Enable AHCI in Windows 8 and Windows 10 after Installation  

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    Enable AHCI in Windows 8 and Windows 10 after Installation

    Enable AHCI in Windows 8 and Windows 10 after Installation

    How to Enable AHCI in Windows 8 and Windows 10 after Installation
    Published by Category: Installation & Upgrade
    07 Jun 2018
    Designer Media Ltd


    How to Enable AHCI in Windows 8 and Windows 10 after Installation


    AHCI (Advanced Host Controller Interface) makes NCQ (Native Command Queuing) along with hot-plugging or hot swapping through SATA Serial-ATA host controllers possible

    Usually today's motherboards will have AHCI enabled in UEFI or BIOS by default. Some older motherboards may have IDE enabled by default instead.

    If you wanted to install Windows using AHCI instead of IDE, then you would normally need to have AHCI enabled in BIOS/UEFI first.

    This tutorial will show you how to enable AHCI in Windows 8/8.1 and Windows 10 after you have already installed the OS (operating system) with IDE by mistake.

    You must be signed in as an administrator to be able to enable AHCI after installing Windows.

    This tutorial is an updated version for Windows 8/8.1/10 from the Windows 7 version our dear late member Ted (aka: Bare Foot Kid) created at our sister site www.SevenForums.com below.

    AHCI : Enable in Windows 7 / Vista

    It is recommended to create a restore point before doing this tutorial. This way if you make a mistake, you will be able to easily undo it by doing a system restore with the restore point.



    Here's How:

    1. While in Windows, press the Win+R keys to open Run, type regedit, and click/tap on OK to open Registry Editor.

    2. If prompted by UAC, click/tap on Yes.

    3. In the left pane of Registry Editor, browse to the key location below. (see screenshot below)

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\iaStorV

    Click image for larger version.  Name: AHCI_registry-3.png  Views: 4102  Size: 36.8 KB  ID: 37533

    4. In the right pane of the iaStorV key, double click/tap on the Start DWORD to modify it. (see screenshot above)

    5. Type 0 (zero) for AHCI, and click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below)

    Name: AHCI_registry-2.png Views: 141368 Size: 6.7 KB

    6. In the left pane of Registry Editor, browse to the key location below. (see screenshot below)

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\iaStorAVC\StartOverride

    Name: StartOverride-1.png Views: 15284 Size: 30.0 KB

    7. In the right pane of the StartOverride key, double click/tap on the 0 DWORD to modify it. (see screenshot above)

    8. Type 0 (zero), and click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below)

    This value will return back to 3 after you restart the computer later.

    Name: StartOverride-2.png Views: 139261 Size: 6.6 KB

    9. In the left pane of Registry Editor, browse to the key location below. (see screenshot below)

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\storahci

    Click image for larger version.  Name: AHCI_registry-1.png  Views: 3767  Size: 36.4 KB  ID: 37531

    10. In the right pane of the storahci key, double click/tap on the Start DWORD to modify it. (see screenshot above)

    11. Type 0 (zero) for AHCI, and click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below)

    Name: AHCI_registry-2.png Views: 141368 Size: 6.7 KB

    12. In the left pane of Registry Editor, browse to the key location below to see if you have the StartOverride here. If you don't, then go to step 15 below. (see screenshot below)

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\storahci\StartOverride

    Name: StartOverride-1B.png Views: 139314 Size: 23.1 KB

    13. If you do, then, in the right pane of the StartOverride key, double click/tap on the 0 DWORD to modify it. (see screenshot above)

    14. Type 0 (zero), and click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below)

    Name: StartOverride-2.png Views: 139261 Size: 6.6 KB

    15. When finished, close Registry Editor.

    16. Boot the computer to your BIOS or UEFI firmware settings.

    17. In your BIOS or UEFI firmware settings, enable AHCI, and save & exit to apply and restart the computer. (see screenshot below)

    These settings will vary per brand and model number of motherboard. Please read your motherboard manual for more specific details about how to change SATA settings for it.

