Installing NVMe M.2 PCIe SSD on Windows 10 and make it boot

I got a Corsair Force MP510, a blazing fast NMVe M.2 SSD and I couldn’t get Windows 10 to boot from it. It succesfully installed all the time, but never decided to boot Windows 10 for me.

What a dissapointment, since the drive is so fast, I didn’t want to restort to an older SSD and didn’t give up. There is so much crappy advice on the web, including many times the advice to RMA the device. But that might be way too drastic I decided.

Finally, after lots of trying with Windows tools like bootrec and diskman, I decided it had to be some BIOS setting and I was right.

To install a NVMe M.2 PCIe drive, follow these steps:

  1. Make sure the M.2. is the only drive that can be found (disconnect all other drives or disable them in the BIOS)
  2. Boot into your BIOS (usually means pressing F1 or ESC during boot)
  3. Disable, or make sure it is disabled, CSM ( Compatibility Support Module) UEFI, you should find it in the Startup/Boot section of the BIOS
  4. Make sure Secure Boot is enabled
  5. Format your drive. This is e.g. possible by choosing repair this computer during Windows 10 Setup and then getting into the command line.
  6. Restart your computer
  7. Go into the BIOS again
  8. Enable CSM/UEFI
  9. Disable Secureboot
  10. Go into the installer and follow the steps
  11. Then go back into the BIOS and confirm that the Windows Boot Manager is listed with your new NVMe drive
  12. Enable Secureboot again and install the default (factory) keys
  13. Save and exit
  14. You should be good to go!
  15. Let us know if that helped you….
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