One of the shortcomings of the Surface — all models and generations — is a lack of Ethernet port. “No problem”, you may have thought, “I’ll just use a USB to Ethernet adaptor”. But this was a no-go as no such adaptors worked with the Surface.
But all this has now changed. Take a look at the official Surface Ethernet Adaptor page and there is an interesting note: “To use the Surface Ethernet Adapter with Surface RT you’ll need to update to Windows RT 8.1 and check Windows Update.”
So it seems that all you need to do is install Windows 8.1 or Windows RT 8.1 and then perform an additional update to install the necessary drivers. Great news for anyone who invested in the official adaptor and hasn’t been able to use it!
Update: Microsoft has responded to this and has offered a clarification. “At this time, Surface RT and Surface 2 do not support Ethernet. We’re updating our support page to accurately reflect the current Ethernet capabilities across the entire Surface family.” In other words, the Surface and Surface 2 do not support Ethernet, however, the Pro and Pro 2 do support it.
