Boot nvme: How to Set NVMe as Boot Drive

We reboot the computer, boot from the Clover flash drive and observe the number of icons on the screen indicating boot options — there should be more of them, because now Clover sees your NVMe SSD.

Half the battle is over!

Installing a new OS on a new NVMe SSD

Next, in order to take advantage of booting from a fast NVMe SSD, we need to actually put the system on it. And there is a nuance. In order to avoid problems in the future with attempts to boot from your NVMe disk from under Clover, it is highly recommended not to transfer your current system to a new disk, but to install a new system on the NVMe disk from scratch. The problem is rooted in the type of bootloader your operating system was chosen and used when it was installed on the computer. If you now have a system with a BIOS without NVMe support, then the current OS bootloader is focused on the BIOS, and not on the EFI.

It is to this bootloader that Clover transfers control, and in EFI emulation mode. For reference, the clover loader of my Win64 is on the clover flash drive here G:\EFI\BOOT\BOOTX64.efi

Transferring such an OS to an NVMe disk and using it to boot in EFI mode just won’t work, you will need to manually change the OS bootloader , and this is laborious, not quite justified and fraught, IMHO.

Therefore, we boldly stock up on a license key for the new OS (well, or find where the old one is) and go to the Media Creation Tool download page to make a boot disk for your Windows operating system. The fact is that for some time now Microsoft has begun to include both BIOS and EFI bootloaders in the image created by the Media Creation Tool. And now this bootable flash drive can boot absolutely on any systems with Legacy BIOS, UEFI and EFI. And before, you had to process the resulting boot image and integrate Rufus into it to boot in EFI mode (for example, scroll to the middle).

Note

Yes, you will need a second bootable flash drive to install the OS on the NVMe SSD.
No, you won’t be able to write a Windows distribution to a flash drive with Clover.

OS installation

Installing the operating system on the new NVMe SSD is quite regular and fast.
You need to boot with two flash drives inserted, and boot from a clover flash drive, and not from a Windows distribution, do not mix it up.

In the Clover interface, find the download from the flash drive with the distribution of your OS. Next, the installation of the OS should begin. At some point, the system will reboot (you are installing Windows), and you will have to choose to continue booting from your NVMe SSD, again, do not mix it up! Do not choose to re-boot from the OS distribution, otherwise the installation will simply start over, and we need it to continue from the SSD and, preferably, complete.

After installing a new system on your new NVMe SSD, an entry will appear in Clover that a new OS was installed from under it. Also, the boot icon for the new OS should appear first in the list of downloads, and if I’m not confusing anything, then it will be called «Boot Microsoft EFI Boot from EFI» .

And after the final installation of the OS, remove the USB flash drive with its distribution so that it no longer appears in Clover and in My Computer.

And in your BIOS, the disk boot order should always start with a clover stick until you upgrade the hardware to support EFI.

Then, and only then, can you proudly put your now aged NVMe SSD first! .

That’s it, actually

Now, every time you reboot, you will be taken to the Clover interface and press the Enter key (if your OS is listed first). But then enjoy the new system and fast SSD 🙂

Unfortunately, in the absence of Clover Configuator, I was not able to configure Clover so that it automatically loads my OS, for example, after 5 seconds. inaction. To avoid pressing the Enter key every time. But of course there is such an option in Clover.

I would be grateful if someone knows how to set up such a boot mode manually, without a configurator. The Clover settings file is usually located here G:\EFI\CLOVER\config.plist
Tags are said to be responsible for this option:

 Timeout
5
and
DefaultVolume
LastBootedVolume 

The first specifies the delay time before autoloading, and the second — the id of the disk from which we want to boot by default, or the LastBootedVolume value, which remembers the id of the last disk from which the boot was performed.

But for some reason it doesn’t work for me 🙁

There is a suspicion that with these values ​​there is some kind of lag in Clover on AMD. Either the timer does not count, or LastBootedVolume is not remembered, but I’m not sure.

PS
But if you initially paid a little more, and bought not a PCI-E >> M. 2 adapter, but a Raid controller for M.2 disks, then you would not have to read all of the above, and even more so to do all this … Because The raid controller has its own microsystem and emulates (or mimics) itself as a Legacy device, making available all the disks inserted into it in all BIOSes, old and new.

UPD
Users alpha_ds and walkman7 kindly added the DefaultVolume tag and a link to the Clover web configurator to the post.
Thanks to igrblkv for the tip on CloverGitHub.

How to boot from M.2 SSD Windows 10? Focus on 3 ways

How Boot From M 2 Ssd Windows 10

Summary :

What is M.2 SSD? How to install Windows 10 on M.2 SSD? How to boot from M.2 SSD? This post from MiniTool will show you how to set up M.2 as your boot drive in three different ways. If you want to know how to install Windows 10 on an NVMe SSD and get the best performance, keep reading.

Quick Navigation:

What is an M.

2 SSD?

When it comes to improving computer performance, choosing the fastest storage device is the smart move. So, an M.2 SSD would be a good choice. M.2, also known as the next generation form factor, is an interface standard for ultrabooks or tablet computers that can be used to replace mSATA SSDs.

M.2 SSD has more flexible physical characteristics, which allows you to use modules of different widths and lengths. Overall, it is smaller than an mSATA SSD.

M.2 SSD supports PCIe 3.0, SATA 3.0 and USB 3.0 while mSATA SSD only supports SATA. The M.2 SSD delivers fast speeds and stores more data than most mSATA SSDs. M.2 SSD has a maximum speed of 4GB per second while SATA SSD can only handle 600MB per second.

For more information about M.2 SSD, you can read the post: M. 2 SSD vs SATA SSD: which one is right for your PC? — Mini Tool

With faster speed, more and more users would like to install M.2 SSD in their computers and ask if they can boot from M.2 SSD or set up M.2 as boot drive. Of course you can.

In the next section, we will explain how to boot from an M.2 SSD or how to install Windows 10 on an M.2 SSD.