    Click image for larger version.  Name: BIOS.jpg  Views: 15141  Size: 173.9 KB  ID: 37535

    18. When Windows starts, it'll automatically install AHCI drivers. (see screenshot below)

    Name: AHCI-Driver.jpg Views: 57059 Size: 99.8 KB
    Name: AHC-Driver2.jpg Views: 57569 Size: 189.5 KB

    19. When finished, you'll need to click/tap on Restart Now to restart the computer one last time.

    Name: Restart.jpg Views: 140851 Size: 75.8 KB


    That's it,
    Shawn



  1. dingorob

    Junior Member
    Posts : 12
    Windows 10
       New 15 Oct 2015 #1

    Hi Shawn

    I would like to go from IDE to AHCI using your instructions above.

    As you can see from the attached photo of my BIOS, there's a "SATA Mode Selection" setting and a "Marvell SATA3 Operation Mode" setting. My SSD (on SATA3_1) has the OS installed on it. My two other hard drives are on the Marvell connections.
    My mobo is an Asrock Z68 Extreme4 Gen3.

    After following your instructions above, should I set BOTH the "SATA Mode Selection" setting and the "Marvell SATA3 Operation Mode" to AHCI or just the "SATA Mode Selection" setting ?

    Thanks

    Click image for larger version.  Name: IMG_20151015_225253.jpg  Views: 1581  Size: 610.9 KB  ID: 42890
    Last edited by Brink; 15 Oct 2015 at 11:26. Reason: attached your uploaded image
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  3. Brink's Avatar
    Brink

    Administrator
    Posts : 36,035
    64-bit Windows 10 Pro build 18836
    Thread Starter
       New 15 Oct 2015 #2

    Hello Rob, :)

    I'd set both to AHCI, but the Marvel option wouldn't matter unless you had a SATA drive connected to one of it's separate ports.
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  4. dingorob

    Junior Member
    Posts : 12
    Windows 10
       New 15 Oct 2015 #3

    Thanks brink. However, I think I have the two hdds connected to the Marvell ports, don't I?
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  5. Brink's Avatar
    Brink

    Administrator
    Posts : 36,035
    64-bit Windows 10 Pro build 18836
    Thread Starter
       New 15 Oct 2015 #4

    I'd set it to AHCI to be safe.
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  6. dingorob

    Junior Member
    Posts : 12
    Windows 10
       New 16 Oct 2015 #5

    ok, so this is weird ...

    both the START dwords for those registry entries were already set to 0.
    (remember that I have SATA mode set as IDE in BIOS!)

    So then I went to the BIOS and changed SATA modes to AHCI and rebooted and got the INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE BSOD.

    Went back to BIOS and changed back to IDE and all is ok again.

    So Windows thinks I'm in AHCI? But BIOS says IDE.

    I'm totally confused
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  7. dingorob

    Junior Member
    Posts : 12
    Windows 10
       New 16 Oct 2015 #6

    I ended up using these instructions:
    Solved Attn. SSD owners - Enabling AHCI mode AFTER Windows 10 installation. - Windows 10 Forums

    and now I'm in AHCI .

    In your tutorial above I think you should mention the startoverride subkeys. They need to have 0 dwords too.
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  9. Brink's Avatar
    Brink

    Administrator
    Posts : 36,035
    64-bit Windows 10 Pro build 18836
    Thread Starter
       New 16 Oct 2015 #7

    Thank you Rob. The tutorial has been updated for this. :)
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  10. colsearle

    Junior Member
    Posts : 8
    10
       New 24 Dec 2015 #8

    Today I visited a customer on Win 10 x64 who's SSD was in IDE mode which I changed to AHCI by changing the StartOverride keys from 3 to 0 in the registry.

    All good. My question is I also see forums suggesting a safemode then nornal boot will also work after changing to AHCI. Does anyone experience with this ? Does anyone know if and which registry entries the safemode method changes ?

    If the safemode method works then it has to be better than a registry edit ?
    Last edited by colsearle; 24 Dec 2015 at 16:05.
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  11. Brink's Avatar
    Brink

    Administrator
    Posts : 36,035
    64-bit Windows 10 Pro build 18836
    Thread Starter
       New 24 Dec 2015 #9

    Hello colsearle, :)

    Sure you could do this in safe mode or normal mode. It doesn't matter.

    https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/2...dows-10-a.html
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