uhm but I don't understand one thing: Have I every time to use flash drive (usb in my case) with clever to boot windows from nvme drive?

Ok so I would like to try this method with a 970 evo on my Z600. I have seen others on this thread have had success with the Z800, which should be the same as the z600, but did not mention the model of SSD he was using. I have read on other forums that the model makes a huge difference, and only sm951, 950 pro, and hyper x predator will work on the old ZX00 models. I am wondering if this boot method changes that, and if I can use a more modern SSD like the 970 evo. Any insight would be awesome thank you!!!

@Dr. Wizard How the heck did you get the x5690's running on your z600!? Those are the chips I originally wanted but everything I read stated that the z600 was only compatible with chips up to 95w, making the x5675 and x5672 the two fastest chips for the model, so I went with the x5675's. If dual x5690's are possible that is amazing.

Zitat von RedEyeNinja im Beitrag #216

---

I joined this forum to thank OP, this post and all the contributors. Though my questions and inquiries were not addressed by any single post, I was able to piece together enough information to get this working on my HP Z800. I had a summary written here first but lost it. I ended up writing it out on steemit but I'll paste it here.

Load & Boot from Win10 on NVME/PCI-e on HP Z800
https://steemit.com/hp/@fobio/load-win10...ci-e-on-hp-z800

This will be part one of a multi-part series [fingers crossed] covering my attempt to modify a HP Z800 workstation into file, plex and web server housed in a XL-ATX full size tower with 14 drives. I have been dabbling in hardware and software mods for around 20 yrs and I know this is by no means difficult but as a DIY'er this is one of the more daunting yet doable mods at a low price and I believe the bang-for-buck is right up there for an hobbyist looking for something to do over the winter.

A little more background. I have a home lab server running a AMD FX8320 w/ 32GB ram, a M1015 crossflashed to LSI 9211-8i HBA IT mode hosting 13 drives for around 36TB or 24TB usable under Parity mode. This is all managed under Win10 Pro and Windows Storage Spaces. I've spent quite a bit of time reading about it over the past couple of years and despite its slow write speeds, it serves its purpose as a Plex Media Server and NextCloud host. After the recent Win10 1809 update, I started to notice the system starting to hiccup and I noticed a lot of errors within Event Viewer. Some I fixed thru tutorials and regedit, but others just won't go away...namely, IO and write errors to my array which is being updated with Seagate 8TB backup/SMR drives that are cheap TB-per-$ but slow as hell in write performance. Again this is not an issue for my media library mainly for Plex. So I started looking at upgrades.

I always wanted to try server grade equipment but was always put off by their price and footprint; you don't get much room to install racks in a condo. Anyway, I came upon these HP workstations that have server innards but in workstation form factor. The Z600 and Z800 offers dual Xeon's and room for lotsa ram and there's a batch on sale locally. Initially, I only needed a Z600 in its small form factor to play with but I kept reading about the slightly sexier Z800. Being blinded by the prospect of playing with new hardware, I didn't consider some important specifics, like UEFI vs legacy BIOS on these systems. But by this time, my mind was already going a mile a second and I've already plunged into this project.

First off, I was inspired by this post to attempt this.

Hacking the HP Z800 Xeon motherboard into a standard case
http://andybrown.me.uk/2intergrate014/11/01/z800/

Much smarter guys have done this awhile back and I'm just catching up. But not being an IT professional, I don't get access to this level of equipment until they come cheap on the used market. I ended up with a full system with its OEM case for around $600 CDN:

HP Z800
Dual Xeon X5680 @ 3.33 GHz [12 cores/24 threads total, 130w TDP each]
48GB DDR3 ECC 10600 RAM [upgradeable]

I got a barebones system and needed to add my own GPU and drives. I added a GTX 1060 3GB and a WD 256 NVME SSD on a PCI-e adapter. This is where it gets ...interesting. As the updated BIOS doesn't support NVME storage, I had to get creative with my kiddy-scripting, read: combining best practices and trial and error them into a workable solution. The following is after around 10 to 12 hrs of research:

Step 1:

After much searching, I finally chanced upon this site and this post that talks about using Clover, a Hackintosh tool to provide UEFI boot. I downloaded the tool, burned a USB and fumbled around with it and was able to read the transplanted WD NVME on the first try...sweet! But it was the Win10 install from the AMD rig and I want the system to be fully activated so I attempted to get Clover to read my USB Win10 UEFI install media. After many hours of trial and error, Iwas not and still am not able to get Clover to read my USB Win10 install.

[Guide] NVMe-boot without modding your UEFI/BIOS (Clover-EFI bootloader method)
[Guide] NVMe-boot without modding your UEFI/BIOS (Clover-EFI bootloader method)

[Looking back now, I imagine that Clover is either missing drivers to read a GPT USB in UEFI or that the USB key isn't formatted correctly as GPT for Clover to see it. We re-visit this down below]

There are 2 posts in this thread that I need to acknowledge.