3 ways to boot from M.2 SSD

In this section, we will show you 3 ways to boot from M.2 SSD. If you don’t want to reinstall the OS on an M.2 SSD, you can try the first two methods. It will be much easier for them to install M.2 as their boot drive. If you want to clean install Windows 10, use the third method.

Note: To boot from M.2 SSD, first check if your computer supports M.2 interface.

Method 1: Clone OS to M.2 SSD via MiniTool ShadowMaker

To install Windows 10 on M.2 SSD, you can clone the OS from the source drive to M.2 SSD and boot from it. In this way, you will not lose personal data, as well as save time and convenience.

So, to clone OS on M.2 SSD, you can use the clone tool — MiniTool ShadowMaker, which will help you clone OS from HDD to SSD without damaging the original data.

It is also a product of professional Windows backup software to keep your PC and data safe by creating backup images.

So, with so many features, just download it using the following button or choose to buy the extended version.

Now, here is a guide on how to install M.2 as a boot drive.

Step 1 Install M.2 SSD on PC

First you need to install M.2 SSD on your PC. You can read the post How to Install an M.2 SSD in a Desktop PC take the link.

Step 2: Install and run MiniTool ShadowMaker

1. After installing the M.2 SSD on your computer, you need to install MiniTool ShadowMaker.
2. Then run it.
3. Press Continue test .
4. Click Connect to This computer continue.

Step 3. Select clone source and destination

1. After entering its main interface, go to tools page.
2. Click Clone disk .
3. Press Source module to select the disk clone source. Here you need to select the original system drive as the clone source.
4. Press Destination module to select the destination drive. Here you need to select M.2 SSD as the target drive. Then press End to continue.

Step 4 Start cloning OS to M.2 SSD.

1. After selecting the source and destination disks to clone, click OK on the Clone Disk page, then MiniTool ShadowMaker will start cloning the disk.
2. Do not interrupt this process until it is finished.

When the disk cloning process is completed, you will receive the following warning message. It tells you that the source and destination drive have the same signature, so delete either one. If you want to boot from the target drive, first change the BIOS settings.

Step 5. Set M.2 SSD as boot drive

1. After cloning OS to M.2 SSD, you need to set M.2 as boot drive to boot from it.
2. So, restart your computer to enter the BIOS. Start your computer and press a hotkey such as F2 (it may differ depending on the make of your computer) to enter the BIOS.
3. Then go to Downloads tab to change the boot order. You need to install an M.2 boot drive as the first boot sequence.

When all steps are completed, you can boot your computer with M.2 SSD. Thus, setting M.2 as a boot drive is very easy.

Method 2: Clone OS to M.2 SSD using MiniTool Partition Wizard

To install Windows 10 on M.2 SSD and boot from M.2, we will show you the second method. So you can also clone OS to M. 2 SSD.

MiniTool provides another tool to clone an operating system to an M.2 SSD. This is the MiniTool Partition Wizard. is a partition magic designed to optimize partition and disk usage, such as extending a partition, performing data recovery, partition repair and so on.

With so many features, download it right away to have a try.

Now we will show you how to clone OS to M.2 SSD and how to boot from M.2 Windows 10 boot disk.

Step 1. Install M.2 SSD in your computer

First you also need to install M.2 SSD in your computer. For detailed operating instructions, you can use the first method listed above.

Step 2 Start cloning OS to M.2 SSD.

1. After installing the M.2 SSD on your computer, install the MiniTool Partition Wizard and run it.

2. After entering the main interface of MiniTool Partition Wizard, select the source system disk and select Copy from context menu to continue.

3. Select the target drive. Here you have to select M.2 SSD as the target drive. Then press next .

4. Select the available copy options. Then press next .

• For SSD users, option Align partitions to 1MB is recommended as it may improve disk performance.
• If you choose option Use GUID partition table for target disk , target disk will be converted to GPT and this is a paid feature.

buy now

5. Then carefully read the note about changing the boot order if you want to boot from M.2 SSD. Then press End to continue.

6. Finally, you can review the changes and click Apply to execute them.

Step 3: Change Boot Order in BIOS

After cloning OS to M.2 SSD, you need to enter BIOS settings to change boot order and set M.2 SSD as default boot drive. For detailed operating instructions, use the first method listed above.

After you have completed all the steps, you can successfully boot your computer with M.2 SSD.

In addition to the disk clone function, MiniTool Partition Wizard also provides Move OS to SSD function that allows you to move OS to M.2 SSD.

Method 3: Install Windows 10 on NVMe SSD

In the above part, we showed you how to set up a Windows 10 M.2 boot disk in two ways. In this part, we will show you the third way.

If you don’t want to use the original operating system and want to install a new one, try this method. Before reinstalling the OS, please back up your important files.

Here’s a guide to installing Windows 10 on an M.2 SSD.

Step 1: Create your Windows 10 9 installation media0263

1. To install Windows 10 on an M.2 SSD, you first need to create Windows 10 installation media.
2. Click here to download the Microsoft Media Creation tool.
3. Then run it on your computer. You can read the post Windows 10 Media Creation Tool Complete Guide: How to Use to learn how to use it to create Windows 10 installation media.0263

   Then you need to install the M.2 SSD on your computer. For detailed instructions, refer to the first method above.

   Step 3: Start installing Windows 10 on M.2 SSD.

   1. Connect the Windows 10 installation media to your computer and boot from it.

   2. After booting the computer from the installation media, select the language, time, and keyboard. Then press next to continue.

   3. Then click Install now to continue.

   4. Next, you need to enter your Windows license key. You can also select option I don’t have product key and sign in later.

   5. Then accept the license terms and press next to continue.

   6. You need to choose which type of installation you want. Here we take the last one — Custom: install only Windows (advanced) For example.

   7. Select the disk to install Windows 10. Here you need to select the M.2 SSD. Then press next to continue.

   8. Then you need to wait for the Windows 10 installation to complete.

   9. After the process is complete, enter the BIOS to change the boot order and boot the computer from the M.2 SSD. For detailed instructions, refer to the first method above.

   After completing all the steps, you can successfully boot from the M.2 SSD.

