Sm951 NVME windows 7

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Chris-toe-pher

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Aug 19, 2011
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Hi all

I recently received my Msi gaming m7 z170a mobo, i7 6700k and sm951 nvme ssd and I'm having trouble getting windows installation to show the sm951 as a disk to install the os to.

The drive shows as a bootable disk in the bios, I have the latest bios and I'm using a uefi usb version of windows but still nothing. Any suggestions?
 
Solution
JohnnyLucky
Microsoft Windows 7 did not originally support NVME ssd's simply because there were no consumer NVMe ssd's until very recently. If you want to use an NVMe ssd, then you will have to do a Windows 7 update for NVMe support. I am still using Windows 7 and that is what I had to do. You'll have to go to the Microsoft website and fill out a form. Microsoft will then send you an email with a link to the NVMe patch.

Here is the link to the Microsoft Windows 7 NVMe patch:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2990941

Also check the MSI web site for system BIOS updates for your motherboard that might include improved NVMe compatability. I did that for my ASROCK Z97 Extreme9 motherboard.

I can't remember if there is an update for the Intel...
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Microsoft Windows 7 did not originally support NVME ssd's simply because there were no consumer NVMe ssd's until very recently. If you want to use an NVMe ssd, then you will have to do a Windows 7 update for NVMe support. I am still using Windows 7 and that is what I had to do. You'll have to go to the Microsoft website and fill out a form. Microsoft will then send you an email with a link to the NVMe patch.

Here is the link to the Microsoft Windows 7 NVMe patch:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2990941

Also check the MSI web site for system BIOS updates for your motherboard that might include improved NVMe compatability. I did that for my ASROCK Z97 Extreme9 motherboard.

I can't remember if there is an update for the Intel chipset too. It wouldn't hurt to check.
 
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Solution


I thought that but wasn't sure if it would work with it being a 'hotfix' instead of just a driver. I've been using an unofficial version of windows 10 to get by until I get 7 sorted. I will give it a go in the morning thanks.
 
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I'm having the exact same problem with a Windows Ultimate clean install using the Asus Maximus Gene VIII mobo and sm951 NVMe SSD.

Can't get it (windows) to see the drive regardless of what I do. Latest 0902 bios. Using a Win7 DVD. Anyone got any ideas?
 
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was anyone able to figure this out? I am having the same issue with mine. I'm using an adaptor, bios see it, windows does not.

Asus Maximus Gene VII mATX. booting from flash drive. I get to the install windows screen with drive selections and nothing pops up.

 
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I seem to recall having to do more than just selecting an M.2 ssd as a boot drive in the UEFI BIOS but I can't remember what it was. It had to do with selecting UEFI mode. Unfortunately I can't get to the pc right now to take a look. I'll try and figure it out later and report back.
 
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Sadly not.

In the end I had to install Windows 7 to an old hard-drive, update it to the latest version, then upgrade it to Windows 10. Create a bootable install on a USB. Disconnect hard drive, boot from the USB and install on the NVMe drive.

Very long winded, but it works really well.
 
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this might be a "fred flintstone" solution but it worked for me and later i found ramcity had also detailed a version of this on their installation guide

i did a fresh install of win 7 x64 to a samsung 840 EVO, then cloned it to my xp941. When i went to boot from the xp941, it didn't boot, but i installed the win 7 DVD and did a "repair" and after that it booted fine, and still is 5-6 months later.

I had successfully installed win 7 twice using the installation guide one of the mods over on the Asus mobo forum had provided, but both times had tried to adjust the volume on the partition volumes (for whatever reason, i had an unallocated 5 gb partition that i was trying to add to my "C" partition, one time using disk management and the other using EaseUS Partition Manager- both times the system crashed and would not "repair" - that's when i tried the clone approach

fwiw
 
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OK so here is what I did....

ASUS Maximus Gene VII mATX using Samsung SM951 NVME with PCIE adaptor. (not m.2 slot)

I have tried all methods to install windows 7 on this including updating Bios, chipset, various settings etc. nothing works...The only nvme support Windows 7 users can get is a hot fix. However that can only be applied to existing operating systems already installed. So no help there...

As a last ditch effort I downloaded a copy of Windows 8.1, put the ISO on a Flash drive so it could boot. I only changed 2 settings in the MOBO bios, Pcie= boot UEFI first, and changed the onboard configuration for PCIEx4 since I was using an adaptor.

Finally this worked, I installed windows 8.1, and directly after that I did the free upgrade to windows 10

Honestly never really wanted Windows 7...I was only trying to use it because I had a copy of it laying around. Kinda sucks I had to purchase a windows 8.1 edition only to upgrade to windows 10. Oh well! At least I can sleep at night again...lol

 
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I'm looking at upgrading to an SM951 NMVe soon and have been doing some digging to see the steps involved in installing an OS onto it and using it as a boot device. Win 7 x64 is currently my preferred OS.

According to this document from Intel, Win 7 only has limited support for NMVe compared to 8. It recommends that among other BIOS settings tweaks, CSM (compatibility support module) is set on to work on the device. This should help with some Win 7 compatibility issues. There are some useful examples of mobo settings for a variety of chipsets and manufacturers in that doc.

Couldn't see any mention of it in the other comments, thought I'd suggest that as a possible cause to investigate.
 
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rather than the 951, take a look at the 950 PRO - i just installed one for a bud and installation (win 7) couldn't have been easier. I installed the 950 in an expansion slot, installed the samsung nvme driver for it http://www.samsung.com/global/business/semiconductor/minisite/SSD/global/html/support/downloads.html?CID=AFL-hq-mul-0813-11000170 ,
then cloned to the 950 PRO using samsung's data migration software - It's on the same page as the driver linked above. Total clone time was under 10 minutes

and bam, it's up and running. Odd thing, after the clone, and going into bios to select "windows boot manager" for the 950 PRO in boot priority, the orig OS drive was taken offline by windows, with a msg that there was a "signature collision with another drive".

But samsung did their job well with that cloning software

fwiw
 
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I agree, 950 was better for me all around. I returned the 951. I'm now getting 2590mb/s read 1560 mbs write. Couldnt be happier!
 
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I used samsung driver for my 950 pro when installing win 7 x64 home today. I have been seeing some errors during regular windowsusing and if i get more i will "go back" to win 10
 
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