First, this post by Charlie confirming that it can be done:

[Guide] NVMe-boot without modding your UEFI/BIOS (Clover-EFI bootloader method) (11)

Second, circling back, we have this post by Plawerth that actually summarizes how to structure the Clover USB:

[Guide] NVMe-boot without modding your UEFI/BIOS (Clover-EFI bootloader method) (10)

I encourage anyone reading this to read and read Plawerth's post as using his file structure helped me narrow down where to copy the NvmExpressDxe-64.efi file. I originally got my transplanted NVME working by just copying NvmExpressDxe-64.efi from \EFI\CLOVER\drivers-Off\drivers64\drivers64UEFI\ to \EFI\CLOVER\drivers64\ and \EFI\CLOVER\drivers64UEFI.

Step 2:

Since a clean install won't work, I went back to a tried and true method of doing this a few yrs back...install Win7 first. This was painless once I dug out a Win7 install and flashed it onto a USB for legacy BIOS boot. I realized this from this post:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-ca/help...indows-7-and-wi

Specifically:

"Method 2
Restart from media, and install Windows 7 from media to a disk that attaches other storage controllers (such as SATA).
Press Ctrl+Shift+F3 to enter audit mode during the Out-of-box experience (OOBE) process.
Install the hotfix package, and then restart the computer.
Reseal the system by using the sysprep - generalize - shutdown options.
Capture and move the generalized image to the disk that attaches the NVMe controller."

I realized that I might as well clone the WinX install over to the NVME, like what had happened originally with the transplanted NVME from the AMD rig. But Win7 doesn't support NVME natively.

Step 3:

After Win7 is installed on a SSD and activated, I proceeded with upgrading it to Win10 1809. A sidenote about 1809, it's buggy as hell, but my server updated automatically and the Storage Spaces got upgraded as well and it can no longer be recognized or read by earlier versions. You can easily get this media off of Microsoft's Media Creation Tool. However, since 1809 is so buggy, it's actiually been pulled by M$ as of this writing, so I had to figure out how to get it to download. I found this:

How to download Windows 10 version 1809 right now
https://www.ghacks.net/2018/09/26/how-to...1809-right-now/

After the download, I flashed the ISO using Rufus onto a USB key and inplace installed within Win7.

Step 4:

After Win10 is installed, I can now see the NVME drive. Using a preferred disk cloner, I cloned the SSD over the NVME.

Step 5:

At this point, Clover will not boot into the NVME as it's a clone of a Win10 install in MBR. Again, I just wanted to plow over this with a clean install but I still can't. Good thing is that unlike years ago, you can now convert Win10 in-place from MBR to GPT for UEFI boot:

Shifting from BIOS to UEFI with the Windows 10 Creators Update MBR2GPT disk conversion tool
https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/W...date/td-p/60064

I got the original tip from here:

https://audiocricket.com/2016/12/31/boot...ment-3550482711

"takis Audio Cricket • a year ago
I managed to boot after cloning.
You need to:

clone windows with your favourite tool
convert your CLONED drive to UEFI using the new windows 10 command:
mbr2gpt /convert /disk:2 /allowfullos
---PLEASE REPLACE DISK NUMBER WITH THE CLONED PARTITION!!!!!
boot as normal using your instructions."
However, this is not all of it.

Step 6:

Using a Clover USB modified according to the Clover/NVME thread, I was able to boot into the NVME thru UEFI. The above commands did the bulk of the conversion, but left me without a Recovery Partition on the NVME after the conversion. I got stressed a bit but found this:

Windows 10: Windows Recovery Environment
https://www.tenforums.com/installation-u...nvironment.html

I ran these commands and was able to confirm in DiskPart that the ~500mb partition is now set as recovery:

reagentc /disable
reagentc /setreimage /path R:\Recovery\WindowsRE [this line might have errored out for me]
reagentc /enable
reagentc /info

This set of commands in an admin CMD window created the Recovery Partition. You can confirm this thru DiskPart:

diskpart
list disk
select disk #
list partition

Step 7:

I want Win10 to boot on the NVME like normal without me confirming the boot disk thru Clover everytime. I modified the config.plist at the following:

[key]DefaultVolume[/key]
[string]EFI[/string]

and

[key]Timeout[/key]
[integer]2[/integer]

This boots into Clover and gives me 2 seconds to choose or stop Win10 boot. However, I followed Plawerth's post and pared the config.plist file down to its bare essentials for Windows boot using the above substitutions and now it boots almost immediately into windows after POST.

Great success!

If you've read this far, I thank you. If I've missed something please let me know. The next step is to replicate the functions of the old server and migrating cards over. I'm already running into the next set of issues! And this is all before I test fit the mobo to the case I chose. Stay tuned!

tl;dr

1. Follow NVME/Clover thread to set up Clover USB.
2. Install Win7 on SSD thru legacy BIOS.
3. Upgrade Win7 to Win10, in-place within Win7.
4. Install cloner and clone Win10 SSD to NVME
5. Log into Win10 on SSD and convert NVME from MBR to GPT.
6. Use Clover USB to boot into Clover and choose, start Windows EFI to boot into NVME.
7. Use reagentc.exe commands to rebuild Recovery Partition on Win10 NVME.
8. Clean up Clover boot USB files and leave the USB key in for every boot.