   From the information above, this publication provides 3 ways to install Windows 10 on an M.2 SSD and also shows you how to boot from an M.2 SSD. If you want to use the original operating system, you can clone the OS to M.2 SSD. If you want to reinstall Windows 10 on M.2 SSD, you can try the third solution.

   After installing Windows 10 on M.2 SSD, you can get better performance because M. 2 SSD provides high transfer speed.

   Using NVME SSD as system drive on computers with older BIOS and Linux OS

   If configured properly, you can boot from NVME SSD even on older systems. It is assumed that the operating system (OS) is able to work with NVME SSD. I am considering booting the OS, because with the drivers available in the OS, the NVME SSD is visible in the OS after booting and can be used. Additional software (software) for Linux is not required. For OS of the BSD family and other Unixes, the method is most likely also suitable.

   To boot from any storage device, the bootloader (BOP), BIOS or EFI (UEFI) must contain drivers for this device. NVME SSD drives are quite new devices compared to BIOS, and there are no such drivers in the firmware firmware of older motherboards. In EFI without NVME SSD support, you can add the appropriate code, and then it becomes possible to fully work with this device — you can install the operating system and boot it. For old systems with so-called. «legacy BIOS» booting the OS is unlikely to do this. However, this can be bypassed.

   How to

   I used openSUSE Leap 15.1. For other Linux, the steps will be about the same.

   1. Prepare the computer to install the operating system.
   You need a PC or server with a free PCI-E 4x slot or longer, no matter which version, PCI-E 1.0 will suffice. Of course, the newer the PCI-E version, the faster the speed will be. Well, actually, NVME SSD with M.2 adapter — PCI-E 4x.
   You also need some kind of drive with a capacity of 300 MB or more, which is visible from the BIOS and from which you can load the OS. It can be an HDD with IDE, SATA, SCSI connection. S.A.S. Or USB flash drive or memory card. It won’t fit on a floppy disk. A CD-ROM will not work and will need to be rewritten. DVD-RAM — no idea. We will conditionally call this thing a “legacy BIOS drive”.

   2. Load Linux for installation (from an optical disk or a bootable flash drive, etc. ).

   3. When partitioning a disk, let’s distribute the OS among the available drives:
   3.1. Let’s create a partition for the GRUB bootloader at the beginning of the «legacy drive BIOS» with a size of 8 MB. I note that here the openSUSE feature is used — GRUB on a separate partition. For openSUSE, the default file system (FS) is BTRFS. If you place GRUB on a partition with a BTRFS file system, then the system will not boot. Therefore, a separate section is used. You can place GRUB elsewhere, as long as it boots.
   3.2. After the partition with GRUB, we will create a partition with part of the system folder (“root”), namely with “/boot/”, 300 MB in size.
   3.3. The rest of the goodness — the rest of the system folder, the swap partition, the «/home/» user partition (if you decide to create one) can be placed on the NVME SSD.

   After installation, the system loads GRUB, which loads files from /boot/, after which the NVME SSD becomes available, then the system boots from the NVME SSD.
   In practice, I got a significant speedup.

   Capacity requirements for «legacy drive BIOS»: 8 MB for GRUB partition is the default, and somewhere between 200 MB for /boot/. 300 MB I took with a margin. When updating the kernel (and when installing new ones), Linux will replenish the /boot/ partition with new files.

   Speed ​​and cost estimate

   The cost of NVME SSD 128 GB — from about 2000 rubles.
   The cost of an M.2 adapter — PCI-E 4x — from about 500 rubles.
   Also available are M.2 to PCI-E 16x adapters for four NVME SSD drives, priced somewhere from 3000 rubles. — if anyone needs it.

   Speed ​​limits:
   PCI-E 3.0 4x around 3900 MB/s
   PCI-E 2.0 4x 2000 MB/s
   PCI-E 1.0 4x 1000 MB/s MB/s
   We can assume that the achievable speed will be:
   PCI-E 3.0 4x about 3500 MB/s
   PCI-E 2.0 4x about 1800 MB/s
   PCI-E 1.0 4x about 900 MB/s

   Which is faster than SATA 600 MB/s. Achievable speed for SATA 600 MB/s is about 550 MB/s.
   At the same time, on older motherboards, the SATA speed of the onboard controller may not be 600 MB / s, but 300 MB / s or 150 MB / s. Here onboard controller = SATA controller built into the southbridge of the chipset.

   I note that NCQ will work for NVME SSDs, while older on-board controllers may not.

   I did the calculations for PCI-E 4x, but some drives have a PCI-E 2x bus. This is enough for PCI-E 3.0, but for older PCI-E standards — 2.0 and 1.0 — it is better not to take such NVME SSDs. Also, a drive with a buffer in the form of a memory chip will be faster than without it.

   For those who want to completely abandon the on-board SATA controller, I advise you to use the Asmedia ASM 106x controller (1061, etc.), which provides two SATA 600 ports (internal or external). It works quite well (after a firmware update), in AHCI mode it supports NCQ. Connected via PCI-E 2.0 1x bus.

   Its maximum speed is:
   PCI-E 2.0 1x 500 MB/s
   PCI-E 1.0 1x 250 MB/s
   The achievable speed will be:
   PCI-E 2. 0 1x 460 MB/s
   PCI-E 1.0 1x 280 MB /s

   This is enough for one SATA SSD or two hard drives.

   Noticed defects

   1. SMART parameters are not read from NVME SSD, there is only general data on the manufacturer, serial number, etc. Perhaps due to too old motherboard (mp). For my inhuman experiments, I used the oldest mp I could find, with an nForce4 chipset.

   2. TRIM should work, but it needs to be checked.

   Conclusion

   There are other options: buy a SAS controller with a PCI-E 4x or 8x slot (are there 16x or 32x?). However, if they are cheap, they support SAS 600, but SATA 300, and expensive ones will be more expensive and slower than the method proposed above.

   For use with M$ Windows, you can install additional software — a bootloader with built-in drivers for NVME SSD.

