NVMe Solid State Drive configuration requirements for Microsoft Hotfixes

NVMe Background information.

What is NVMe?

Non-Volatile Memory Express, also known as NVMe or NVM Express, is a specification that allows a solid-state drive (SSD) to make effective use of a high-speed Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe) bus in a computer.

NVMe is a technology that allows Solid State Drives (SSDs) with increased performance, efficiency, and compatibility across a wide range of systems.

The main benefits of NVMe PCIe SSDs are reduction of drive latency, increased data transfer speed, and lower power consumption, in comparison to older controller design SSDs, through the streamlining of the data transfer process.

NVMe Technical Overview.

NVM Express (NVMe) is a new SSD design from the ground up that is more efficient in the data management processes than previous SSD designs.

NVM Express devices exist both in form of standard-sized PCI Express expansion cards that can be mounted in PCIe expansion slots on a PC motherboard and also for use in the new M.2 specification for internal card mounting (Mostly laptop, 2in1 and tablet configurations).

Like other new technologies, older operating systems do not have native driver support for this technology requires driver installation for these operating systems to recognize any NVMe storage device during the operating system installation.

NVMe Support information.

NVMe support for the Windows 7 Operating System.

Dell system models affected by this issue include but are not limited to the following systems:

• Precision Tower 5810
• Precision Tower 7810
• Precision Tower 7910
• Precision Rack 7910
• Latitude 7370

NOTE: Some systems may require a change in the SATA controller setting in the BIOS from the default setting to AHCI.

NVMe storage devices require a storage controller driver for Windows 7, because this version of Windows does not include a Windows native driver for this technology.

This driver support is available through Microsoft HotFix: KB2990941 - Update to add native driver support in NVM Express in Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2.

It was discovered that if you installed a Windows 7 Stop Error "0x0000007E" MAY occur after you install hotfix 2990941 in Windows 7 SP1 or Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1, and a second HotFix was created by Microsoft to address the this new issue: KB3087873 - "0x0000007E" Stop error after you install hotfix 2990941 in Windows 7 SP1 or Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1.

NOTE: IF you want to insert HotFixes and drivers and then create a bootable Windows Setup DVD, please visit MS site where original Hotfix KB2990941 is located.

Update NVMe drives with Microsoft HotFix and removes Samsung Drivers

Samsung Drivers (Ver: 1.4.7.6) cannot be used at the same time as the Microsoft Windows 7 SP1 or Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 HotFixes (KB2990941, KB3087873). If you have a Samsung-manufactured NVMe SSD as boot drive with Samsung Drivers and you want to install the Microsoft NVMe HotFixes you must reimage your operating system. (Toshiba NVMe SSDs require only the Microsoft HotFix installation, as they have no Toshiba-supplied NVMe drivers at the time of this writing.)

NOTE: Regarding the Dell Precision Tower 5810,7810,7910 and Rack 7910 workstations:
PCIe NVMe SSDs and the M.2 PCIe NVMe SSDs used on the Dell Precision Ultra-Speed Quad and Duo Drives (formerly known as the Zoom 4 and Zoom 2 cards) are not qualified nor supported by Dell with Windows 7 Legacy BIOS modes. These devices are only supported by Dell with the BIOS Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) Mode.