I hope this helps someone like myself.

EDIT by Fernando: To save space and for a better readability I have put the steps of your guide into "spoilers".

---

Helping with this guide and this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxfkwgxLL2c I did workable booting with Clover USB with Samsung 970 Evo with I-TEC PCI-E 2x M.2 Card on motherboard Asus P5QPro with Windows 7 x64!

Hi @Rampage #236 and @dividedattention #240
The problem is BDU file! it points to "DVD" after extracting to usb. It starts to look for windows installation disc from DVD drive. You have to use command to select to your usb installation. Read my post at #211
Hope this help.

Big big thanks to Nyctophilia and everyone here with useful inputs. With all your helps, I can now boot with NVMe drive on my Dell T5600. Never dream of such a smooth feelings when operating on this old machine. Thank you! Thank you! THANK YOU ALL!!!

Hi huys , I've created a clover section to my ssd, everything works just fine untill i try to load windows from usb stick, it gives a boot0 error. I've tried 4 different win10 versions. (this is the one of them that i've installed to a drive and using now.)

I

Hello!
I have a Gigabyte H97 which boot only on nvme with CSM disabled. (I wish i knew it before)

I am trying to install Windows 7, thus i need to enable CSM (and can not boot on the pci nvme)

I followed the instructions on page 1. First i got a Aptio error something, fixed (i think) by replacing "OsxAptioFixDrv-64.efi" by "AptioMemoryFix-64.efi". Now Clover start and show my USB with the EFI Windows install, but after the "Press any key to launch the installation", i am stuck on a black page with a cursor blinking (or a black page).
Same think in Legacy mode.

I made the boot device with Rufus (and it is booting normaly directly from the bios).

Any idea ?
(i will try to burn a Win7 DVD asap)

It works with a regular Win 7 SP1 CD ! Best day of my life , i was so desesperate. Just F6'ed the intel drivers.
My Optane 900p will replace my fierce Raptors' raid.

I will try to make the Windows USB image with something else than Rufus, but well the win updates install so fast on the ssd... maybe it is not necessary to use a pre-updated windows.

I can't believe i found such an odd solution :) I need to replace my old sushi usb key with something slicker for Clover.

Thanks to Nyctophilia!

Well, I'm reporting success with old Asus M4A87TD EVO board (non-UEFI one, totally legacy!) and AMD Phenom II X6 1055T processor. Drive is Adata M.2 2280 PCIe 240GB with Kingshare NVMe M2 to PCI-e adapter.
I used BDU to make flash drive with Clover. It did not work first time. I re-flashed it 2nd time, but selected to download latest version of clover in BDU.
No need to get to shell and load anything.
I ran windows installation from selecting file to load from windows installation flash drive. At that moment no any other USB was connected. even no USB mouse. Installed windows using keyboard.
After installation NVMe drive appeared.

The automatic boot trick did not work for me as directory structure in Clover disk differs.


I wonder if anybody has successfully added Linux USB drive to Clover menu? What driver to copy?

Hello Nyctophilia and Fernando

I am a new user on this forum and wanted to thank you immensely for this guide. I am so happy to have found your form. I studied all the posts here and happy to report that as of today I am able to now boot of a Samsung 970 Pro nvme (pci card) on a Supermicro hyper server with dual xeons and Win 10 64 bit.
The only issue I ran into was getting a Clover version that booted on my server. I tried several recent versions to no avail and eventually found a version that was compatible from 2015. I installed Win 10 pro and after booting in Clover, it selected the default Microsoft EFI boot loader and after installing the latest Samsung driver I am getting in Crystal disk mark: 3568.5 (READ) and 2346.8 (WRITE). I am also a mac user and plan to add another another 970 nvme for installing the macos and ultimately have a dual booting win10 and mac os box. The one thing I am concerned about and need your advice. Is it better to remove the existing 970 with windows 10 out of the computer when installing the macos on the second 970? In addition I plan to eventually install a Linux distro like centos and wondering if Clover can support multiple operating systems specially since Windows has a habit of corrupting drives that contain different OS?

Hello, i'm trying to install win 10 on nvme drive inserted over m.2 to pcie.I succeed to setup Clover,and he sees usb with installation files and nvme drive, but when win 10 installation starts and reach destination drive dialog, there i can select nvme drive, but installation says i cannot install on this drive because its not supported as bootable hardware.Is there any solution for this ?

Hello tomasevic,

It appears that perhaps the NvmExpressDxe-64.efi is not installed in your Clover boot usb. Did you follow the instructions in this thread to copy it over to the boot usb?