What patches hotfixes or drivers to run Win 7 in NVMe M.2?

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[glnz]

What patches, hotfixes, drivers or updates are needed to boot and run Win 7 Pro 64-bit from an NVMe M.2 SSD?

And maybe I need the same to let that Win 7 run USB 3.1?  What are they?

And where can I find them now?

Thanks.

• This topic was modified 1 month, 3 weeks ago by glnz.
• This topic was modified 1 month, 3 weeks ago by glnz.

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glnz wrote:

What patches, hotfixes, drivers or updates are needed to boot and run Win 7 Pro 64-bit from an NVMe M.2 SSD?

None.

I ran Windows 7 Pro on NVMe M.2 SSD for years with no problems.
Create a full image copy of your current system.
Install the new NVMe M.2 SSD.
Restore from image.

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Booting from an M2 drive requires hardware support. If your motherboard will do it, or the M2 card adds firmware, then it is the same as booting from SATA.

What is your machine / do you have an M2 add-in card?

cheers, Paul

1 user thanked author for this post.

satrow

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Alex5723 and Paul T – Thanks.  You’re both going to laugh.

My PC is a Dell Optiplex 7010 MT (purchased in 2014) that normally cannot boot anything from an NVMe M.2 SSD.  However, there is a really great article that shows how the PC’s BIOS can be modified to let it boot from an NVMe – that article is this link:  https://www.tachytelic.net/2021/12/dell-optiplex-7010-pcie-nvme/

Following that article, I have previously modified a different 7010 running Win 10 Pro 64-bit successfully, and that 7010 is now the fourth production PC in my wife’s office.  The increase in storage throughput speed is amazing – 15 times faster than with the original HDD.  It starts up in a few seconds.  If you read the article’s comments, you’ll see that an IT guy modified more than a hundred 7010s, 3010s and 9010s at his company the same way.

The problem I’m having now is with my current personal 7010 that dual-boots Win 10 and Win 7, both Pro 64-bit.  I followed the article again, the Win 10 side of the NVMe is booting nicely, but the Win 7 side is stuck – won’t start.  Same even if I try to start in the 7’s Safe Mode or Last Known Good Configuration.  (In the running Win 10, I used bcdedit /set to give me both (a) the Legacy boot menu of white letters against black background to choose between the 10 and the 7 so I can hit F8 for the 7 and get its Safe Mode and (b) Last Known Good Configuration for the 7.)

I posted extensively in SevenForums about this because I had problems starting anything from the NVMe until one of the responders reminded me to turn on Enable Legacy ROMs in my BIOS on the original HDD.  That fix now got me to boot at least the 10 side of the NVMe.  If you want to see those struggles and have another laugh, the link is here:  https://www.sevenforums.com/general-discussion/428148-how-repair-win-7-doesnt-start-but-keep-files.html

So, on my dual-booting 7010 with the NVMe, I can start its Win 10 but not its Win 7.  I was thinking of going back to the HDD and adding drivers / hotfixes / updates to its Win 7 to make the 7 more friendly to an NVMe environment.

What do you think?  Feel free to post at the SevenForums link if you prefer.

Thanks.

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Have you installed the hotfix for the NVMe driver? I don’t have the KB number to hand at the minute.

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steeviebops — While in the Win 7 from my original HDD before the most recent clone to the NVMe, I was able to run the link by SIW2 in my SevenForums thread to his “Windows6.1-KB2990941-v3-x64.msu,”, but I was unable to run his link to “Windows6.1-KB3087873-v2-x64.msu”. That second one gave me a message that it was not appropriate for my PC.

Should I go back to the Win 7 in the HDD and try to run some more drivers, hotfixes or installations? And where can I find them now?

FYI – thanks to AskWoody, I was keeping my HDD’s Win 7 updated through mid-last year., on the full updates (Plan A).  Did those updates already have NVMe drivers for Win 7?  But happy to try to install any NVMe or related drivers or updates you might suggest.

Thanks.

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I recall two updates for Windows 7 that were meant to add NVMe support – KB2990941 and KB3087873.

Hope the link below will be useful:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/update-to-add-native-driver-support-in-nvm-express-in-windows-7-and-windows-server-2008-r2-03cd423b-d42e-66c2-722b-019d16455a6b

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/-0x0000007e-stop-error-after-you-install-hotfix-2990941-in-windows-7-sp1-or-windows-server-2008-r2-sp1-77937ef8-99e8-7bea-f36c-5cb0d43d9847

https://www.dell.com/support/kbdoc/en-us/000143402/nvme-solid-state-drive-configuration-requirements-for-microsoft-hotfixs-kb2990941-kb3087873?lwp=rt

 

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Anonymous – thanks.  Good of you to post those links.  Unfortunately, they don’t (or no longer) link to the actual hotfix .msu downloads.

