Using the dock with two different Surface Pro 3's

[disambiguous1]

My wife needed a computer set-up that would allow her to work from home on occasion. She borrowed my Surface 3 Pro to check it out, and liked it. Since it looks like she will be needing a new laptop soon, I set her up with a system based on the Surface Pro 3. I got her the dock and a big monitor.

BTW, she has an original Surface RT, and uses that a lot for email and such.

It took a good couple of hours to set her Surface up with the dock (note to people setting up the dock-- you MUST have the dock attached when you do the SECOND update. You do the first update BEFORE you attach a brand new computer to the dock, then attach the computer to the dock and do the second update. In my case there were 54 updates to perform when it attached to the dock, and it sure looks like there is software/firmware inside the dock itself that is modified).

The problem comes when I try to attach my Surface Pro 3 to the dock. It looks like the dock is "married" to her computer, because when I first attach my computer to the dock and then turn it on, it will NOT accept my password! If I take the computer off the dock and then go through the password sign in, then attach it to the dock, it will work-- mostly work, anyway. There are still a few hiccups.

Does anyone know how to deal with this? Are docks designed to work with only one specific computer? This is kind of nuts. Imagine an office where you have people switching between docking stations. If Microsoft made this computer for business, you'd think they'd consider that. -DA1

 

[surfdock]

This is not intended behavior. The docks are universal and no settings are stored in the dock that tie it to a particular Surface Pro 3 tablet as far as I am aware. Are you using a USB keyboard or the built-in Surface keyboard to login? Can you try a different keyboard? If using USB, try attaching the keyboard directly to your SP3 rather than the dock.

Aside from being unable to login, what other specific symptoms do you have? There may be a problem with your SP3 tablet itself. Can you confirm that both SP3 tablets successfully installed all the available updates?

You've probably already gone through this, but posting for others that may come across this thread:
http://www.microsoft.com/surface/en...-drivers/troubleshoot-docking-station#Station

 

[sharpuser]

Keyboard is the Culprit

I have one SP3 and two docking stations- one at my office and one at home. I have two external hard drives attached to my station at home via USB.

- Docking station at my office works fine.
- Docking station at home does not see the Ethernet or any drives. Charging works, and the dock light is illuminated, but no other connections were being made. No software or hardware updates were lacking.
- I use a Microsoft Surface Keyboard (SP3 type)

Fixed the issue by putting my SP3 on the docking station with NO KEYBOARD and voila! Everything works. Then re-attaching the keyboard (I did it while still docked) worked fine, too. Now both docks work every time, with or without the keyboard.

Seems that in the logic of Windows 8.1 (and Windows 10 Technical Preview), the keyboard somehow tells the device manager that it is not docked.

This is a twist on the OP's topic - not two SP3's and one dock, but two docks and one SP3. I think the keyboard is the culprit in both cases.

 

[MrElectrifyer]

Interesting findings. Seems like some firmware bug, 'cause I don't see what benefits Microsoft in restricting the number of docks your Surface Pro can connect to...consider sending the bug report to @surface on twitter...

 

[GreyFox7]

Keyboard is the Culprit

I have one SP3 and two docking stations- one at my office and one at home. I have two external hard drives attached to my station at home via USB.

- Docking station at my office works fine.
- Docking station at home does not see the Ethernet or any drives. Charging works, and the dock light is illuminated, but no other connections were being made. No software or hardware updates were lacking.
- I use a Microsoft Surface Keyboard (SP3 type)

Fixed the issue by putting my SP3 on the docking station with NO KEYBOARD and voila! Everything works. Then re-attaching the keyboard (I did it while still docked) worked fine, too. Now both docks work every time, with or without the keyboard.

Seems that in the logic of Windows 8.1 (and Windows 10 Technical Preview), the keyboard somehow tells the device manager that it is not docked.

This is a twist on the OP's topic - not two SP3's and one dock, but two docks and one SP3. I think the keyboard is the culprit in both cases.

Interesting. what was that old tag line... smart, very smart.
Although maybe MS was too smart for their own good.

You: Sharp, very sharp.