   See here:
   www.win-raid.com/t871f50-Guide-How-to-get-full-NVMe-support-for-all-Systems-with-an-AMI-UEFI-BIOS.html
   www.win-raid.com/t3286f50-Guide-NVMe-boot-for-systems-with-legacy-BIOS-and-older-UEFI-DUET-REFIND. html
   forum.overclockers.ua/viewtopic.php?t =185732
   pcportal.org/forum/51-9843-1
   mrlithium.blogspot.com/2015/12/how-to-boot-nvme-ssd-from-legacy-bios.html

   Does he need such an NVME SSD application, or would it be better to buy a new motherboard (+ processor + memory) with an existing M.2 PCI-E connector and support for booting from NVME SSD in EFI.

   Matt Mills
   hardware
   0

   Everyone knows by now that a PCIe NVMe SSD is much faster than a 2.5″ SATA 3 SSD, at least in theory. On this website, we have already analyzed the advantages of NVMe SSD in terms of gaming performance , what about the beginning a Windows PC ? We will talk about this in this article in order to understand whether it is worth making a system SSD. NVMe or SATA .

   We are in a market where there are practically no home PCs without an SSD, at least for the operating system and basic programs. Many users prefer to use an NVMe SSD for this purpose with another SATA 3 SSD like Mass Storage as they are still much cheaper but this is the best situation for best representation of ?

   How much time does an NVMe SSD save compared to a SATA SSD when booting a PC?

   When we made the «leap» from mechanical HDDs to the first SSDs at that time, the performance improvement of the whole system increased markedly, especially when we talk about boot time. However, already in the solid state ecosystem, when we moved from the SATA 2 interface to the SATA 3 interface, we did not notice too much improvement, although it is true that we did get more performance, especially in loading and transferring tasks. files.

   A priori, like solid state devices with a PCI-Express The NVMe interface and protocol have significantly better performance than the 2.5-inch format and the SATA 3 interface (on average, we are talking about multiplying the speed by 6), they should make PC boot much faster, right? However, we will see on empirical data how big this performance increase is, how much time it will save us and, of course, whether it is worth the change.

   Before proceeding with the tests, as always, it is necessary to clarify that each computer is different In fact, when we talk about the startup time of the Windows system, it largely depends on the programs that you have installed, and, in particular, on the residents that they start when you turn on the PC. This means that the results each user will get will be empirically different, but even so we are going to show you a comparison on the same hardware with an SSD clone on another (so the programs are the same on both) and so the performance increase figure will be accurate.

   However, for this comparison, we used a 3.0TB PCIe 220 NVMe Transcend SSD 1S SSD and compared it to a 512GB Corsair Neutron XTi, two «reasonable» SSDs in terms of performance and price. For testing, we used the MSI Z370 Gaming M5. motherboard along with Intel Core i7-8700K processor and 32GB Corsair Dominator Platinum RGB DDR3600 4MHz RAM.

   As we mentioned before, we cloned the contents of one SSD to another so that both have an exact Windows installation with all programs, so the data we would get with a clean Windows installation would be better, comparing the performance of both SSDs is completely credible . Note that Windows Fast Startup is enabled in the BIOS.

   We measured the time with a digital stopwatch from the moment we pressed the power button on the box until the Windows desktop appeared allowing us to work with it, but we also measured the POST time. Here is the result:

   From this comparison, we can draw two main conclusions: the first is that the POST time increases slightly (by only two tenths of a second) with a slower SSD, such as the SATA 3 interface option, and the second is that the total time that we save when fully loaded with the Windows 10 9 operating system0262 just over 3 seconds .

   The 3.3 seconds we save by installing the operating system on an NVMe SSD represents a improvement of 12.13% of in terms of total boot time and only 4.25% of POST time. Please note that according to our data, the total boot time with the SATA 3 SSD was 27.2 seconds, and with the NVMe device this time was reduced to 23.9 seconds.

   Should I install Windows on an NVMe device?

   We have already seen that, according to our own tests, the improvement when using an NVMe SSD to install the operating system is 12.13% compared to installing Windows on a SATA 3 SSD, an improvement that may seem quite significant, but in fact, with the values ​​we’re dealing with (going from having to wait 27. 2 seconds to 23.9 seconds) means just waiting 3.3 more than 9 seconds0003

   So is it worth buying an NVMe SSD to install the operating system? It will depend on each and their budget. We would tell you that if you are mounting a PC completely from scratch, choose NVMe for the operating system, because this is the most optimal option, as you will save time not only when starting the PC, but also when working with files, downloading games, etc. D. etc. . However, if you already have a SATA 3 SSD with operating system and plan to upgrade to NVMe, then update might not be worth it .

   You also have to keep one thing in mind: with a clean install of the operating system, the difference in performance (at least in terms of boot time, which we are talking about here) will be even smaller, since you will have to download fewer programs at the beginning. On the other hand, we used a PCIe 3.0 SSD for comparison, but the latest models already with a PCIe 4. 0 interface will give us better performance and therefore less time (which is obviously better). In short, boot times between NVMe and SATA SSDs are short, small but large in percentage terms, and one has to evaluate if it makes up for the jump and of course the price difference.

   Using new NVMe SSDs as a boot drive on older systems with Legacy BIOS (for any OS)

   A short tutorial on how to implement bootable NVMe SSD support on older motherboards with Legacy BIOS using Clover (for any OS). Following in the footsteps of this post, where, in my opinion, the solution is not so elegant and not for all BIOS & OS.

   Problem

   Old BIOSes do not see new NVMe SSDs, unlike EFI (UEFI). Modern operating systems, as a rule, see these disks, and after loading the OS, you can work with the disk, but the old BIOS does not, therefore, you will not be able to boot from the new fast disk. Well, because you cannot give a command to load something that is not visible.

   Prelude

   An NVMe SSD drive, as a rule, has an M.2 connector, and works, as it were, directly with the processor, via the PCI-E bus.

   Therefore, if your motherboard does not have an M.2 connector, then first it is recommended to get a PCI-E >> M.2 adapter, or a PCI-E RAID controller for an M.2 SSD.

   There are few advanced NVMe SSD drives that have their own legacy device emulator. For example Samsung 950 Pro has an extra rom to boot as a Legacy device on older BIOSes. But the entire EVO series does not have such an opportunity.

