EVERY FUCKING TIME

   • Embed this notice
     Foone🏳️‍⚧️ (foone@digipres.club)'s status on Friday, 27-Feb-2026 08:22:26 JST Foone🏳️‍⚧️

     in reply to

     21gb!!!!

   • Embed this notice
     Foone🏳️‍⚧️ (foone@digipres.club)'s status on Friday, 27-Feb-2026 08:22:26 JST Foone🏳️‍⚧️

     in reply to

     OH MY GOD ARE YOU SERIOUSLY DOING THIS, MICROSOFT

   • Embed this notice
     Foone🏳️‍⚧️ (foone@digipres.club)'s status on Friday, 27-Feb-2026 08:22:27 JST Foone🏳️‍⚧️

     in reply to

     cross your fingers, we're at 19gb and still climbing at 76 Mbps!

   • Embed this notice
     Foone🏳️‍⚧️ (foone@digipres.club)'s status on Friday, 27-Feb-2026 08:22:28 JST Foone🏳️‍⚧️

     in reply to

     currently on attempt #8

     #7 made it to 17gb (of 22gb)!

   • Embed this notice
     Foone🏳️‍⚧️ (foone@digipres.club)'s status on Friday, 27-Feb-2026 08:22:28 JST Foone🏳️‍⚧️

     in reply to

     slightly tempted to automate it. watch the screen for the visible download amount, and if it hasn't changed in Xty seconds, hit cancel, restart.

   • Embed this notice
     Foone🏳️‍⚧️ (foone@digipres.club)'s status on Friday, 27-Feb-2026 08:22:29 JST Foone🏳️‍⚧️

     in reply to

     it already hung

   • Embed this notice
     Foone🏳️‍⚧️ (foone@digipres.club)'s status on Friday, 27-Feb-2026 08:22:30 JST Foone🏳️‍⚧️

     in reply to

     FUN FACT: the Surface IT Tool doesn't seem to validate any of the windows version info you give it in the JSON file!

   • Embed this notice
     Foone🏳️‍⚧️ (foone@digipres.club)'s status on Friday, 27-Feb-2026 08:22:30 JST Foone🏳️‍⚧️

     in reply to

     yeah no it just failed verification. So I'm just going to try to download it, again, and again, and again, until I get lucky

   • Embed this notice
     Foone🏳️‍⚧️ (foone@digipres.club)'s status on Friday, 27-Feb-2026 08:22:31 JST Foone🏳️‍⚧️

     in reply to

     anyway I have the file now. There's a metadata JSON file that I don't have, but it looks very fakable. Then I can use the official recovery tool to build me a bootable USB drive, like it's supposed to be able to do

   • Embed this notice
     Foone🏳️‍⚧️ (foone@digipres.club)'s status on Friday, 27-Feb-2026 08:22:32 JST Foone🏳️‍⚧️

     in reply to

     IT'S 2026 BUY A REAL COMPUTER

   • Embed this notice
     Foone🏳️‍⚧️ (foone@digipres.club)'s status on Friday, 27-Feb-2026 08:22:32 JST Foone🏳️‍⚧️

     in reply to

     anger canceled, I was just misreading curl. it did resume.

     so again, why doesn't microsoft's official tool do this?