I have an Asus P9X79 LE motherboard with a 3960X CPU and would like to do a fresh install of Windows 7 on a Samsung 960 PRO PCIe NVMe drive using a PCI Express to M.2 PCIe SSD Adapter. I know Windows 7 does not have native support for NVMe but I have Samsung NVMe drivers for use during an install. Or another option would be to install the drive as a secondary one then install drivers, then clone the OS to the NVMe and try to boot to that. I guess my main question is, will the P9X79 LE support NVMe as a boot drive? Thanks.
My question too. Does anyone knows if Windows 7 setup program can see a NVMe without using drivers or integrating hotfixes?
No it cannot. It is a os issue not the mobo. so i have this new build i am working on for my buddy, he does not like windows 10 so during my lunch brake i was going to install windows 7 pro on his samsung 960 ssd but it could not recognize any available drives.
lol, i know what to do man. I know the fix, unless you're telling me samsung has a tool where it combines the windows 7 os and nvme drivers together? i mean let me know if there is a better way around it, currently im using asrock's windows usb installation tool that combines the os and NVMe drivers.
What asrock tool do you mean? This is asrocks answer about win 7 and NVMe: Maybe you're confusing it with the usb3 driver integration tool?
This, there is a tool that asrock and gigabyte offers where you can combine windows 7 os and nvme drivers for your ssd. Orginally when you want to fresh install windows 7 on a NVMe ssd it cannot see the ssd until you combine them both. The tool they provide is the easiest way that i found.
I can't post links yet but ill type it out for those that come across this issue 1. Go to Gigabyte's website and look for your mobo or any motherboard. 2. For instance I clicked on GA-Z170X-Gaming G1, go to support-then downloads. Choose correct Os, under utilities download "Windows USB Installation Tool" 3. Then download the NVMe drivers for your ssd and place it in the Windows USB installation tool folder. 4. Open up the installation tool, for the source path choose the windows 7 os you want, ( i already had mine installed on usb so i chose that) For destination choose the usb you are installing the os on 5. Make sure you click on all three options-"Add Usb drivers, add NVMe drivers, Add packages to an offline Windows 7 image". ( I actually did not click on "add usb drivers to an offline windows" just the NVMe and add packages since I already had the os on my usb installed.
Or just open an elevated cmd and mount the boot.wim index 2 and run this command: Code: dism.exe /image:"x:\mount" /Add-Driver /driver:"y:\xxbit Samsung NVMe drivers v2.1.0.1611 WHQL for Win7 xXX" /recurse You can do the same for install.wim indexes.