   Solution

   A bit of history

   Many years ago, when Intel began supplying Apple with its processors and components for use in Macs, there was a need to pre-test hardware for compatibility with MacOS. Then Intel engineers wrote a tricky DUET bootloader, which is a UEFI emulator that boots on top of the Legacy BIOS and allows you to run operating systems that require UEFI (MacOS, for example).

   However, using DUET «directly» is not a very trivial task (example, or another, b-rrr…), requiring a lot of manual operations, depending on the specific hardware and OS, and understanding what exactly you are doing.

   Later, DUET was taken as the basis for several multi-loader projects. One of them is Hackintosh — a project to install the latest MacOS on any Intel, and later AMD machines. As a result of the development of Hackintosh, the multifunctional bootloader Clover (Clover) appeared, which, of course, is sharpened for loading MacOS and Intel, but now it can be successfully used to boot anything on almost anything. Here it is, Clover, we will use to solve our problem.

   Clover Configurator

   Clover itself is also tuned not anyhow, and in order to somehow facilitate the tuning process in the future, the Clover Configurator tuning utility was released, and many manuals for use.

   But the trouble is that Clover Configurator only works in MacOS, and on Windows you can only run it in VmWare at best.

   Let’s not go this way … we have paws and Mustday.

   Boot Disk Utility (BDUtility.exe)

   Especially for those who have paws, one Russian enthusiast wrote the BDUtility.exe utility, which itself downloads the latest release of Clover, makes the necessary minimal settings and writes the resulting image to a USB flash drive.

   Don’t be afraid of the outrageous site, the utility works perfectly 🙂

   To download the utility, click on the picture with the letters «Bu» and a blue arrow in the middle of the site 🙂

   Note

   To solve our problem, we will use an additional boot flash drive from which Clover will boot over the BIOS, identify your new fast NVMe SSD and give it a command to boot your brand new 64-bit Windows 10 (or any other).

   From now on, the flash drive will forever be installed in a free USB port on your computer, until you update the old hardware!

   Yes, whoever has a laptop should take care that there are few free USB ports, and a long flash drive sticking out of the laptop all the time may not be aesthetic enough.

   On the other hand, now your flash drive is the coolest security key to your computer, because without it the computer simply won’t turn on, and guessing that a flash drive should BE, and even with Clover, is a task for true special services.

   Creating an installation flash drive

   If you managed to download the BDUtility utility, run it. It runs under Windows and with administrator rights, be careful.

   The happy owner of other operating systems should skip this step and return to the Clover Configurator above.

   Run BDUtility.exe

   Next, you need to perform a series of settings so that the utility downloads the latest Clover distribution, configures it and writes it to your USB flash drive. The flash drive must be inserted into a USB port, and preferably cleanly formatted.

   BDUtility setup:

   1. Make sure your flash drive is recognized by the utility
   2. Go to utility settings Options => Configuration
   3. Check the Check at Startup checkbox to check for a new version of Clover on every boot
   4. Click the Check Now button to download the latest Clover release now
   5. (optional, recommended) Uncheck Boot Partition Size so that the entire volume of your flash drive is allocated to the Colver loader, otherwise you will see additional disks (unoccupied and unallocated partitions of the flash drive) in «My Computer» , which after a while will start to annoy you
   6. Press OK
   7. Press the button Format , examine the configuration of the bootloader being created and press OK
   8. Expect a positive outcome (sit on the stove, cheer up. ..)

   Now that the flash drive is ready, try booting from it. Don’t forget to set your BIOS to boot disk => your flash drive.

   If the download succeeds, the screen should appear something like this, with a list of current download options. You can try to find your boot entry and load the current OS.

   NVMe drivers

   If your NVMe SSD is already in your computer, don’t try to find it in Clover’s settings — it’s not there. The fact is that by default Clover does not load drivers for NVMe devices. Drivers must be included in the download manually.

   To do this, open the flash drive in the explorer.

   Go to the folder G:\EFI\CLOVER\drivers\off (where drive «G» is your flash drive, and folder «off» is the folder with unconnected Clover drivers).

   Find the file NvmExpressDxe.efi

   Press Ctrl + C to copy the file to the clipboard, and copy the file to the folders G:\EFI\CLOVER\drivers\BIOS and and EFI\CLOVER\drivers\UEFI . Just in case, we copy it to both folders so as not to figure out what BIOS you have now, the old BIOS or the old UEFI.

   We reboot the computer, boot from the Clover flash drive and observe the number of icons on the screen indicating boot options — there should be more of them, because now Clover sees your NVMe SSD.

   Half the battle is over!

   Installing a new OS on a new NVMe SSD

   Next, in order to take advantage of booting from a fast NVMe SSD, we need to actually put the system on it. And there is a nuance. In order to avoid problems in the future with attempts to boot from your NVMe disk from under Clover, it is highly recommended not to transfer your current system to a new disk, but to install a new system on the NVMe disk from scratch. The problem is rooted in the type of bootloader your operating system was chosen and used when it was installed on the computer. If you now have a system with a BIOS without NVMe support, then the current OS bootloader is focused on the BIOS, and not on the EFI.

   It is to this bootloader that Clover transfers control, and in EFI emulation mode. For reference, the clover loader of my Win64 is on the clover flash drive here G:\EFI\BOOT\BOOTX64.efi

   Transferring such an OS to an NVMe disk and using it to boot in EFI mode just won’t work, you will need to manually change the OS bootloader , and this is laborious, not quite justified and fraught, IMHO.

   Therefore, we boldly stock up on a license key for the new OS (well, or find where the old one is) and go to the Media Creation Tool download page to make a boot disk for your Windows operating system. The fact is that for some time now Microsoft has begun to include both BIOS and EFI bootloaders in the image created by the Media Creation Tool. And now this bootable flash drive can boot absolutely on any systems with Legacy BIOS, UEFI and EFI. And before, you had to process the resulting boot image and integrate Rufus into it to boot in EFI mode (for example, scroll to the middle).

