Getting Intel 750 SSD to install and boot Windows 7 on z170 motherboard

[JSwan1]

All,

I created this account for the express purpose of (hopefully) making the installation process a little easier for those who may have trouble installing Windows 7 on their new Intel 750 SSD. After going through tremendous difficulty, I figured the least I could do is to lessen the pain for someone else.

My motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming 7

Here are the things that I had to do to get things working. Note that these are not necessarily in order:

1.) Have Windows 7 either on DVD or USB (using the Windows USB Installation Tool available from the Gigabyte support site). Though Gigabyte claims that the USB installer is necessary, I found that not to be the case for me.

2.) Change the 'storage boot option control' to "UEFI only" in BIOS

3.) Change/maintain 'windows 8 features' in 'other OS' in BIOS

-steps 2 and 3 are described with pictures in the 'Boot Guide for NVMe SSD pdf file:

http://download.intel.com/support/ssdc/hpssd/sb/nvme_boot_guide_332098001us.pdf http://download.intel.com/support/ssdc/hpssd/sb/nvme_boot_guide_332098001us.pdf

4.) Have driver CD (included with SSD) on hand, or load Intel NVMe drivers (from Intel website's drivers and downloads section) onto USB. I used the CD.

== KEY STEP THAT I MISSED AT FIRST ==

5.) Convert the Intel 750 SSD to a GPT partition (vice MBR). I wasted so much time struggling until I figured this out.

Here's what I did:

-Used Win 8.1 CD that I had on hand (from HTPC), and booted to that drive in UEFI mode (hit F12 to bring up boot menu). From there, I used the built-in parstition utility:

a. From inside Windows Setup, press Shift+F10 to open a command prompt window.

b. Open the diskpart tool:

diskpart

Identify the drive to reformat:

list disk

Select the drive, and reformat it:

select disk clean convert gpt exit

I'm told you can also use a Linux program (GNU Parted) to do the same thing. I wound up with the disk being divided into 3 separate partitions.

==END STEP THAT I MISSED AT FIRST ==

6.) Once done with the GPT partitioning, boot Windows 7 in UEFI mode, and then install the necessary NVMe driver from step 4.

7.) Install Win7 into the 'primary' partition of the SSD (this was partition 3 for me).

Installation should go smoothly from there. I was getting error after error when trying to do steps 6 and 7 without doing step 5 first.

I hope this was of some help.

[jbenavides]

Hello deleweye,

Since you have tried the actions from the guide and the recommendations from other users, we advise to contact the http://www.intel.com/support/oems.htm Computer Manufacturer Support and make sure you are using the most updated BIOS for your motherboard.

Also, check with them about the actions required to configure UEFI boot in your system.

[TScha5]

So the short answer is that the Intel 750 PCIe SSD is, in fact, compatible with the Gigabyte Z170X Gaming 7 Motherboard?

I need to know the answer to this question because I am having MicroCenter build a PC and those are my components, the Gigabyte Z170X Gaming 7 Mobo and the Intel 750 PCIe SSD 1TB. They have managed to load windows onto the drive but for some reason it doesn't boot to windows. It boots to BIOS, then I have to go into boot menu and only after a minute or so can I select the Intel drive and it will load up. They are trying to tell me it's a compatibility issue. I cannot really refute that since Intel only wanted to test the Intel 750 PCIe SSD on the Z97 and X99 Mobos. So, apparently the only official boards are z97 and x99. However, on NewEgg the videos seem to indicate that the Gigabyte Z170X Gaming 7 board is NVMe compatible.....ughh...had I known it would be this difficult I would've passed on the INtel 750.

[MLewe]

I haven't gotten as far as you in getting Windows loaded, but I have run into the booting problem with the SATA SSD I'm using until the 750 cooperates.

When you go into BIOS to set the boot priority, you also have to click on the line just below that will set the hard drive priority. Make sure that lists your boot drive as first. I double-check on the peripherals page to make sure everything is active (though I'm not sure which sub-category would list the 750). Sometimes it seems you have to let it go through the "not found" sequence then hard boot and let it find the right drive, but setting the hard-drive priority as well as the booting priority solved that problem for me.

[jbenavides]

Hello,

The Intel® Z170 Chipset support NVMe drives, such as the Intel® SSD 750 Series, so we would expect most of the systems based on this chipset to work well with this drive. However, the design of each motherboard, and the system BIOS are handled by the System manufacturer. Some motherboards may require different configurations to boot successfully from this drive; unfortunately, the guide: http://download.intel.com/support/ssdc/hpssd/sb/nvme_boot_guide_332098001us.pdf Booting from an NVMe* PCIe* Intel SSD only has examples for X99 and Z97 based systems, if your motherboard is not mentioned in the reference guide the best resource to confirm the configuration required in your system is the http://www.intel.com/support/oems.htm Computer Manufacturer Support, since they are responsible to test and certify compatibility with PCIe* NVMe* drives.

As you can see from the posts from other customers that had success with similar systems, some boards may require additional configurations that are not mentioned in the reference guide.

[TScha5]

I followed your instructions but was unable to convert disk to gpt. It gave me the error "The arguments specified for this command are not valid". I was only able to clean the disk 0. Could not convert. So does that mean it already is gpt? Or something else...?

Also, what I don't understand is how the system is seeing it when I put Windows 10 Pro 64 disk in and start to install Windows yet for some reason it isn't even showing up under Boot Options in BIOS...???? The only place I even see it is under the Peripherals tab in BIOS. I'm not sure if I'm even supposed to be seeing it there.

Right now I'm making negative progress. At least MicroCenter was able to load Windows to the drive. But since they couldn't get it to boot to Windows I had them delete it. I then reformatted the drive to one partition and was attempting to reinstall it after following the instructions here as well as the pdf "Booting NVMe drives.." But, it just says "Windows Cannot be installed to this disk. This computers hardware may not support booting to this disk. Ensure that the disks controller is enabled in the BIOS menu. "

I don't know how or where to go to do that. Any help with that please...???

Also, in BIOS under Peripherals when I go into NVMe Configuration it is completely blank. Is that normal? I would think something should be there...

Also, the pdf "How to boot nvme drives.." Says that Gigabyte boards should have CSM disabled. (Even tho it shows and example where it isn't disabled). When I disable that it removes the options to change Storage Boot Option and Other PCI device ROM priority.

Can somebody please help me with this. If I cannot figure this out in 3 days I have to return the drive to NewEgg. I don't want to risk getting stuck with a $1k drive that doesn't really work in the real world. I just cannot believe Intel isn't providing better support for this. And what does "Contact Computer Support" mean? It's a custom PC Build. So, the Motherboard vendor? Well that's Gigabyte. They don't give phone numbers. U have to submit a ticket and hope they respond. Which they don't.