Intel® Solid State Drives with PCIe NVMe

1 Document Number: 337143-003US intel Solid State Drives with PCIe NVMe Boot installation Guide August 2020 intel Solid State Drives Boot installation Guide August 2020 2 337143-003US Ordering Information Contact your local intel sales representative for ordering information. Revision History Revision Number Description Revision Date 001 Initial release February 2018 002 Section , added note re: 3rd party tool capability through a GUI. June 2018 003 Minor formatting changes and added reference to intel Memory and Storage Tool in Section 5 August 2020 intel technologies features and benefits depend on system configuration and may require enabled hardware, software or service activation.

2 Performance varies depending on system configuration. No computer system can be absolutely secure. Check with your system manufacturer or retailer or learn more at Tests document performance of components on a particular test, in specific systems. Differences in hardware, software, or configuration will affect actual performance. Consult other sources of information to evaluate performance as you consider your purchase. The products described in this document may contain design defects or errors known as errata which may cause the product to deviate from published specifications. Current characterized errata are available on request.

3 Contact your local intel sales office or your distributor to obtain the latest specifications and before placing your product order. intel Corporation. intel , the intel logo, and other intel marks are trademarks of intel Corporation or its subsidiaries. Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others. intel Solid State Drives August 2020 Boot installation Guide 337143-003US 3 Contents Revision History .. 2 1 Overview .. 4 2 System Requirements .. 5 Software .. 5 Determining Compatibility .. 5 UEFI BIOS Compatibility .. 5 Operating System Compatibility .. 6 Hardware.

4 6 Hardware installation .. 6 3 UEFI Configuration and Setup .. 7 Enabling the Compatibility Support .. 7 4 Windows Install Process .. 8 Windows and Windows 8 Windows 7 .. 8 Method 1: Windows 7 installation with the Client NVMe Microsoft Windows Drivers for intel 9 Method 2: Windows 7 installation with the intel Rapid Storage Technology ( intel RST) Driver .. 9 Method 3: Windows 7 installation using DISM with Windows Hotfix .. 11 USB Driver Inject .. 13 5 installation System Confirmation .. 15 Tables Table 1: Terminology .. 4 Table 2: Windows Compatibility .. 6 Figures Figure 1: Required Configuration for Windows 7 Boot Support.

5 7 Figure 2: intel RST BIOS: Advanced Example .. 10 Figure 3: intel RST BIOS: UEFI Boot .. 10 intel Solid State Drives Boot installation Guide August 2020 4 337143-003US 1 Overview This guide explains how to install the Windows operating system into intel SSDs, that utilize the PCIe NVMe interface, as a bootable medium in the computing platform. Note: Datacenter usage, workloads, or environments are not supported and will invalidate the warranty for client intel SSDs. The information in this document is intended to assist in the setup and preparation of the intel SSD as the primary boot device, not a secondary storage device.

6 Non-Volatile Memory Express (NVMe) is a scalable non-volatile memory host interface that can help increase efficiency and reduce latency, while delivering high speed access to storage media connected through the PCIe bus, thus resulting in increased overall bandwidth. This high bandwidth bus technology is a data transport feature that has become an industry standard for a wide range of motherboard vendors today. Table 1: Terminology Abbreviation Term Definition CSM Compatibility Support Module A UEFI firmware feature that enables legacy BIOS-style booting by emulating a BIOS environment. NVMe Non-Volatile Memory Express The next-generation specification used to access SSDs through the PCI Express bus.

7 PCIe Peripheral Component Interconnect Express A standard connection found on most systems that supports the high speed of the NVMe SSD. UEFI Unified Extensible Firmware Interface A specification for system firmware, meant to replace legacy BIOS, that provides software layer between the operating system and the system firmware. intel Solid State Drives August 2020 Boot installation Guide 337143-003US 5 2 System Requirements Software Determining Compatibility The information and instructions in this guide apply to intel SSD s that utilize the PCIe with NVMe Interface. Check that you have the latest instructions and compatibility information before attempting to install the intel SSD as the boot drive.

8 Setting up the NVMe SSD as the boot drive is not supported on every system configuration. Specific requirements must be met for a successful boot. To support the required UEFI NVMe driver, your system s firmware must be based on UEFI or later. For Specific details about UEFI support and NVMe driver support in the OS, please see Sections and If your system was purchased after 2012 or shipped with Windows or Windows 10 pre-installed, it most likely supports UEFI. Check with your system vendor to verify. UEFI BIOS Compatibility Booting from an NVMe PCIe SSD is only supported on systems that support UEFI.

9 UEFI is a system firmware that endeavors to improve upon legacy BIOS and standardize system processes, such as booting, loading drivers, and more. It is important that the operating system installer is booted in UEFI mode. Booting in UEFI enables the installer to create an entry in the UEFI boot menu and create a UEFI system partition on the boot device which will contain the bootloaders of installed operating systems. Upon start up, the boot manager will search the UEFI system partition for a valid operating system bootloader. This bootloader is then executed to load the operating system. Windows 7 does not support native UEFI booting without a Compatibility Support Module.

10 As a result, system compatibility is limited and varies by vendor. To properly boot Windows 7 from an NVMe SSD, your system must support loading UEFI drivers when the Compatibility Support Module is enabled. To determine if your system is supported, check the following: Verify that the system BIOS Boot motherboard settings are configured to boot from UEFI devices. This is often the default on most modern motherboards. For the best chance of success, disable the legacy boot and select UEFI. Consult your motherboard vendor s support website to find the latest UEFI BIOS for your particular motherboard.