1. I did get some .msu or .exe downloads from my thread at SevenForums (link above) but would still like to get them here if anyone can give me a link to same.
2. Did recent Win 7 updates through, say, a few months ago already include these NVMe-friendly hotfixes/NVMe drivers?
3. I would also appreciate getting links for the typical AskWoody Group A Win 7 updates starting, say, March 2022.  Are they available somewhere?
4. Any idea why I was able to install KB2990941 on my original HDD yesterday but not KB3087873 ?

Thanks again.  Looking forward to more comments here.

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glnz wrote:

I would also appreciate getting links for the typical AskWoody Group A Win 7 updates starting, say, March 2022. Are they available somewhere?

The Rollups should be listed monthly in this thread and on the Main Blog each month under the Patch Tuesday Post by Susan. Look for my posts.

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glnz wrote:

steeviebops — While in the Win 7 from my original HDD before the most recent clone to the NVMe, I was able to run the link by SIW2 in my SevenForums thread to his “Windows6.1-KB2990941-v3-x64.msu,”, but I was unable to run his link to “Windows6.1-KB3087873-v2-x64.msu”. That second one gave me a message that it was not appropriate for my PC.

Should I go back to the Win 7 in the HDD and try to run some more drivers, hotfixes or installations? And where can I find them now?

FYI – thanks to AskWoody, I was keeping my HDD’s Win 7 updated through mid-last year., on the full updates (Plan A).  Did those updates already have NVMe drivers for Win 7?  But happy to try to install any NVMe or related drivers or updates you might suggest.

Thanks.

I’m back home now so checked my archive and yes, KB2990941 is the one. Do you have SP1 installed and is the hotfix the correct (for the want of a better word) “bitness” for the OS you have?

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steeviebops – Yes, I installed SP1 ages and ages ago, and what I ran yesterday was for 64-bit Win 7.  (So it said on its file name, and I doubt the PC would have accepted the wrong bitness anyway.)

Open to try again if you have your own links to KB2990941  and KB3087873.

And please check my four Qs two posts above.

Thanks.

ADDED IN EDIT – should I try to do a Win 7 Repair Install?  Has anyone ever done that successfully and NOT LOST the existing apps and files?

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Sure, here you go. I only have KB2990941 though.

https://1drv.ms/u/s!AgFmvIdSh487tSSUjGVBJh4fmV-q?e=OjapvM

This was an out of band update so wasn’t included with any cumulative updates, to the best of my knowledge.

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steeviebops – thanks!

If anyone has KB3087873 for Win 7 64-bit, please do the same.

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https://www.catalog.update.microsoft.com/Search.aspx?q=3087873

See my post above for list of Rollups

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My guess is that W7 doesn’t have a driver for that disk controller that copes with the mods to make it boot.
The other possibility is the driver can’t manage a dual boot. This is easy to test – install only W7.

Given it is a dual boot machine, maybe use an old disk to boot and pass control to the OS on the NVMe.

cheers, Paul

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Paul T, steveiebops, PKC and others – Two things:

FIRST

in addition to the two KBs for which you have given me links (thanks again), I have found a bunch of drivers and apps on a Samsung webpage for its NVMe’s, and the NVMe I am using is indeed a Samsung 970 EVO Plus NVMe.

That Samsung page is here:  https://semiconductor.samsung.com/consumer-storage/support/tools/

So, my plan is now to go back to the Win 7 in my original HDD, install or re0install the two KBs and also the Samsung stuff.  Probably also install the Samsung stuff on the Win 10 side of my original HDD.  Then re-clone from my original HDD to the Samsung NVMe.

SECOND –

Maybe the reason I couldn’t install KB3087873 before is that it requires the WESUI7 workaround for a later KB that will normally install only on an Extended 7.  So if it again doesn’t install natively, I will run it through my WESUI7.

What do you think?

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Any update with a publish date later than Win7 EOL (Jan 2020) will need WESUI. If you use it, you will also need it’s pre-reqs (SSU, etc). See @abbobi86 ‘s thread linked in #2529674.

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Paul T

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KB3087873 was released in 2015. That was long before Windows 7 EOS (2020), so it does not require ESU (or ESU bypass).

As of problem with installation of KB3087873, your description sounds similar to the one from:

https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/windows/en-US/ee0821e9-c583-4f24-96b3-abf52145289d/kb3087873-this-update-not-applicable-message

Maybe check whether you can now (with KB2990941 installed) boot Windows 7 on NVMe?

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