Touch screen on Surface Pro 6 with Kubuntu 25.04 beta not working

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1

Ubuntu Version: 25.04

Desktop Environment (if applicable): KDE

Problem Description:
Touch screen on Surface Pro 6 isn’t working on it.

Relevant System Information:

  • Surface Pro 6
  • Core i5-8250U
  • kernel 6.14.0-13-generic

Screenshots or Error Messages:

What I’ve Tried:
I only just finished installing it, and its the first thing I noticed.
Also noticed it wasn’t working during installation.

I only had time to do the installation and quick testing, but I’m hoping someone else gave it a shot.

I may need to try that Surface Linux project’s kernel, but maybe in a few days. Just wanted to know if it should be working on standard Ubuntu kernel

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I guess you are aware that 25.04 is a development release and not strictly speaking supported for daily use yet.

However, having said that, have you tried any other version of Kubuntu (or other flavours of Ubuntu) on this machine?

If so, which ones were they, and what happened?

(I have a Surface Go 3 currently running Ubuntu 24.04.2 and am going to try the Kubuntu 25.04 beta to see what happens.)

3

not yet
I considered downgrading to 24.10 (for Plasma 6), but I read that the kernel may not support it.

Was hoping I didn’t need to install a 3rd party kernel to get it working

4

I can confirm that the Surface Go 3 touchscreen works fine in Kubuntu 25.04 beta. That’s off a live USB; I didn’t install it.

It sounds like the touchscreen driver for the SP 6 is either missing or not functional for some reason in Kubuntu 25.04 beta. I would suggest trying 24.04 from live USB and seeing if that works. I found that Kubuntu didn’t look the best in 24.04, though that may partly be my personal preferences.

Otherwise, you could try the Surface kernel. If you leave the standard Ubuntu kernel installed, you can just boot back into that if the Surface kernel doesn’t do what you want.

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There is no touch screen driver for Microsoft Surface products in the kernel by default. Please see GitHub - linux-surface/linux-surface: Linux Kernel for Surface Devices

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Thought it was already there

https://www.reddit.com/r/SurfaceLinux/comments/1jnhv32/comment/mkjw3jv/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

7

Clearly, based on your comment and the fact that you tested, that’s not the case.

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Touchscreen drivers for some Surface devices are in the standard kernel. I’ve been using it on my Surface Go 3, though currently I’m not (for other reasons).

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Right, that’s the Surface Go 3, which is a newer device than the Surface Pro 6 (or in my case the Surface Pro 4).

1 Like
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For some reason, maybe because of the higher number in the model name, I thought that the SP6 was newer than the SG3. Obviously, I was wrong.

Back to the OP’s issue, it sounds like trying the Surface kernel would be worthwhile.

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