Enable AHCI in Windows 8 and Windows 10 after Installation  

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  1. Posts : 2,800
    Windows 7 Pro
       #170

    Since i'm not sure of all the steps you have taken yet.

    Make sure.

    Code:
    All drives are in SATA mode before cloning.
    
    Install your (new) boot disk in the emplacement you want it. (Normaly SATA 0/1)
    
    Connect your source drive on a secondary controller.
    
    Boot  your favorite USB cloning software.
    
    Clone Disk to Disk --> in the right direction :-)
    
    Shutdown.
    
    Remove souce drive. 
    
    Startup and make sure new Boot disk is correctly selected in bios.
    If it boots... Then proceed to the steps I've described before.

    If you are confident that you've tried these this correctly... Move forward.

    Backup and do a fresh install (Honestly It never hurts)................. That much

    If you must do a complete renew. Reset your bios to default and Check carefully Your options and if found you should enable...

    AHCI
    UEFI
    Secure Boot

    If possible Disable CSM... I have computers that doesn't boot UEFI without it. But I can confirm they are UEFI Compliant

    At this point if a correctly created Windows installation media doesn't start... An installed Windows Won't.

    Edit: Can you show a screenshot of your Disk in a recongnized Disk Management utility ?
      My Computers


  2. Posts : 1,052
    windows 10
       #171

    bostoncommon said:
    Thanks, Malok! It was worth a try, so I boot up windows 10 from my SSD and followed the command to boot up in safe mode (double checked msconfig and it shows as windows 10 safe mode minimal).

    Then, I physically removed my HDD from the ide cable. So now all that's left is my SSD which is my boot drive. Restarted and switched to AHCI mode in the BIOS, saved and restarted.

    Same deal, the windows 10 logo shows up with the infinite loop circle, which after what seems like forever will display "inaccessible device boot error," then proceeds to restart and the cycle begins.

    I'm not sure, but is it because my SSD has all 3 windows systems in there (XP, 8.1 and 10)?
    It's complicated you have 3 windows systems. You must do the safe mode method for the 3 systems for the ahci drivers to install in these 3 systems. There is a problem windows xp i believe does not have a built-in ahci driver, you need to install it under windows xp, restart the computer and change in the bios to ahci mode, or embed it in the installation media XP and do a clean install of XP. It is therefore different from the safe mode method for windows 10,8,7. It's a mess!

    The best solution is to configure the bios in ahci mode and do a clean install of windows 10,8.1 and xp, but before that practice doing a clean install of xp with the ahci driver, which can be found on the page of your motherboard or intel / amd site, integrated in the installation medium.

    Without doing a clean install try the safe mode method with windows 8.1 because it is the system boot. And if it works, we have to see if it will work by booting on Windows 10. If it works you just have to do a clean install of xp with the ahci drivers integrated in the installation medium or on a key usb, I'm not sure how to do it.
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 2,800
    Windows 7 Pro
       #172

    I'm pretty sure the last system you added is the one that holds the boot selection process.

    But as I said before, can you post a screenshot of your hardrive configuration... It would really help
      My Computers


  4. Posts : 17
    Windows 10
       #173

    itsme1 said:
    It's complicated you have 3 windows systems. You must do the safe mode method for the 3 systems for the ahci drivers to install in these 3 systems. There is a problem windows xp i believe does not have a built-in ahci driver, you need to install it under windows xp, restart the computer and change in the bios to ahci mode, or embed it in the installation media XP and do a clean install of XP. It is therefore different from the safe mode method for windows 10,8,7. It's a mess!

    The best solution is to configure the bios in ahci mode and do a clean install of windows 10,8.1 and xp, but before that practice doing a clean install of xp with the ahci driver, which can be found on the page of your motherboard or intel / amd site, integrated in the installation medium.

    Without doing a clean install try the safe mode method with windows 8.1 because it is the system boot. And if it works, we have to see if it will work by booting on Windows 10. If it works you just have to do a clean install of xp with the ahci drivers integrated in the installation medium or on a key usb, I'm not sure how to do it.
    This makes the most sense to me, thank you! I did a quick search and found AHCI drivers for windows XP. I might try just installing the AHCI drivers on XP first, and see if that's successful. Then I'll change to safe mode for both Win 8.1 and Win 10 (or try the registry trick if safe mode doesn't work). Only then will I go to the BIOS to change to AHCI mode. Restart again and cross my fingers!

