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We’re very pleased to announce the availability of time-saving features in our Surface Diagnostic Toolkit for Business (SDT4B) that lets users submit support tickets directly within the tool. The new streamlined experience eliminates the need to manually enter warranty and other system information.

 

You can download SDT4B directly from Surface Tools for IT.

 

Using SDT4B

  1. The new tool retains the user friendly interface and first checks for the latest Surface and Windows updates. If some are missing, it proceeds to install updates automatically (subject to network policy) before continuing to the main menu:

 

sdt1.png

 

2. Run all available tests or select just the ones you need:

 

sdt2.png

 

3. Running tests triggers a series of checks for detailed hardware component diagnostics. We recommend running all tests before contacting Support.

 

4. When all tests have finished, the tool asks you to confirm if your issue is fixed.

 sdta.png

 

5. If the issue isn’t fixed or you don’t know, you can submit a Support ticket by selecting Contact us to Get help now. 

 

sdt4.png

 

6. SDT4B then collects the appropriate diagnostic and system information about the device and pushes it into the Support ticket. This eliminates the overhead of searching for relevant files, messaging back and forth with a support engineer, having to look up warranty information, and so on.

 

7. The tool invites you to select from drop-down lists and briefly describe the issue. Make sure you include details of any troubleshooting steps you have tried.

 

sdt5.png

 

sdt6.png

 

sdt7.png

 

8. After entering any additional info, review the request and then select Submit.

 

sdt9.png

9. SDT4B collects relevant information about the device while log files are being attached.sdta2.png

 

sdtaa1.png

 

10. You can now view the support ticket and all the attached information at 

https://aka.ms/SurfaceSupportCases

 

Note: IT admins can centrally deploy a customized version of SDT4B that includes a subset of available tests and related functionality. To learn more, see Deploy Surface Diagnostic Toolkit for Business.

 

Brought to you by Dr. Ware, Microsoft Office 365 Silver Partner, Charleston SC.