Help. Uninstalled Samsung Nvme 960 driver. Now can’t boot to windows

Enycer2020 · 07 Apr 2020

Hello. I was trying to update my NVMe 960 driver to the latest version 3.3. When I downloaded the exe file from Samsung site .. I clicked on the uninstall option and rebooted my pc. Since my OS is installed on that NVME.. I can no longer boot up to windows 10. instead it takes me to some blue setup scree menu where I can reinstall Windows, use command prompt, system restore etc..

I should of never uninstalled but thought I needed to do that before I install the new driver version.

Is their anyway I can install the .exe driver file via command prompt or am I out of luck and have to reinstall my entire pc

sygnus21 · 07 Apr 2020

Unfortunately removing that driver and then rebooting was a bad idea as you found out.

That said, I'm also a bit baffled as you could definitely run that drive without the Samsung drivers. It that weren't the case you'd never get it to boot Windows as there are no "pre-install" drivers when installing the drive and and OS on the drive; so from that perspective your issue is kind of weird.

At any rate if you can not "boot into Windows" the only thing left is to do is try one of the repair procedures from troubleshooting screen you're sent to.

BTW I have 3 Samsung NVME drives - two 970 Pro in my main rig, one 950 Pro in my backup rig. I'm also running the latest 3.3 driver.

AndreTen · 07 Apr 2020

You could try System restore. You said it is an option.

Pejole2165 · 07 Apr 2020

If you can boot in safe mode it might give Windows the opportunity to install the default MS NVME driver allowing you to then restart in normal mode and re install a Samsung driver.

Enycer2020 · 07 Apr 2020

I tried booting in safe mode but wouldn’t load .. just stuck on loading for like 20 min and system restore gave me an error when trying to do a restore point

idgat · 07 Apr 2020

Any data on that drive that you want ?

Enycer2020 · 07 Apr 2020

Yes lots of programs and files. I made a system image backup 2 days ago. I selected the file image backup and clicked next but it’s asking me to install drivers and to select location where drivers is installed. I clicked on the .exe nvme driver but got an error saying “the specified location does not contain information about your hardware “

Pejole2165 · 07 Apr 2020

You need the expanded ( decompressed) files which should include an .inf file for setup, not a .exe, I would try the Samsung support site, if you have access to another PC, to see if you can get a install time (sometimes called an F6 driver package) driver, you would then put that on a USB flash drive and during Windows install when it asks for drivers point it to the USB flash drive.

Enycer2020 · 07 Apr 2020

I contacted Samsung and they said they don’t have inf files . Only way to install driver is when on windows

sygnus21 · 07 Apr 2020

Yeah, at this point in time you're probably going to have to reinstall Windows.

That said, there's still the question of why you can't boot after removing that driver. As I said, you can definitely install an NVME drive and OS without the Samsung drivers needing to be installed first.

Anyway, you may be stuck with having to do a reinstall

EDIT: Try this file path when searching for the driver....

If that doesn't work try "C:\Windows\INF" in that folder look for oem53.inf...

The above is for my Samsung 970 Pro drive, but is should work for the the 960 (maybe). If none of those work, well...

Please let us know.