Problem Booting Surface Pro 8 from Thunderbolt Enclosure with OCuLink eGPU Setup

Question

Hello,

I'm trying to set up an OCuLink eGPU setup on the Surface Pro 8 in which the eGPU dock would be connected to my Surface via an OCuLink cable, which would be inserted into the m.2 to OCuLink adapter.

The m.2 to OCuLink adapter replaces the swappable m.2 slot found in my Surface Pro 8 (originally intended for the internal storage of the Surface Pro 8), and I thought I could boot Windows 11 from an external thunderbolt drive connected to one of my Surface's thunderbolt ports; however, this is not the case.

For some odd reason, my Surface refuses to boot from the external thunderbolt drive and not only that, but it also refuses to power on at all or even charge when plugged in with the original charger that came with it when there's no internal drive present.

Do note that I also have an ATX PSU to power the eGPU dock, as I know there wouldn't be any power delivery going across the OCuLink cable.

What I've done in attempting to fix this issue:

• Assigned boot priority to highest for USB devices and lowest for internal drives through the Surface UEFI
• Enabled boot from USB devices through Surface UEFI
• Enabled alternate boot sequence through Surface UEFI
• Attempted to boot from the thunderbolt enclosure plugged in that has Windows 10 OS installed within it (and having an internal drive present both on the thunderbolt drive and in the Surface) by restarting and going to UEFI settings to no avail.

All of these attempts still couldn't allow me to power on or even charge my Surface when there was no internal drive present and when it was connected to the aforementioned external thunderbolt drive.

Is there a way to forcibly turn on my Surface when there's no internal drive present and being able to boot from my external thunderbolt drive?