   Note

   Yes, you will need a second bootable flash drive to install the OS on the NVMe SSD.
   No, you won’t be able to write a Windows distribution to a flash drive with Clover.

   OS installation

   Installing the operating system on the new NVMe SSD is quite regular and fast.
   You need to boot with two flash drives inserted, and boot from a clover flash drive, and not from a Windows distribution, do not mix it up.

   In the Clover interface, find the download from the flash drive with the distribution of your OS. Next, the installation of the OS should begin. At some point, the system will reboot (you are installing Windows), and you will have to choose to continue booting from your NVMe SSD, again, do not mix it up! Do not choose to re-boot from the OS distribution, otherwise the installation will simply start over, and we need it to continue from the SSD and, preferably, complete.

   After installing a new system on your new NVMe SSD, an entry will appear in Clover that a new OS was installed from under it. Also, the boot icon for the new OS should appear first in the list of downloads, and if I don’t confuse anything, then it will be called «Boot Microsoft EFI Boot from EFI» .

   And after the final installation of the OS, remove the USB flash drive with its distribution so that it no longer appears in Clover and in My Computer.

   And your BIOS boot order should always start with a clover stick until you upgrade your hardware to support EFI.

   Then, and only then, can you proudly put your now aged NVMe SSD first! .

   That’s it, actually

   Now, every time you reboot, you will be taken to the Clover interface and press the Enter key (if your OS is listed first). But then enjoy the new system and fast SSD 🙂

   Unfortunately, in the absence of Clover Configuator, I was not able to configure Clover so that it automatically loads my OS, for example, after 5 seconds. inaction. To avoid pressing the Enter key every time. But of course there is such an option in Clover.

   I would be grateful if someone knows how to set up such a boot mode manually, without a configurator. The Clover settings file is usually located here G:\EFI\CLOVER\config.plist
   The tag is said to be responsible for this option:

    Timeout
   5 

   But for some reason it doesn’t work for me 🙁

   P.S.
   But if you initially paid a little more, and bought not a PCI-E >> M.2 adapter, but a Raid controller for M.2 disks, then you would not have to read all of the above, and even more so to do all this … Because The raid controller has its own microsystem and emulates (or mimics) itself as a Legacy device, making available all the disks inserted into it in all BIOSes, old and new.

   Windows 10 takes a long time to boot on nvme ssd

   SSD

4. What to do if Windows 10 boots slowly on SSD
5. Solution 1 – Disable ULPS
6. Solution 2: Change Power Options to High Performance
7. Solution 3: Disable unnecessary startup services
8. Solution 4 – Enable fast startup
9. Solution 5: Update the AHCI driver
10. Solution 6: Disable the DVD drive
11. Solution 7: Uninstall your graphics card drivers. Solution 8: Adjust your virtual memory settings0003

    In this guide, I will list a number of possible fixes to explain why your SSD may be slowing down when booting. These issues should fix load times, and in some cases they can improve overall performance.

    Because it can be difficult to pinpoint your problem, I will offer advice in order from easiest to hardest. Hopefully your SSD will be back up and running at full speed in no time. And if this does not help, you will have to contact the computer service.

    Full SSDs get slower

    The less space your SSD has, the slower it will run. However, things aren’t as bad as you might think these days. Old SSD technology had this problem, so unless you have an old SSD — we’re talking about 2010 — this won’t be a problem.

    However, if your SSD is 90% full or higher, you may notice some performance issues. It is at this point that you must clear the place.

    You can check your memory capacity by pressing the Windows key, typing PC and pressing This PC is .

    Turn on high performance mode

    Here’s a quick potential solution. Switch to high performance mode by following the instructions below.

    Reduce the number of startup applications

    By reducing the startup time for applications when the computer boots up, the computer boot time will improve. Even though SSDs can read and write data faster, dozens of running applications will still slow your downloads down.

    To reduce the number of applications that start on first boot, do the following.

    Check for viruses

    If viruses or malware are running in the background, your system resources may be excessive. Run a virus scan to completely eliminate all existing malware on your computer with antivirus software.

    Disable ultra low power

    Ultra Low Power, or ULPS for short, is a power saving mode that can affect performance and boot times. This is a feature for AMD graphics cards in Crossfire that can sometimes cause slow loading.

    Please note that if you are using NVIDIA or have one AMD graphics card, this will not cause you any problems.

    I will explain how you can turn it off below. Please follow the instructions carefully.

    It may take some time to find the EnableULPS registry key. Once it appears, double-click on the EnableULPS value and change it from 1 to 0.

    Summary

    This summarizes our view on how to fix SSD slow boot time in Windows 10. This is usually a software issue like one of listed above. Replies (7)
    Let’s disable fast computer startup for one session. This will clear the computer’s RAM of possible garbage.

    Press Start, Shutdown and hold down the Shift key, Shut down.

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    Check the controller mode in the BIOS of the computer. SSD needs AHCI.

    In the search, type Scheduler and open Task Scheduler. Disable all tasks in it. Press Win+R, in the field type taskmgr /0 /startup and press Enter. Disable everything that is in autoload. Restart your computer.

    See if the problem is gone.

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    Please try to check the system components of your copy of Windows: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/929833

    Starting the command prompt as Administrator, run the command:
    Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /ScanHealth

    Then, after waiting for the previous command to complete, run the command: Please do not close the command line window until the verification is 100% complete. The results of the verification will be shown after the completion of this process.

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    9 Ways to Fix Slow Boot Times in Windows 10 on SSD

    We recently recommended that you get an SSD drive if you have problems with slow booting in Windows 10. But if your computer boots slowly even after how you got the SSD, this could be a problem. Fortunately, not a problem that we cannot solve.

    When it comes to boot speeds, SSDs are superior to HDDs, as some SSDs (when paired with the right hardware) can start a computer in a couple of seconds.

    And since we know how SSDs work, if your computer takes a little longer to boot up, you should know something is wrong and needs to be fixed.

    So, check out our solutions for slow booting in Windows 10 on a solid state drive.

