How to manage asset tag on Microsoft Surface devices

Asset tagging is a process of tagging or labeling an asset so you can easily keep track of its location in an organization and to whom it belongs.

There are two ways to apply an asset tag to a Surface device. Physically, you will need to print an asset label with an asset number and stick it on the device. Digitally, Microsoft has provided an administrative tool that administrators can use to assign an asset tag or asset number to Microsoft Surface devices.

This article will show you how to download the tool to assign an asset tag on supported Microsoft Surface devices.

Surface devices that support asset tagging
How to download the Surface Asset Tag tool
How to use the Surface Asset Tag tool
How to check Asset Tag via Surface UEFI/BIOS
FAQs
1. How to extract the Surface Asset Tag.zip file?
2. Why am I getting a “UEFI version does not support asset tag” message?

1 Surface devices that support asset tagging

The asset tag feature is available on all Surface devices supporting Surface UEFI and having UEFI firmware version 3.9.150.0 or later. That includes:

Surface 3
Surface Pro 3 or later
Surface Pro X (all gens)
Surface Go (all gens)
Surface Book (all gens)
Surface Laptop (all gens)
Surface Laptop Go (all gens)
Surface Laptop Studio (all gens)
Surface Studio (all gens)

2 How to download the Surface Asset Tag tool

The Surface Asset Tag tool is available for download from the Microsoft Download Center. You can use the following links to download:

To download from the Microsoft Download Center:

Go to the Surface Tools for IT download page and click on the Download button.
Check on the “Surface Asset Tag.zip” check box and click on the Next button to start downloading the tool.
When it’s finished downloading, extract and copy it to a preferred location. In this case, I copy it to the “C:\Surface\Assets” folder.

3 How to use the Surface Asset Tag tool

The Surface Asset Tag is a command line tool that you can use via Command Prompt or Windows PowerShell with Administrative rights. To start using the tool:

Right-click on the Start menu and select Windows PowerShell (Admin), Terminal (Admin), or Command Prompt (Admin).

Change the current directory to where you saved the tool. In this case, type “cd C:\Surface\Assets”.

Checking the current asset tag on a Microsoft Surface device

To retrieve the current asset tag assigned to your Surface device, use the following command:

.\AssetTag.exe -g

Here are the results you can expect to see:

No assigned asset tag
With an asset tag assigned

Assigning an asset tag to a Microsoft Surface device

To assign or set an asset tag to a Surface device, use the following command:

.\AssetTag.exe -s ASSET_TAG

Note According to Microsoft, the asset tag value must contain between 1 and 36 characters. Allowed characters include A-Z,a-z,0-9, period(.), and hyphen (-).

For demonstration, we will assign an asset tag to a Surface Laptop 3 as SM20220001.

.\AssetTag.exe -s SM20220001

Note After assigning an asset tag, you need to reboot your Surface to let your device update the asset tag.

Clearing asset tag from a Microsoft Surface device

To clear or remove an asset tag from a Surface device, use the following command:

.\AssetTag.exe -s

4 How to check Asset Tag via Surface UEFI/BIOS

To check the asset tag number on a Surface device via Surface UEFI, use the following steps:

Windows 11
Windows 10

Open Windows Settings
First, you need to access Windows Settings by going to Start and opening the Settings app with the gear icon (or by using Win + I shortcut key).
Go to Windows Updates > Advanced options
On the left pane of the settings, select “Windows Updates“. Then select “Advanced options” from the more options section.
Select the “Recovery” option
Under the “Additional options”, select “Recovery”.
Restart your Surface Laptop in “Advanced Startup” mode.
Under recovery options, click the “Restart now” button to restart your Surface Laptop in advanced startup mode which will allow you to change startup settings.
Select “Troubleshoot”
After your Surface is restarted, you will see a blue screen with the following options. Select “Troubleshoot”.
Select “Advanced options”.
Select “UEFI Firmware Settings”.
Select “Restart” to restart your Surface directly into the UEFI Firmware Settings.

Open Windows Settings
First, you need to access Windows Settings by going to Start and clicking the Gear icon (or by using Win + I shortcut key).
Go to Update & Security
In Windows Settings, select “Update & Security“.
Go to Recovery
On the left side of the settings, select Recovery.
Restart your Surface in Advanced Startup
Under the “Advanced startup” section, click Restart now to restart your Surface in an advanced startup mode.
Select “Troubleshoot”
After your Surface is restarted, you will see a blue screen with the following options. Select “Troubleshooting”.
Select “Advanced options”.
Select “UEFI Firmware Settings”.
Select “Restart” to restart your Surface directly into the UEFI Firmware Settings.

When your Surface booted into the Surface UEFI interface, check the Asset Tag value under the PC information tab.

5 FAQs

Check the following frequently asked questions that might answer questions you have.

Question 1

How to extract the Surface Asset Tag.zip file?

Answer

Starting from Windows 7, Microsoft Windows natively supports the .zip file format. To extract a zip file on Windows 10/11:

Right-click on the “Surface Asset Tag.zip” file and select “Extract All…”.
Browse to a directory where you want to store the extracted files, and click Extract.
When it finishes the extracting process, the extracted files will show in a new File Explorer window.

Question 2

Why am I getting a “UEFI version does not support asset tag” message?

Answer

As mentioned above, the Surface Asset Tag tool only works on supported Surface devices with UEFI version 3.9.150.0 or later. If you try to run the tool on a non Surface device, it will return the “UEFI version does not support asset tag” message.

Now you know how to manage the Surface asset tag number using the Surface Asset Tag tool. You also learned how to boot into Surface UEFI to verify the asset tag number you’ve assigned. If you have any questions or problems with the steps detailed in this tutorial, please let me know in the comment below.