I wonder why it installed in Sata mode in the first place. It's installed in the bottom NVME M2 slot, supposedly for better thermals. I put that Samsung 960 evo there in the initial build and booted up with it as the boot drive from day one. Would you know how I got it installing under Sata in the first place?

It's unlikely that bios update is needed for the use of a M2 device, however generally speaking you should always run the latest bios.


Here is the procedure for install of Windows on a Nvme drive.

1 - Make sure you unplug all SATA and USB drives, the M.2 drive has to be the only drive installed.
2 - Go into the bios, under the boot tab there is an option for CSM, make sure it is disabled.
3 - Click on secure boot option below and make sure it is set to other OS, Not windows UEFI.
4 - Click on key management and clear secure boot keys.
5 - Insert a USB memory stick with a UEFI bootable iso of Windows 10 on it.
6 - Press F10 to save, exit and reboot.
7 - Windows will now start installing to your NVME drive as it has its own NVME driver built in.
8 - When the PC reboots hit F2 to go back into the BIOS, you will see under boot priority that windows boot manager now lists your NVME drive.
9 - Click on secure boot again but now set it to WIndows UEFI mode.
10 - Click on key management and install default secure boot keys
11 - Press F10 to save and exit and windows will finish the install.

Pavoluhliarik wrote:
It's unlikely that bios update is needed for the use of a M2 device, however generally speaking you should always run the latest bios.


Here is the procedure for install of Windows on a Nvme drive.

1 - Make sure you unplug all SATA and USB drives, the M.2 drive has to be the only drive installed.
2 - Go into the bios, under the boot tab there is an option for CSM, make sure it is disabled.
3 - Click on secure boot option below and make sure it is set to other OS, Not windows UEFI.
4 - Click on key management and clear secure boot keys.
5 - Insert a USB memory stick with a UEFI bootable iso of Windows 10 on it.
6 - Press F10 to save, exit and reboot.
7 - Windows will now start installing to your NVME drive as it has its own NVME driver built in.
8 - When the PC reboots hit F2 to go back into the BIOS, you will see under boot priority that windows boot manager now lists your NVME drive.
9 - Click on secure boot again but now set it to WIndows UEFI mode.
10 - Click on key management and install default secure boot keys
11 - Press F10 to save and exit and windows will finish the install.

Thank you for the information. Is this scenario doable with the boot drive I'm currently using, or only if I started a new NVME drive?

Does the nvme disk show it to you in the biose? Does the nvme disk show it to you in windows?

dolmann1 wrote:
I wonder why it installed in Sata mode in the first place. It's installed in the bottom NVME M2 slot, supposedly for better thermals. I put that Samsung 960 evo there in the initial build and booted up with it as the boot drive from day one. Would you know how I got it installing under SATA in the first place?

I don't know about the XI but my XII shows the M.2_3 is a dual PCIe or SATA slot. Really, no way I would know how you got that set up. But I would check the Bios to see how that slot is configured. Also, look at other drives in both the M.2 and SATA ports.. Remember, if you are thinking about changing the configuration, use msconfig.exe, just in case to set up the special boot after making such a change..

When the drive is configured correctly, it will show in the Device Manger, the Samsung (or Microsoft) NVMe Controller In the Storage controllers section. The drive will show up in the Disk Drives section..

If it has me in the m.2.2 connector so it doesn't collide with the sata, I would try to reset the bios again.