Cloned my Win7 install to an M.2 on an addon card. How can I boot it? (USB? Grub?)

Mugsy · Oct 8, 2018

(Moderators: DO NOT MOVE THIS POST! You deleted it yesterday and moved the one (erroneous) response to an unrelated closed question in a different forum guaranteeing no one would see the original question, ensuring I'd get no responses and making all replies off topic!)

Short version:

I have a 970 Evo on an x4 card with Win7 cloned to it. My old MoBo doesn't support booting from PCIe cards. Is there a way to install the proper drivers to a bootable USB thumbdrive (or better yet, my Linux boot menu) so I can then load Windows from the M.2?

(Yes, it CAN be done according to some other posts I've found on the subject, but the solutions did not work for me. Read further...)

Long version:

I purchased a new 500gb 970 Evo M.2 drive, but my old Motherboard doesn't have M.2 slots so I'm using an x4 PCIe adapter card.

I have the drive working in Windows-7 (and Linux). I installed the M.2 hotfix from MS which recognized the card and allowed me to add/format it from the "Computer Management" utility and assign it a drive letter. I cloned my C: (Windows boot) drive to it but my BIOS doesn't detect the card on boot.

Once the computer has booted and the proper drivers are loaded, the computer should see the M.2 like any other drive and load Windows off it... at least, that's the working theory.

I've seen plenty of sites claiming you can boot a FRESH install of Win7 off an M.2 by using a bootable USB drive with the necessary drivers on it, but they all seem to involve putting the entire Win7.iso (with slip-streamed drivers) on a stick and installing Win7 from scratch.

I have no need (nor desire) to do that.

I also have Ubuntu Linux installed on a different drive (Dual Boot). When Windows is not present, it automatically boots to the "Grub" boot menu (which detects Windows on the nvme). But when I select Windows, it simply says "Device not found". :??:

So is there a way to put JUST the necessary boot files on a USB (or patch Grub) to load Win7 from the M.2?

TIA

USAFRet · Oct 8, 2018

Mugsy :

No.
Windows does not work that way. Neither does your motherboard and its BIOS.

Mugsy · Oct 8, 2018

USAFRet :

A bit more detail please. I see no reason why it matters where the files are loaded from.

(Please note, there are even posts on how to load Windows off a USB thumbdrive. The only difference is the USB is detected at boot prior to loading any drivers.)

USAFRet · Oct 8, 2018

"necessary boot files".
Which specific files are you referring to? The Windows install? Sure. But that is not what you're looking for.

The actual boot partition? Yes, you could probably forcefeed that onto the m.2 drive.
And your system still would not boot up, because your system does not recognize that as a viable location for that.

And even if you could...you gain exactly zero. The actual OS would still live on a different drive. Completely negating whatever you were trying to accomplish (speed?) with the m.2 drive.

Mugsy · Oct 8, 2018

USAFRet :

Thanks for the reply, but I'm not exactly sure you understand.

I'm able to clone my existing working Windows 7 installation to the M.2 so all necessary information to run Windows is on it. The original C: drive with Windows on it will be removed, so there would be no "OS living on a different drive" for it to find/use.

Windows can be installed to a USB thumb drive, so the ability to load Windows from a drive other than C: exists. The question then is must Windows reside on the same drive it boots from?

USAFRet · Oct 8, 2018

Mugsy :

I get exactly where you were coming from.
Yes, there are procedures to make a full Windows install boot from a USB.
And interestingly, if you do a couple of wrongs things during a Windows install, the boot partition may indeed end up on a different physical drive than the actual "OS".

That does not change the fact that your motherboard and its BIOS cannot boot from that m.2 drive in that adapter in that slot.
No matter which parts of Windows may or may not be on it.

If it were possible with your particular equipment, someone else would have already done it and documented it.
If that were the case, following their instructions to the letter should work.

Since that is not the case...it will not work.
Not every storage medium or drive type is compatible with every motherboard.
Or it may only be partially compatible, as is the case here. You can use that m.2 drive as a simple storage device, but not a OS or boot device.

Mugsy · Oct 8, 2018

USAFRet :

Thanks again. I understand that my MoBo can't boot from the M.2 (that is in fact why we're here), but I think my last observation is the big question:

Must Windows load from the same drive it boots from?

USAFRet · Oct 8, 2018

Mugsy :

Yes and no.
The boot partition can, even accidentally, be located on a different physical drive than the totality of "Windows".
Usually, this is not a good thing.

What does that mean? Does that mean it is "booting" from a different drive? Or is the physical drive where Windows is located the "boot drive"?

This is my current system:

The System Reserved partition outlined in Blue, the OS partition outlined in Red.

In theory, you could move that System Reserved to a different drive (that the system is capable of booting from)
A pain, and useless, but you could do it.
So, on power up, the bootloader in that System Reserved partition gets things started.
Then, the actual OS partition takes over and actually boots up the OS.
Again, the rest of the hardware needs to be capable of doing that. Many older motherboards cannot do this from an m.2 drive in an adapter.

My ASRock Z97 can't. Other Z97 vintage boards can, but only if the manufacturer has created and released a BIOS update to allow that. Or some 3rd party has done one for that specific motherboard.

So, which drive has the system booted from?

Mugsy · Oct 8, 2018

USAFRet :

When I clone my C: drive to the M.2, it includes the "System Reserved" partition. There should be a way to trigger it.

My Linux Grub menu can load Windows off my existing C: drive after booting, the only problem is when I move Windows to the M.2... even though Grub can be updated to detect it (even reporting "/dev/nvmedev1" as the source)... it reports "Device not found" when I select Windows from the menu. :??:

If I can figure out why it's doing that, I see no reason why it can't then load Windows off the M.2.

USAFRet · Oct 8, 2018

Mugsy :

Right. That is normal and to be expected. My above image was a clone from a different, smaller, drive.

The issue is that your BIOS does not know what to do with it, in that drive, in that adapter, in that slot.

Search

Cloned my Win7 install to an M.2 on an addon card. How can I boot it? (USB? Grub?)

Mugsy

Distinguished

USAFRet

Titan

Mugsy

Distinguished

USAFRet

Titan

Mugsy

Distinguished

USAFRet

Titan

Mugsy

Distinguished

USAFRet

Titan

Mugsy

Distinguished

USAFRet

Titan

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page