Simplified Installation of M.2 NVMe Drives on HP z420, z620, z820

[Spyder30]

Hi,

Many thanks for your 2 solutions... theses solutions works well with my Z620+Samsung NvME 870Pro.

If I connect only the 870Pro, I can install and used Win10 on the 870Pro... But If I wan connect my old SATA drives, I can't boot again...

With the LevelsAndMaps solution, the statup can indicate drive fs0, fs1, ... but when SATA drives are add to my system, the duet boot found only fs0 and indicate many bkl0, 1, 2, ... do you know how can I change the startup to boot on my MvME and keep SATA drives online ?

Regards,

David

[LevelsAndMaps]

Hello David,

Try editing the script a bit - I used a laptop to fiddle with it 🙂

The steps to understand what's happenning are:
1. Load the NVME drivers and let it refresh the disks.
2. From the UEFI command line, browse through the drives, until you find your NVMe
3. Once you isolate which fsN drive is the NVMe, you know how to finalise startup.nsh script.

So, now let's walk you through the actual process:

1. Load the NVME drivers and let it refresh the disks. 

Edit the startup.nsh to only load the NVMe drivers, but NOT launch anything else:

echo step1
connect -r
set -v efishellmode 1.1.2
map -u
echo step 2
load fs0:\EFI\Drivers\Nvm.efi
echo step2
map -u

you can browse through the map -u results, with Page up and Page down. If you're seeing weird-sized text, you might have to run the command again, manually.

So just type in map -u again, and then browse with Page up again until you reach the end of the text block from first map -u output

2. From the UEFI command line, browse through the drives, until you find your NVMe
You should probably have a few fsN numbers now, visually confirmed from the list. Like fs0, fs1, fs2 etc.

Access each one of them, and list their contents using the command LS (equivalent of dir command in :

 ls

 
you get to see what folders are inside each "fs" partition.

3. Once you isolate which fsN drive is the NVMe, you know how to finalise startup.nsh script.
now, knowing the fs number you need, edit accordingly the last line of the startup.nsh:

echo step1
connect -r
set -v efishellmode 1.1.2
map -u
echo step 2
load fs0:\EFI\Drivers\Nvm.efi
echo step2
map -u
echo step3
fs[YOUR-IDENTIFIED-NUMBER-HERE]:\EFI\boot\bootx64.efi

it should work.

If you encounter any problems, take a photo of the output (or hey, even video) send us a link and we'll help you as best as we can 😄

Have an awesome day!

[Diamantius]

Hello,
I followed your guide but when I try to copy the contents of the Windows 10 ISO to the DUET drive I get an error message stating that the .WIM file is too large. This is a limitation of the FAT32 filesystem from what I understand. How do I overcome this?

[LevelsAndMaps]

There shouldn't be any large files to copy.
FAT32 should do just fine.

You can follow my guide, which has made a few people happy already:
https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Business-PCs-Workstations-and-Point-of-Sale-Systems/Booting-Windows-fr...

Cheers,
LevelsAndMaps

[Diamantius]

---

@LevelsAndMaps wrote:

There shouldn't be any large files to copy.
FAT32 should do just fine.

You can follow my guide, which has made a few people happy already:
https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Business-PCs-Workstations-and-Point-of-Sale-Systems/Booting-Windows-fr...

Cheers,
LevelsAndMaps

---

Hi @LevelsAndMaps,
I am getting an error after clicking your link 😕
"The message you are trying to access is not available."

[LevelsAndMaps]

If that post redirects badly - sorry, it was marked as spam.
Here's what is says:

You will be able to boot OS from NVME (I'm using 970EVO) using the full UEFI 2015 build.

Steps required:
1. Get the UEFI 2015 build
2. Add the NVME Drivers to it (I made a folder named EFI\Drivers) and renamed the file to a shorter name - Nvm.efi
3. Customize your startup.nsh script to load the drivers and boot the OS (see below)
4. Put the cooked EFI on a bootable stick, which will always stay in the machine (I use a 512Mb one, really old 😛 )
5. Modify BIOS so it boots from USB

How I customize startup.nsh with the script:

echo step1
connect -r
set -v efishellmode 1.1.2
map -u
echo step 2
load fs0:\EFI\Drivers\Nvm.efi
echo step2
map -u
echo step3
fs1:\EFI\boot\bootx64.efi

where fs0 = bootable stick
fs1 = Samsung 970 Evo 😉

Or, if you're in a rush:
Here's the final EFI build (you might need to change the fs** numbers, based on what you have going on in your machine)
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1muN3k_eXJ2PcZfDWtWEmpG0ga-nUVNxv?usp=sharing

Tested on:
Z620 + 970Evo
z420 + XPG SX8200 (by Hmseb)

My numbers (z620 + 970EVO)

Regards,
LevelsAndMaps

[Diamantius]

Thanks so much for taking the time. I am really (REALLY) new at this, so please bear with me while I try to get it right.
I have a Z420 and a brand new 970 Evo and I want to install windows 10 from scratch on that drive. Steps to take(?):
1. Create a Windows Installation USB (let's say with Rufus) and then copy the cooked EFI to it
2. Create a 2nd bootable USB that will only have the cooked EFI on it

3. Boot from Windows, start installation and then replace with the 2nd stick after first reboot

Or am I completely out of place here?

[LevelsAndMaps]

Yes, that's pretty much how to do it.

I personally don't remember having to trick the windows installer into seeing the NVMe drivers - I do believe it comes with them.
So at first, I would suggest just this:

1. Create a Windows Installation USB (let's say with Rufus) - clean - (try to install windows like this to the NVMe, only if it doesn't work you might need to copy the NVMe driver to the stick)

2. Create a 2nd bootable USB that will only have the cooked EFI on it (yes, use the files in my Drive link)

3. Boot from Windows, start installation and then replace with the 2nd stick after first reboot (yes!)

The biggest thing we need to understand here is that UEFI is like an ms-dos, only smarter.
The contents of partitions from HDDs / USB sticks / SSDs and yes, NVMes are listed as fs#, not drive letters (like MS-DOS was having them)

I will monitor this thread in the next few hours, I'm sure we can get it done... if you need my Skype - just PM me 😛

Read below only if after step 3 - you're stuck into EFI:
no need to worry, that just means you have different "fs" numbers assigned to your NVMe, HDDs etc...

you can access each fs# like in ms-dos, by just typing in the command line:
fs0: 

you can list the contents of the respective fs# by typing the command
ls

you can access a folder from what that lists with the ms-dos-like command
cd foldername

you can move up one folder with 
cd ..  
if I remember correctly, you should have a space between cd and .. (try both, until you get it 😛 )

- this allows you to manually check which fs# has the USB files and which one belongs to windows. write them down - they will never change from now on.
- once you find the windows fs# - you can also launch bootx64.efi from that folder (

\EFI\boot\

- after you get into windows - access your memory stick and edit the startup.nsh to use the proper fs# of your machine, the ones which you have written down earlier.

[Diamantius]

This is amazing. I can't thank you enough. It's 23.30 here and the PC is at work so I will give it a shot tomorrow morning. But I will make sure to report back asap. Thanks again!

[Diamantius]

Absolut success. Thanks so much!