    I'd rather exhaust all my options first, the worst thing that can happen is I can no longer boot from my SSD (or lose all the data in there). Which I can live with, since I have still have the original in my HDD.

    And if that doesn't work, then I'll do a fresh install for all 3 like you suggested (still have my xp, 7 and 8 cd disks - I might skip xp though!) Of course I'll be sad to lose all my programs. I dont know really, if I can just live without windows 10. For the most part, they're all working great except for Win 10 which is slow/freezes, sometimes/hangs... which I'm pretty sure is caused by the SSD not in AHCI mode.

    I will keep you guys posted, but definitely will try it out this weekend!

    - - - Updated - - -

    MaloK said:
    I'm pretty sure the last system you added is the one that holds the boot selection process.

    But as I said before, can you post a screenshot of your hardrive configuration... It would really help
    It's a mess lol but here it is:

    Imgur: The magic of the Internet

    Btw, I cant get rid of xp because it's the primary partition. Also Disk 0 is my HDD (and Disk 1 is my SSD which was cloned from Disk 0/HDD - well I only cloned the Windows operating systems and upgraded 7 to 10)

    - - - Updated - - -

    itsme1 said:
    Without doing a clean install try the safe mode method with windows 8.1 because it is the system boot. And if it works, we have to see if it will work by booting on Windows 10. If it works you just have to do a clean install of xp with the ahci drivers integrated in the installation medium or on a key usb, I'm not sure how to do it.
    OH MY GOD..... You are a GENIUS!!! I don't know why I didn't see this part you wrote, but it worked when I safe mode in 8.1 and change to AHCI in the bios (I made the 8.1 default OS instead of Win 10, although not sure if that matters)!!!!! Finally, I see the AHCI drivers in Windows 8.1!!

    Imgur: The magic of the Internet


    Next up, maybe Windows 10 (perhaps fresh install on that partition or try to use the same drivers from Win 8.1 lol) To be continued!!
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 1,052
    windows 10
       #174

    Alright, that is good


    If you can not pass the 3 systems in AHCI, yesterday I thought of a method to test, but I had to sleep before ...



    So starting with the bios in SATA mode, you boot into windows 10 and you switch to safe mode with msconfig, you reboot but you choose windows 8 and you switch it to safe mode with msconfig and you reboot but choose windows xp. In windows xp you install the AHCI driver, you reboot, enter the bios to change to ahci mode, you exit the bios and choose windows xp. Check that the ahci driver is installed, if so, you reboot and choose windows 8 or 10, normally windows 8 and 10 must start in safe mode, in this mode you cancel the safe mode (the tutorial procedure in fact) and you reboot in the version where you have just left safe mode, you reboot in the latest version to remove safe mode and you reboot in the same version.



    If you are already in ahci mode for a version of windows, xp or windows 8 for example, to return to sata mode it is the same procedure as in the tutorial but you switch from ahci to sata.
    Last edited by itsme1; 22 Sep 2021 at 10:23.
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 17
    Windows 10
       #175

    itsme1 said:
    Alright, that is good
    If you can not pass the 3 systems in AHCI, yesterday I thought of a method to test, but I had to sleep before ...

    So starting with the bios in SATA mode, you boot into windows 10 and you switch to safe mode with msconfig, you reboot but you choose windows 8 and you switch it to safe mode with msconfig and you reboot but choose windows xp. In windows xp you install the AHCI driver, you reboot, enter the bios to change to ahci mode, you exit the bios and choose windows xp. Check that the ahci driver is installed, if so, you reboot and choose windows 8 or 10, normally windows 8 and 10 must start in safe mode, in this mode you cancel the safe mode (the tutorial procedure in fact) and you reboot in the version where you have just left safe mode, you reboot in the latest version to remove safe mode and you reboot in the same version.

    If you are already in ahci mode for a version of windows, xp or windows 8 for example, to return to sata mode it is the same procedure as in the tutorial but you switch from ahci to sata.
    UPDATE: Okay, so I was planning to do it this weekend, but figured trying it again. I unhooked my HDD from the IDE cable, so it's just my SSD installed in SATA port 1.

    This is my current setup:

    Win XP - I don't really care to switch to AHCI, because I don't really use XP. It's my primary partition so I can't get rid of it.
    Win 8.1 - All good now, using AHCI
    Win 10 - I've tried the safe mode method, registry method - and no go, it simply refuses to boot to Win 10 and displays the "inaccessible boot" error after what seems like an infinite loop. I've also tried uninstalling the drivers. No go, same deal. Win 10 will only boot if I revert back to "SATA" mode in the BIOS. Then I tried upgrading it to the SATA AHCI controller drivers (by selecting, "I'll install it myself..." -something like that, in the device manager). but after a warning message, it didn't do anything.. it's still the old drivers that was installed, not the AHCI ones.

