Problem installing Windows 7 to a Samsung SM951 PCIe AHCI M.2 SSD on an Asus Z97-A/USB3.1

[jjaybird1]

Hi everyone. Every time I try to install Windows 7 burned to USB media using Rufus, when I get to the Windows installer screen for selecting the disk/partition on which you wish to install, Windows always says "Windows cannot be installed to this disk. This computer's hardware may not support booting to this disk. Ensure that the disk's controller is enabled in the computer's BIOS menu."

I am running an Asus Z97-A/USB3.1 mobo with the firmware updated to 2801 11/11/2015. I've read that the AHCI model doesn't require any extra driver support.

I've tried formatting the SSD as GPT and MBR. I've tried disabling CSM, enabling it, and selecting "Auto." I've tried it using OPROM legacy first, and UEFI first. The secure boot keys are unloaded.

It seems like no matter what I try, the Windows installer always sees it as a nonbootable disk. I'm out of ideas of what to test. If anyone has any ideas as to what's wrong, I'd be appreciative.

 

[Hyboria]

Does your machine have an existing OS or are you doing a completely fresh install?

Also, have you considered using Windows 10? I faced a similar problem to you with my recent build. I ended up just downloading the media creation tool from Microsoft and it installed without me even having to think.

If you're super keen on Windows 7 (and you are coming from a completely fresh install) you could always install Windows 10 as it doesn't seem to have issues with M.2 drives, then try and downgrade to Windows 7 from there.

Might not be the most technical solution but it sounds like you've tried everything that I did before trying out Windows 10.

 

[ihameed46]

JJaybird1, I feel your pain as I had a similar situation. I also use an Asus Z-97 A/USB3.1 board and was trying to download W7. There are a number of issues; with the motherboard's newer UEFI BIOS and how it goes about loading W7 and how the W7 installer likes to load the OS, which are surmountable but will take considerable time. The first issue is the boot process. W7 looks for the old style BIOS that uses the MBR boot loader which uses a different partitioning system. The newer motherboards like the Asus you have have native support for the newer UEFI BIOS that uses GPT partitioning system. The reason you are getting the message "Windows can not be installed on to this disc" is because if you are using RUFUS (and I don't know how you have set up RUFUS to format the USB key) then there is a mismatch between the partitioning systems. You need to set RUFUS to GPT partitioning system. If the W7 installer can't find an NTFS partition it will stop and give you the error message you are getting.

You need to do the following. On youtube first see the following video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IxUprqB2PM which explains how to create a W7 UEFI USB boot disk. Make sure you download the installer from Microsoft site and you are not using an old installer from pre UEFI days. Then use that USB installer and everything should be ok. In case you get no joy there is another way but more convoluted. However, that will allow you to use your current (legacy) W7 installation to be converted to UEFI with no data loss. Its a hack. Watch the video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qk6_K9hVu_k.

One other piece of advice. Once you have the UEFI installer on your USB drive and are ready to install W7 remember that then in your mobo's BIOS settings you should go into the BOOT menu and set the CSM to load a UEFI compliant OS. Leave the Secure Boot disabled till you have a stable booting system and then you can toy around with getting Secure Boot enabled. If all else fails contact me. I never did this myself because I wanted to ge to W10 and was using W7 as a stepping stone but people on the web have these systems working so I know it works. If you don't mind W10 then your life will be much smoother as W10 has no issues with UEFI systems. W7 is pre-historic in that way. W8.1 was the first native UEFI compliant Microsoft OS. Good luck. Let me know how you get on.

 

[esteinberg]

Ok after all night doing what microsof said with four different patches regarding this M2.Sata I found this patch from HP and it works on Dells, Acers, Hp's and Lenovo's
http://h20564.www2.hp.com/hpsc/swd/public/detail?swItemId=wk_149537_1