[SOLVED] Trying to boot Windows 7 from NVME drive.

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Jun 13, 2021
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I decided to install an NVME drive (Samsung EVO 970 Plus) to install Windows 7 on to get more speed. I have an existing Windows 7 installation that runs fine. I installed the Samsung NVME driver, and Windows recognized it. I can do everything with it EXCEPT boot into Windows from it. I did a lot of reading on how to modify my BIOS to recognize the NVME drive, and I succeeded in doing so. I converted the NVME drive to GPT. I cloned my Windows 7 installation to the NVME drive (I HATE the idea of having to install Windows on the NVME drive from scratch). The BIOS sees the drive, and also sees Windows Boot Manager in the boot priority list. When I choose Boot Manager as first priority, the computer ignores the NVME drive and goes straight to the preexisting Windows installation. No Boot Manager menu appears. I tried simply disconnecting the old drive, and got a missing boot disk error. What do I need to do to boot to the NVME drive??? What drives me crazy is that I did the same thing a few years ago, except I cloned Windows from a small HDD to a larger one (GPT) and it worked perfectly. I can't remember how I did it.
 
Solution
I consider that a last resort. It took eight days to configure Windows just the way I want it (installing programs, drivers, etc.) A HUGE hassle.
you should keep those application's install packages and all system drivers stored separately and ready to run so that is not a hassle when they need to be deployed.

keeping those along with backups of user files & application data(settings, etc) make this whole process very simple each time it needs to be done.

what seems like a HUGE hassle is what your going through now.
I consider that a last resort. It took eight days to configure Windows just the way I want it (installing programs, drivers, etc.) A HUGE hassle.
you should keep those application's install packages and all system drivers stored separately and ready to run so that is not a hassle when they need to be deployed.

keeping those along with backups of user files & application data(settings, etc) make this whole process very simple each time it needs to be done.

what seems like a HUGE hassle is what your going through now.
 
Solution
what seems like a HUGE hassle is what your going through now.
He has a fully working system right now, cloning only takes a few minutes and even installing is really fast these days especially with an nvme.
On top of all that he is also learning a lot.
Having a system that is only semi working even for just a few hours is harder on the psyche.
But of course everybody is different and there is no right or wrong, I'm just saying that it's not that big of a hassle depending on how you look at it.
 
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Jun 13, 2021
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He has a fully working system right now, cloning only takes a few minutes and even installing is really fast these days especially with an nvme.
On top of all that he is also learning a lot.
Having a system that is only semi working even for just a few hours is harder on the psyche.
But of course everybody is different and there is no right or wrong, I'm just saying that it's not that big of a hassle depending on how you look at it.
Thank you sir.
 
Jun 13, 2021
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Jun 13, 2021
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So...irrespective of the clone operation...can you do a clean install on this 970 and get it to run?
If so, they go back down the clone path.

But try a fresh install, with ONLY that one connected, just to verify this BIOS mod process, etc.

See if it actually works.
Tried that. The W7 install disk doesn't recognize it. This is a W7 problem. I'm going to try cloning from a W7 GPT disk (I've installed W7 on a GPT disk in the past).
 
Tried that. The W7 install disk doesn't recognize it. This is a W7 problem. I'm going to try cloning from a W7 GPT disk (I've installed W7 on a GPT disk in the past).
Unless that w7 was installed on the pci slot it's not going to work, if it expects to boot into sata it will try to boot into sata.

Try ntlite and slipstreaming all possible drivers that could be helpful into a new iso and try a fresh install with that.

Or just use an ssd as your boot drive and use the boot menu to boot into your nvme.
 
Jun 13, 2021
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I did it!!!!! I booted from the NVME!!!! The answer turned out to be ridiculously simple. I went into the BIOS, and told it to boot from "other OS" instead of "Windows UEFI". Boot time is SUPER fast, and programs load QUICKLY. I am one happy camper!
 
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