    Decided to take the plunge and delete my Win 10 partition. Made sure BIOS says it's in AHCI mode. Install WIn 10 on that partition. And unfortunately, once I choose custom advance install to select that partition, it does not see my SSD at all! Only shows my USB disk drive. Ugh. Even when I put back my HDD, the Windows 10 install only sees my HDD... not my SSD. BUMMER!

    I realize there's something funky going on with Windows 10 and my super outdated mobo (XFX MIA78S8209 AM2+/AM2 Micro ATX AMD Motherboard - Newegg.com). More bios info: Imgur: The magic of the Internet It just refuses to work together! Unfortunately, I can't upgrade the BIOS, since I cannot find a reliable source, and the one link I found with a link to the bios downloads upgrade, I just did not want to try for fear of irreversibly damaging the mobo.

    So I guess my other option, and question to you or anybody , do you think upgrading my Win 8.1 (which is perfectly working on AHCI) to Win 10 will do the trick?? I'm so tempted to try it, since I do have my old HDD clone set aside just in case, just to see if AHCI will work with WIN 10 on my computer. What do you think? I have a feeling it wont and will just error out or not start upon boot up. Any other ideas? Will plugging my ssd to a different SATA port make any difference at all (I have 6 sata ports)? I did follow your instructions (except for the XP one), long story short, it will boot to win 8.1 on AHCI mode, but not win 10 (only on SATA mode will win 10 work).

    Thanks in advance!
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  7. Posts : 13,924
    Win10 Pro and Home, Win11 Pro and Home, Win7, Linux Mint
       #176

    I'm keeping a Notebook on Win8.1 until EOL/End Of Live in a little over a year from now. Since Win10 is scheduled EOL of Oct. 2025 I can move the Notebook over to Win10 to give it more life and it WILL NOT run Win11. Also, I reinstalled Win8.1 some months ago and no issue yet in activating.

    What is the Lifecycle Policy for Windows 8.1? Windows 8.1 reached the end of Mainstream Support on January 9, 2018, and will reach end of Extended Support on January 10, 2023. With the general availability of Windows 8.1, customers on Windows 8 had until January 12, 2016, to move to Windows 8.1 to remain supported.
    https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/lif...ws#windows-8.1
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  8. Posts : 1,052
    windows 10
       #177

    Perhaps you should open a thread in another part of the forum.


    Download hwinfo64 portable version to see which bios version you have. Launch hwinfo64, close all the small windows except the main one, on the left click on motherboard, on the right see the bios version.

    Download HWiNFO latest release


    I found the bios version 1.7 for your motherboard. I have known the site well for over 20 years there is no problem. click on the floppy disk to download it

    BIOS XFX GeForce 8200 1.7


    For the ssd not seen during the installation of windows, go to the bios in the "BOOT" tab and enter the 3 options to see if you can put your ssd in the first position, if you only see "hdd" put it in first position. Play around with the options on this tab.



    edit: If in sata mode you see your ssd during installation, after having tried everything in ahci mode, then switch windows 8.1 back to sata mode, do a clean install of windows 10, and switch windows 10 and 8.1 back to ahci mode as explained in my previous post. Put both in safe mode in msconfig before entering the bios. There is no reason that windows 10 cannot go into ahci mode like windows 8, I think it is because of updating from windows 7 there is something broken.
    Last edited by itsme1; 24 Sep 2021 at 16:33.
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  9. Posts : 17
    Windows 10
       #178

    itsme1 said:
    Download hwinfo64 portable version to see which bios version you have. Launch hwinfo64, close all the small windows except the main one, on the left click on motherboard, on the right see the bios version.

