[SOLVED] Problem installing Windows 10 on Samsung 970 EVO plus NVMe drive

[benjamin4077]

Just bought all the components and assembled the PC. Now trying a clean install of Win10 Pro (downloaded from MS website) from USB to Samsung 970 EVO Plus. Disconnected all other HDD & SSD. PC boots from the USB and Installation starts but stops when it comes to choosing target disk for installation. I cannot see my 970 EVO plus in the list. It asks for driver for storage devices. Updated BIOS of the motherboard but no effect. My Components are -

Processor - i9 9900k
Motherboard - Asus ROG Maximus XI Hero Z390
RAM - G.SKILL Trident Z RGB Series DDR4 (8GB X 4pcs, 3200Mhz) Total 32GB
CPU Cooler - NZXT Kraken X62
SSD M.2 - Samsung 970 EVO Plus 1 TB
Graphics card - MSI GTX1080 Gaming X - Twin Frozr VI
Power supply - CORSAIR RMX RM1000X 1000W
Cabinet - Phanteks Enthoo Pro Full Tower Chassis
Monitor - Dell 27 inches 4K Ultrasharp

I have an old installation of Win10 Home on Kingston SSD (from old machine with i7 7700K) . Connected that Kingston and the PC booted up without any problem. Went to Disk Management and Win10 Home prompted me to initialize the 970 EVO Plus. Did that and formatted to GPT. Now the 970 EVO plus is accessible when booted from Kingston SSD Win10 Home. Everything works well, all my software etc installed previously on the Kingston also works well on this new rig, except a nagging for activation of Win 10 Home. However when I try to clean install Win10 Pro from the USB, it cannot find my 970 NVMe drive.

Please help me. Tried searching the web for last two days, but no answer to my particular problem. Please suggest the proper bios settings on Asus ROG Maximus XI Hero Z390. Also please tell me how to add the NVMe driver to the Win10 Pro installation USB. I looked at Samsung website and downloaded the driver which is an exe file. Installed it in Win10 Home on Kingston SSD. But that does not solve the problem because I have to disconnect all other HDD & SSD when doing the clean install on 970 EVO Plus. (I have assembled many PCs successfully right from x286 days and Win 3.1, but never with a NVMe drive)

 

[Mtop]

Benjamin,
You need to install a raid driver to install the operating system to your hero XI.
Look at manual and mark pages for the NVMe, X4,X2 mode for slot and then creating a raid disk, also look at your m2.1 and m2.2 configurations.
When I set up my system it took quite awhile until I understood all the ramifications.
In certian modes you will lose sata ports or may have to reduce bus speeds. Most on the web advised against setting up sata on this MB. Try searching MB and 970 NVMe.
In my case I wanted the Sata port more than Raid as all my raids have not worked well.

 

[Calvin7]

The OP does not appear to be using RAID.

Guide to installing Windows 10 on M.2 NVMe boot drive:

Windows 10 has the NVMe driver, however you can replace it with the Samsung driver after completing the installation.

The NVMe M.2 drive should be the only storage drive connected.

NVMe SSDs do not appear within the BIOS until Windows creates the system partition with the EFI Boot Sector. Your M.2 SSD contains UEFI driver information within the firmware. By disabling the CSM module, Windows will read and utilize the M.2-specific UEFI driver

Go into the BIOS, under the boot tab there is an option for CSM. Make sure it is disabled.

Click on the secure boot option below and make sure it is set to another OS, not windows UEFI.

Click on key management and clear secure boot keys.

Insert a USB memory stick with a bootable UEFI USB drive with Windows 10 Setup* on it, USB3 is quicker but USB2 works too. A Windows DVD won’t work unless you’ve created your own UEFI Bootable DVD.

Press F10 to save, exit and reboot.

Windows 10 will now start installing to your NVME drive as it has its own NVME driver built in.

When the PC reboots hit F2 to go back into the BIOS, you will see under boot priority that windows boot manager now lists your NVME drive.