    What to do if Windows 10 boots slowly on an SSD

    There are various issues that can occur with your SSD and in this article we will address the following issues:

    Solution 1 – disable ULPS is the most common and most effective solution to this problem, judging by the number of positive reviews.

    ULPS stands for Ultra Low Power and is a kind of power saver for your graphics card.

    For example, when your computer «goes to sleep», your video card will do the same, so you will have to wait a few more seconds at the next startup for your video card to «wake up».

    Disabling ULPS will improve both wakeup and startup performance, so this solution should be your first call.

    Here’s what you need to do to disable the ULPS feature in Windows 10:

    After doing this workaround, try restarting your computer and it will boot at least a little faster. On the other hand, if the download is still slow, try some of the solutions below.

    Can’t access Registry Editor? Everything is not as scary as it seems. Check out this guide and solve the problem quickly.

    Solution 2: Change power settings to high performance

    If disabling ULPS doesn’t work, try changing power settings to high performance. Here’s exactly what you need to do:

    This should change your meal plan, which will affect your next run and hopefully speed up boot time.

    Can’t find your power plans? Get them back by following the simple steps in this article.

    Solution 3: Disable unnecessary services at startup

    Now you can try to disable unnecessary services and programs and start.

    If you’re interested in how to add or remove startup apps in Windows 10, check out this simple guide.

    Can’t open Task Manager? Don’t worry, we have the right solution for you.

    Solution 4 – Turn on Fast Startup

    Fast Startup is a feature in Windows 10 that makes your computer boot faster. If you have problems with slow downloads, you can fix them by enabling this feature. To do this, simply follow these simple steps:

    Fast Startup is enabled by default, but sometimes some updates may disable it. If this feature is already enabled on your PC, disable it and check if that solves the problem.

    Can’t open Control Panel in Windows 10? Check out this step by step guide to find the solution.

    Solution 5: Update the AHCI driver

    Users have reported slow boot issues, and in order to fix them, you need to update the AHCI driver. This is relatively simple, and you can do it by following these steps:

    Windows can’t automatically find and load new drivers? Don’t worry, we will provide you.

    This is one of the easiest ways to update drivers, but it is not the most reliable. If you want to get the latest drivers, you need to download and install them manually.

    To do this, visit your motherboard manufacturer’s website and download the required drivers.

    After installing the latest drivers for your motherboard, slow boot problems should be completely resolved. Many users reported that updating their AHCI driver fixed the issue for them, so be sure to try this solution.

    Update drivers automatically

    If this method doesn’t work or you don’t have the necessary computer skills to manually update/fix your drivers, we strongly recommend that you do it automatically using the Tweakbit Driver Updater tool.

    This tool is approved by Microsoft and Norton Antivirus and protects your system from permanent damage caused by installing the wrong driver version.

    After several trials, our team concluded that this was the best automated solution. Below you can find a short guide on how to do this:

    Disclaimer : Some features of this tool are not free.

    Solution 6: Disable your DVD drive

    If you’re having issues with slow booting in Windows 10, you can fix this problem simply by disabling your DVD drive. According to users, this issue was caused by a faulty DVD drive, and after disabling it, the issue was resolved.

    To disable the DVD drive, you must turn off your computer and unplug it from the electrical outlet. Next, you need to open the computer case and disconnect the cables that are connected to your DVD drive.

    The problem should then be resolved. Keep in mind that opening the computer case will void your warranty, so you should probably skip this solution if your PC is still under warranty.

    Solution 7: Uninstall your graphics card drivers.

    If you’re having slow boot issues, the issue might be with your graphics card. Several users have reported that they are stuck on a black screen when trying to start Windows. According to users, the problem seems to be related to AMD drivers.

    To fix this issue, users are suggesting to uninstall AMD drivers from your computer. To do this, follow these steps:

    After uninstalling the driver, check if the problem is resolved. If you want to remove all files associated with your graphics card, we have already written a guide to using Display Driver Uninstaller, so be sure to check it out.

    After uninstalling the driver, Windows will use the default driver. The default driver may not provide the same performance so it is recommended to update it.

    If you are having problems with the latest version of the driver, be sure to install an older version and see if that solves the problem.

    Although AMD users have reported this issue, other brands of graphics cards can also cause this issue, so be sure to repeat this solution for them as well.

    To install the new GPU drivers, check out this article to help you get all the required GPU drivers.

    Solution 8: Adjust your virtual memory settings

    According to users, you can fix slow boot issues simply by adjusting the amount of virtual memory. To do this, follow these steps:

    After doing this, the problem should be resolved. Keep in mind that this is not a universal solution, so it may not work for you.

    If your virtual memory is too low, check out this guide to help you resolve the issue.

    Solution 9 – Reset Windows 10

    If you are still having slow boot issues on Windows 10, you may want to consider resetting Windows 10. This process will delete all files from your system drive, so be sure to make a backup first copy of important files.

    If you want to learn the easiest way to back up your data in Windows 10, check out this helpful guide.

    Alternatively, you can use the software backup. Here is a list of the best backup solutions available right now.

    It’s also worth mentioning that you may need a Windows 10 installation media to reset, so create it with the Media Creation Tool.

    To reset Windows 10, do the following:

    If you’re interested in how to create Windows 10 installation media, check out this step-by-step guide. The simple steps will help you create DVD/USB with Windows 10 on it in no time.

    Having trouble restarting your computer? Take a look at this article to help you solve them.

    After the reset is completed, check if the problem still occurs. If not, you just need to move your backup files and install all your apps again. Keep in mind that this is a radical solution, so you should only use it if other solutions don’t work.

    That should be all, I hope these solutions helped you with your problem. If you have any comments, questions and suggestions, or you may have some additional solutions, just refer to the comments section below.

    Source

    Why Windows 10 takes a long time to boot from an SSD and 9 ways to speed it up Compared to HDD drives, the performance of solid fuel drives is higher. But many users notice that the Windows 10 operating system takes a long time to boot from SSD disk storage. What factors affect the performance of the device, how to fix the situation, let’s try to figure it out.

