Windows 8 Pro on a Surface Pro 2 (don't jump on my for this....yet, since I will admit it could be a tablet-specific issue, not Windows 8, but please read the rest first)

I manage a number of client networks, about 99% remotely via RDP, physically going into the office only to install printers, etc. I do much of my work at night to avoid interfering with users' schedules. They just leave the computers turned on but logged off at night, and I do updates, etc remotely via RDP. A few of them now have Windows 8.1 computers. An even smaller number are Surface Pro devices.

I ran updates on a Surface Pro 2 last night, and all was fine until the reboot. Then it would not connect to the local WiFi network until after a user had arrived in the office and logged onto the tablet. It then ran the updates pending upon reboot...and this happened again on the next update that was over 1 GB.

I can understand a firmware update having something like this, since it might involve updating FW for the WiFi NIC, but there was no FW update in the next round of updates. It seems as though any updates that cannot be fully installed until after a reboot prevent WiFi connectivity until after logon.

This is not a show-stopper; however, it is something of a problem, since it set back today's user an hour or so while he waited for the updates to install, I rebooted, then I had to contact him to log on so the device would connect to the WiFi network again. But next time it could be a critical update that a user needs to have done between midnight and 5:00 am with no time to wait for two rounds of updates to complete when the user arrives onsite.

Outside the context of updates, the device would normally be available on the WiFi network as soon as the reboot is complete.

Is this a "feature" of Windows update under Windows 8, is it tablet-specific (yes, that is the easy answer, but I am just as sure the Surface Pro forum would send me back here if I asked the question there), or is there some other factor? Or is it just one more way in which MS forgot their loyal business users when they developed Windows 8 to try to draw the iPad crowd away from Apple.

Hello Brian D. Hart,

Do you mean that after the Windows update, the surface cant connect to Wi-Fi automatically?

What update do you mean?

Please uninstall the update and then check if surface can connect to Wi-Fi before the user logon.
You could go to Control Panel\Programs\Programs and Features and click View installed updates to uninstall the update.

System Restore can return your PC's system files and programs to a time before you install the update. You could try to use it.
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-hk/windows7/products/features/system-restore

Best regards,
Fangzhou CHEN

There were many updates involved, and it is not a persistent condition, so there is no need for System Restore or removal of a specific update (even if I could identify which one it was). It was an ephemeral condition that existed for one reboot upon running updates that required post-reboot, post-logon update auto-completion.

When I run updates remotely via RDP, I watch the updates download & install. I then reboot the computer. Normally, within a couple of minutes, I can again connect via RDP; however, certain updates continue installing/applying after reboot, giving the "Applying updates...% complete" message. At least in some cases, this does not occur until AFTER logon, and at least in my recent experience, WiFi was disconnected until after those updates were complete.

WiFi DID connect automatically in subsequent reboots that did not involve completion of updates. However, the entire scenario was repeated on the next set of updates. WiFi was not enabled until after a local user had connected and the pending updates were complete. Everything worked correctly after the next reboot.

But all of this meant that I could not log on remotely after the mid-upgrade reboot to continue the post-reboot portion of the updates; that requires a logon while WiFi is disconnected, so I had to call someone in the office to log on the first time. But, of course, I cannot tell when running Windows updates, which will require post-reboot completion.

Was this behaviour specific to some specific updates, or is it generally the case with Windows 8? Is there any way to force post-reboot-completion updates to complete pre-logon? Why does a user have to logon to finish updates? I run all updates 100% remotely for my clients, and I should be able to trust that updates will be complete after I reboot.

I would suggest providing a list of the updates that were installed. With this list we may be able to determine what update caused the system from being inaccessible until a user logged in. As you mentioned, updates to firmware or wireless adapter drivers are the most likely cause of the issue you described.

Brandon
Windows Outreach Team- IT Pro
Windows for IT Pros on TechNet

There was over a GB of updates that time, and the system is accessible now after subsequent reboots, so there is no need for me to go back and fix anything. It was only the reboot after the update, while completion of updates was pending, that had the problem, so it  is not worth even trying to duplicate the problem.

I do 100% of my updates remotely, so anything that prevents remote logon after an update is problematic, and I would think that some update that needs to continue after reboot should NOT interfere with WiFi connectivity unless it was, perhaps, a WiFi device driver update. But I have never seen that with wired Windows; even when there is a NIC driver update, it proceeds in such a way that I can connect remotely immediately after reboot.

I was just trying to find out if this is standard behavior for all Windows 8.1 updates; that is, if updates requiring post-reboot completion also precede WiFi connectivity.

As noted, I have only a couple of Surface units out there, and I saw this only with the Surface 2, not with the Surface 3, even when a firmware update was required. Those ran just fine on the SP3 although, of course, they are different updates.

If this is not behavior that others have seen, I will just assume it was a specific update that prevented the wireless NIC driver from loading or at least prevented the WiFi connection from being established until the post-reboot updates were complete.