    Download HWiNFO latest release

    I found the bios version 1.7 for your motherboard. I have known the site well for over 20 years there is no problem. click on the floppy disk to download it

    BIOS XFX GeForce 8200 1.7
    Thanks, the first link was very helpful to determine what BIOS version I have! Unfortunately, the second link that is for my motherboard doesn't have anything in it. I clicked on the floppy icon to download it. Came in as a zip file. Opened the zip file, and it's an iso image. Mounted the iso image, and there is nothing in there! So not sure where to go from here. The sketchy link I did found earlier was this: Index of /Support/BIOS/Motherboard/730a-8200/Floppy and it also had the 1.7 version, but it has a *ROM extension, and not sure how to install that.

    itsme1 said:
    For the ssd not seen during the installation of windows, go to the bios in the "BOOT" tab and enter the 3 options to see if you can put your ssd in the first position, if you only see "hdd" put it in first position. Play around with the options on this tab.
    I don't even have the HDD plugged in anymore, so it's just my SSD and the USB flash drive. Win 10 install just refuses to see my SSD when in AHCI mode. When I put it back to SATA mode, the Win 10 setup was able to see my SSD, which I then proceeded to freshly install in the unallocated space I have reserved for Win 10.

    itsme1 said:
    edit: If in sata mode you see your ssd during installation, after having tried everything in ahci mode, then switch windows 8.1 back to sata mode, do a clean install of windows 10, and switch windows 10 and 8.1 back to ahci mode as explained in my previous post. Put both in safe mode in msconfig before entering the bios. There is no reason that windows 10 cannot go into ahci mode like windows 8, I think it is because of updating from windows 7 there is something broken.
    So, I just did (but had to put Win 8.1 as the default boot since Win 10 refuses to even load the boot menu once it was switched to AHCI mode). Here's the following steps I did:
    • Installed Win 10 in sata mode (since it doesn't see it on AHCI mode)
    • Once Win 10 was installed with the updates as well, I went ahead and change to safe mode via msconfig (and also put in Win 8.1 as "default")
    • Restarted, entered BIOS, and switch to AHCI mode
    • Selected Win 10 to boot up > Infinite Loop until it spits out the INACCESSIBLE BOOT DRIVE error
    • Restarted it on it's own, and decided to leave it be. Once boot menu pops up, I decided to select Win 8.1
    • Win 8.1 boots up successfully on AHCI mode
    • Restarted again so I can go back to Win 10. I entered BIOS and switch to SATA mode then restarted
    • Boot menu presents itself, and this time I select WIN 10
    • Win 10 successfully boots up on safe mode (remember it's in SATA mode)
    • So basically I did the same thing with the registry trick. Same deal. Win 10 just doesnt want to boot up on AHCI mode


    I also tried uninstalling the drivers, same deal. Also tried upgrading the drivers and letting me choose it, but what's weird is that it does have the standard AHCI controller driver, but it just supposedly isn't "compatible with my hardware":

    But every time I choose that, after a warning, WIN 10 will say it successfully updated the drivers. But it still shows the old IDE drivers (even after a reboot - obviously on SATA mode since AHCI doesn't work). And btw, as far as the registry is concerned, the values has always been defaulted to 0

    Except for the StartOverride (which was set to 3 by default, and changed it to 0 as per instruction). So not sure if that was worth noting.

    I'm at my wits end with Win 10! The only option I haven't tried yet is just to upgrade my working AHCI Win 8.1 to Win 10. Just to summarize:
    - Win 10 install/setup does not see my SSD when on AHCI mode, only on SATA mode
    - After Win 10 is installed (BIOS on SATA mode), the safe mode and registry trick do not work once restarted and switching to AHCI mode. It refuses to even load the Win 10 Boot menu. Error is INACCESSIBLE BOOT DRIVE
    -After switching back to SATA mode, and booting up to WIN 10 successfully, I changed in msconfig the default boot to WIN 8.1. This allows me to have the WIN 8.1 Boot menu boot up instead of win 10 boot menu, since on AHCI mode, only WIN 8.1 Boot up menu displays (allowing me to choose 8.1 if I wish to do so on AHCI mode) and Win 10 boot up menu won't display on AHCI mode

    Well, that's it for me for now but thank you for taking the time to help and troubleshoot Win 10 with me!!
      My Computer


  10. Posts : 1,052
    windows 10
       #179

    For the bios of my link you need to burn the iso file to a bootable cdrom / dvdrom or bootable flash drive, for your link I believe it's the same with all files, exe, bat and rom. But you should open a bios thread for other more knowledgeable people to answer you.

    You have tried almost everything. Now you can try updating windows 10 from windows 8.1 in ahci mode in bios. If it works then it should work with a clean install of windows 10 in sata mode and surely switch to ahci mode by changing the driver of the storage controller. What do you have under storage controller (unfolded.)? make a capture post it on this thread.



    edit: if under ide ata / atapi controllers you have ata channel 0 and ata channel 1, you choose ata channel 0 and / or ata channel 1 then you update the driver to standart sata ahci controller
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