Click on secure boot again but now set it to Windows UEFI mode.

Click on key management and install default secure boot keys

Press F10 to save and exit, Windows will finish the install. Once you have Windows up and running, shutdown the PC and reconnect your other SATA drives.

*How to create a bootable UEFI USB drive with Windows 10 Setup
https://winaero.com/blog/how-to-create-a-bootable-uefi-usb-drive-with-windows-10-setup/

The Windows 10 ISO link is broken in the above. You can obtain the ISO file here:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

 

[benjamin4077]

Benjamin,
You need to install a raid driver to install the operating system to your hero XI.
Look at manual and mark pages for the NVMe, X4,X2 mode for slot and then creating a raid disk, also look at your m2.1 and m2.2 configurations.
When I set up my system it took quite awhile until I understood all the ramifications.
In certian modes you will lose sata ports or may have to reduce bus speeds. Most on the web advised against setting up sata on this MB. Try searching MB and 970 NVMe.
In my case I wanted the Sata port more than Raid as all my raids have not worked well.

Thanks, but I am not trying for RAID.

 

[benjamin4077]

The OP does not appear to be using RAID.

Guide to installing Windows 10 on M.2 NVMe boot drive:

Windows 10 has the NVMe driver, however you can replace it with the Samsung driver after completing the installation.

The NVMe M.2 drive should be the only storage drive connected.

NVMe SSDs do not appear within the BIOS until Windows creates the system partition with the EFI Boot Sector. Your M.2 SSD contains UEFI driver information within the firmware. By disabling the CSM module, Windows will read and utilize the M.2-specific UEFI driver

Go into the BIOS, under the boot tab there is an option for CSM. Make sure it is disabled.

Click on the secure boot option below and make sure it is set to another OS, not windows UEFI.

Click on key management and clear secure boot keys.

Insert a USB memory stick with a bootable UEFI USB drive with Windows 10 Setup* on it, USB3 is quicker but USB2 works too. A Windows DVD won’t work unless you’ve created your own UEFI Bootable DVD.

Press F10 to save, exit and reboot.

Windows 10 will now start installing to your NVME drive as it has its own NVME driver built in.

When the PC reboots hit F2 to go back into the BIOS, you will see under boot priority that windows boot manager now lists your NVME drive.

Click on secure boot again but now set it to Windows UEFI mode.

Click on key management and install default secure boot keys

Press F10 to save and exit, Windows will finish the install. Once you have Windows up and running, shutdown the PC and reconnect your other SATA drives.

*How to create a bootable UEFI USB drive with Windows 10 Setup
https://winaero.com/blog/how-to-create-a-bootable-uefi-usb-drive-with-windows-10-setup/

The Windows 10 ISO link is broken in the above. You can obtain the ISO file here:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

Thanks a lot for detailed reply. But before I can use your guide, I need to go into BIOS. And my PC is refusing to go to BIOS. I tried disconnecting all other drives (left the NVMe drive in) and pressing del/F2 repeatedly but it does not POST. Tried reconnecting the old SSD with Win10 Home and it booted directly to Windows, refusing to enter BIOS. Then changed the power button action in settings in Windows etc to disable fast boot. Also tried forced shutdown by long pressing power switch. But no effect. Then disconnected everything and removed CMOS battery, put it back after 10 minutes. Now the PC does not boot (with only the NVMe drive in it, not even the USB). Q code stuck on A2 (IDE detect). And now there is no post and no boot even after reconnecting old SSD with Win 10 Home. Guess now I will remove the NVMe and try to boot into BIOS and then apply all settings as suggested by you. Will report back. Thanks again!

 

[benjamin4077]

It worked! Thanks Calvin7. I could install Windows on the NVMe drive by using your instructions. However, now my PC boots only when I use onboard graphics. When I use my GeForce 1080, there is no display. And it does not detect my broadband connection. Can you help?