[SOLVED] when and how should i install my chipset drivers and sata drivers during clean installing windows 10 on my new ssd?

eziowar

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Jun 11, 2015
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hi, my cpu i5-4670k, gpu - zotac 1050ti mini, mobo- gigabyte z87x-ud3h, bios version F10b, psu corsair cs650m , ram 4x4gb @1600 mhz, MX 500 500gb ssd, WD 1TB sata internal hdd, AHCI,windows10,
that's ssd is brand new and i wanna clean install my windows 10 on that ssd. My pendrive has windows 10 from media creation tool which i downloaded 2 days ago. all my drivers are in that 1 tb hdd which i will keep detaching from system until windows 10 installation complete and after that i will attach that hdd and install necessary drivers. i'm following this guide to install windows 10 - (1) How To - How to do a CLEAN installation of Windows 10 | Tom's Hardware Forum . i dont have any other pen-drive or external storage right now.
Now i have few questions -
  1. in my motherboards driver website -https://www.gigabyte.com/in/Motherboard/GA-Z87X-UD3H-rev-1x/support#support-dl-driver-sataraidahci , i see this sata driver with a note about installation- "Intel SATA Preinstall driver(For AHCI / RAID Mode)Note: Windows setup to read from USB thumb drive". do i have to install that driver before/during windows installation and how do i do it? is it ok if i install that driver after completing windows 10 installation ? cause currently i have no other pendrive or external storage to install those driver from, during windows installation. or if during windows installation my ssd showed up and thats mean windows 10 installation meadia allready had necessary storage controller drivers. then do i still need to install those sata drivers from gigabyte website which are dated 2015. which sata drivers are latest - the sata drivers inside windows installation media or sata drivers from gigabyte website?
  2. do i need to manually install my chipset's drivers https://www.gigabyte.com/in/Motherboard/GA-Z87X-UD3H-rev-1x/support#support-dl-driver-chipset after completing windows 10 installation? or windows installation media provides and installs latest chipset drivers during windows 10 installation automatically?
  3. in my motherboard's driver website all the drivers are dated 2016 or earlier. for chipset driver, realtek audio driver,intel lan driver, sata driver should i still use those old drivers which my motherboard's website is providing or should i try to search latest drivers from respective manufacturer's sites like intel, realtek etc and install those latest driver.
please help me out cause i cant install my windows 10 until i know these things , advance thanks for your precious inputs
 
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Solution
If you want to install windows with AHCI enabled, you will need to download the preinstall drivers. The normal procedure is you have to enable AHCI in the BIOS prior to the install. With most motherboards, Windows 10 install media will download the AHCI drivers automatically, but some require you manually load them; in your case it appears it will be necessary to download these drivers and copy them on a USB. During the Windows install process, you will be asked if you have any AHCI/RAID drivers that need to be loaded. When you see this, assuming you have already enabled AHCI in the BIOS, you need to choose yes and direct the Windows installer to the USB with the drivers. BTW, there is no requirement you enable AHCI. In my case the...
  1. Do it after
  2. Yes
  3. Use the old drivers the site provides. The hardware itself is "old." too so don't expect updates at all for these drivers.

Usually I just let windows handle the drivers for me, get everything booted up, get an internet connection, reboot a few times, If that doesn't work then do it manually or use a third party tool.
 
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  1. Do it after
  2. Yes
  3. Use the old drivers the site provides. The hardware itself is "old." too so don't expect updates at all for these drivers.
Usually I just let windows handle the drivers for me, get everything booted up, get an internet connection, reboot a few times, If that doesn't work then do it manually or use a third party tool.
thank you so much for replying, can u please clarify me 2 more things-
1) do i need to manually install my chipset's drivers https://www.gigabyte.com/in/Motherboard/GA-Z87X-UD3H-rev-1x/support#support-dl-driver-chipset after completing windows 10 installation? or windows installation media provides and installs latest chipset drivers during windows 10 installation automatically? the chipset drivers in gigabyte website is dated 2015
2)if during windows installation my ssd showed up and thats mean windows 10 installation meadia allready had necessary storage controller drivers. then do i still need to install those sata drivers from gigabyte website which are dated 2015. which sata drivers are latest - the sata drivers inside windows installation media or sata drivers from gigabyte website?
 
  1. Windows 10 should automatically install those driver once an internet connection has been established. You can do it manually if you want later when It doesn't automatically.
  2. No. Again Windows should automatically install everything, if not then you can manually do it. You will know when windows doesn't install drivers...things will not work properly. If you boot up and windows works well and you are not getting errors, windows did its job
 
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  1. Windows 10 should automatically install those driver once an internet connection has been established. You can do it manually if you want later when It doesn't automatically.
  2. No. Again Windows should automatically install everything, if not then you can manually do it. You will know when windows doesn't install drivers...things will not work properly. If you boot up and windows works well and you are not getting errors, windows did its job
thank you for replying. even though windows installs all drivers like chipset, sata etc automatically from internet, should i still need to install those drivers manually from gigabyte's website? i mean which drivers gonna b latest and better - those which windows provide automatically or those are availabe at my motherboard gigabyte website and dated 2015? i'm asking this cause for my gpu windows automatically installs an older nvidia driver, so i always install latest driver from nvidia.
 
Last edited:
If you want to install windows with AHCI enabled, you will need to download the preinstall drivers. The normal procedure is you have to enable AHCI in the BIOS prior to the install. With most motherboards, Windows 10 install media will download the AHCI drivers automatically, but some require you manually load them; in your case it appears it will be necessary to download these drivers and copy them on a USB. During the Windows install process, you will be asked if you have any AHCI/RAID drivers that need to be loaded. When you see this, assuming you have already enabled AHCI in the BIOS, you need to choose yes and direct the Windows installer to the USB with the drivers. BTW, there is no requirement you enable AHCI. In my case the increase in speed was not noticeable and boot times increased slightly.

You should also know Windows 10 has a huge array of default drivers. I have loaded Windows 10 on an XP PC, Windows 7 PC and Windows 7 laptop, and usually only only needed one manufacturer driver, the rest being Windows 10 default drivers.
 
Solution
If you want to install windows with AHCI enabled, you will need to download the preinstall drivers. The normal procedure is you have to enable AHCI in the BIOS prior to the install. With most motherboards, Windows 10 install media will download the AHCI drivers automatically, but some require you manually load them; in your case it appears it will be necessary to download these drivers and copy them on a USB. During the Windows install process, you will be asked if you have any AHCI/RAID drivers that need to be loaded. When you see this, assuming you have already enabled AHCI in the BIOS, you need to choose yes and direct the Windows installer to the USB with the drivers. BTW, there is no requirement you enable AHCI. In my case the increase in speed was not noticeable and boot times increased slightly.

You should also know Windows 10 has a huge array of default drivers. I have loaded Windows 10 on an XP PC, Windows 7 PC and Windows 7 laptop, and usually only only needed one manufacturer driver, the rest being Windows 10 default drivers.
thank you for your valuable input. btw why do u think that in my case windows 10 install media wont install AHCI automatically?