    Possible causes of the problem

    Windows 10 booting slowly from an SSD occurs for various reasons. It is not always possible to identify the problem the first time. The main and main reason affecting the performance of a solid fuel device is the lack of free disk space. When the disk memory is full, the indicator notifies you by turning red. This occurs when there is less than 10% free space left on the disk. In this case, the user needs to clear the disk of excess garbage.

    The main reasons for the slow loading of the «tens» also include:

    Most of the problems described occur during the operation of a laptop or desktop computer. But slow booting Windows 10 from an SSD can happen on newer devices too. Here the reason lies, most likely, in a large number of loaded services at the same time as the system starts. Also, the computer may not fully meet the requirements of the operating system. Fixing the problem and rebooting the gadget usually helps restore drive performance.

    What to do if Windows 10 boots slowly on an SSD?

    In order for the non-volatile storage device to work without interruption, you need to use one of the instructions below.

    Disabling ULPS

    The very first method that can help the user troubleshoot a problem is to disable ultra-low power. The option acts as an energy-saving tool for the PC video card. When the device enters sleep mode, the video adapter will also go to sleep. When you turn on the gadget, the user will need to wait a few seconds for the component to activate again.

    Disabling ULPS will help improve performance when the device starts up, as well as when it wakes up. To disable the function, you need to follow the algorithm:

    After that, the user will have to check the download speed of the computer. If the setting remains unchanged and the gadget is still loading slowly, move on to the next method.

    Changing power settings to high performance

    Incorrect power settings can affect the performance of the SSD. To increase the download speed of Windows 10, the user needs to enable the high performance mode in the settings through the Control Panel:

    The next time you start the computer, changing the power settings should change the OS boot speed.

    Disable unnecessary services

    Device boot time can be affected by automatic startup of applications and programs. Disabling unnecessary utilities will help reduce PC boot time. To configure autorun applications, the user needs to open «Windows Settings», disable autorun applications that are not currently in use.

    It is advisable to carry out the procedure with all applications that greatly affect the PC boot time. It is not recommended to disable startup programs that are responsible for computer security. If the device still takes a long time to start, move on to the next method.

    Enabling fast startup

    The «top ten» has a quick startup option, which contributes to the rapid loading of the PC. You need to enable the function through the «Power Options» section, using the following instructions:

    The user will have to shut down the computer, then turn it on again. Download acceleration should occur due to the changed settings.

    Resetting the AHCI driver

    The procedure is simple, even an inexperienced user can handle this task. The main thing is to follow the instructions:

    The necessary drivers can be installed manually, you will need to download them from the official website of the manufacturer. Then install the drivers on the PC.

    Disconnecting the DVD Drive

    The problem of slow booting of a computer with an SSD may disappear if the user disconnects this device. To complete the operation, you will need to do the following:

    This troubleshooting option is only suitable for computer owners if the warranty period has already expired. Therefore, it is not recommended to open a PC with a guarantee.

    Uninstalling video card drivers

    A graphics adapter responsible for displaying information or graphics on the screen can affect the PC boot speed. If the video card malfunctions, the user needs to do the following:

    After completing all the points, the user needs to check if the problem has been resolved. After removing the video card component, Windows will apply the default items.

    Configuring virtual memory settings

    The gadget uses virtual data storage to increase the amount of available RAM. When there is not enough RAM, the computer runs a resource-intensive program that affects the performance of the device.

    Virtual memory is configured as follows:

    This option does not always solve the problem, and therefore is not suitable for all users. Perhaps the following method will help gadget owners to increase PC boot speed.

    Resetting Windows 10

    Using this method will cause all saved data on the computer to be deleted. Therefore, before starting actions, it is advisable to copy important documents by saving them to another device or removable media.

    You can reset the system as follows:

    After completing all the steps, the problem with the slow start of the PC should disappear. The user will have to transfer all the copied files back to the device.

    Slow SSD boot time in Windows 10 is solved by one of the suggested methods. Usually the problem is software in nature. The user is also advised to check the operating system for virus threats that can seriously affect a significant part of PC resources. As a result, this causes problems with the performance of the device and its components.

    Source

    Windows 10 takes a long time to boot from an SSD: Solutions

    SSDs are known to offer much better performance than HDDs. However, some users notice that the Windows 10 operating system installed on the SSD does not load as quickly as they would like.

    Today we will analyze the simplest ways to eliminate such a slowdown using OS settings. But first, let’s talk about another reason for the slow loading of Windows from an SSD — the lack of free space on the system drive.

    Checking how full the SSD is

    Open Windows Explorer, for example, using the hot keys «Windows» + «E», and click «This PC» on the left side of the window. Turn on the «Tile» icon display option in the «View» tab on the top panel and see how full your SSD is.

    The amount of free and used space is displayed on the indicator

    When there is little space left on the disk, the disk full indicator turns red. If the SSD is less than 10% free, performance issues may begin. In this case, clear the disk of unnecessary data. After freeing up space on the system SSD, the speed of its operation and, accordingly, the loading of the operating system should increase.

    Changing power options

    To increase the boot speed of Windows 10, turn on the high performance mode in the power options in the Control Panel.

    We are looking for the «Control Panel»

    Open the power settings

    Change the power plan to «High performance»

    We also recommend changing the setting, which will be discussed below.

    Turning on Fast Startup

    Windows 10 has a Fast Startup feature that allows your computer to boot faster. This option is enabled in the same Power Options window in the Control Panel.

    Select «What do the power buttons do»

    Click on the link «Change settings that are not currently available» Windows operating system, which inevitably increases the boot time of the computer. In order to achieve faster OS loading, we need to open the startup settings in Windows Settings and disable the autorun of as many applications as possible.

    Open «Apps and Features» from the context menu of the Start button

    Disable autorun programs with high impact a significant portion of PC resources, which cannot but cause problems with performance in general and with slow loading of Windows 10 from an SSD in particular.

    Source

    Video

    ? Windows 10 takes a long time to start. The problem is in the Intel® Management Engine Interface. Solution #2

    Why does Windows take so long to boot? Everything you need to know about the speed of turning on the computer

    ? Windows 10 takes a long time to start (dark screen).