# Installing OS to m.2 drive



## oli_ramsay (Dec 12, 2018)

Hi

I've just bought a Samsung Evo 970 to use in system in my specs. Is it as simple as plug it into motherboard, go into bios, change boot order and install just like on a conventional SSD or HDD?

Thanks


----------



## R00kie (Dec 12, 2018)

there is a way to clone your existing install if you want to, but yeah, it should be as simple as that.


----------



## Gorstak (Dec 12, 2018)

depends on your mobo, some still don't support booting from m.2 drives. But if they do, it's like any other drive.


----------



## Bones (Dec 12, 2018)

Agree with the above - Some boards don't support an M.2 drive and then you have the driver(s) it could need as well for the OS itself. 
Should be able to at least get the drivers from Samsung for it.


----------



## CrAsHnBuRnXp (Dec 12, 2018)

He has a B450. I dont see why it wouldnt support m.2 drives being a boot drive.


----------



## Bones (Dec 12, 2018)

I believe it would support it too - Still woudn't hurt to download the drivers and have them onhand anyway.

In reference to ones that don't my Sabertooth 3.0 for example does not and has to have the drivers available to install an OS aside from Win 10 onto it.
The board itself "Sees" it but can't make use of it without them, Win 10 being the only OS that has drivers it can use for an install without them.

EDIT: 
Later versions of 8.1 can too in some instances.


----------



## oli_ramsay (Dec 12, 2018)

Drive is recognised in BIOS, but I can't select it as a boot option? Any ideas?


----------



## TheLostSwede (Dec 12, 2018)

oli_ramsay said:


> Drive is recognised in BIOS, but I can't detect it as a boot option? Any ideas?


Yeah, disable CSM in the UEFI. MSI might call it something else.
Also make sure your Windows USB install drive is set up for GPT, not MBR.


----------



## Gorstak (Dec 12, 2018)

where r u trying to select it as a boot option? windows setup from dvd/usb? Or just in bios? If it's just bios, it prolly wont allow it without os on it and drive being bootable....also, secure boot might present an issue...secure boot options on my msi board are under advanced/windows configuration in bios


----------



## newtekie1 (Dec 12, 2018)

oli_ramsay said:


> Drive is recognised in BIOS, but I can't select it as a boot option? Any ideas?



Disconnect all other driver, boot to the Windows 10 installer and install Windows.  That will create a EFI boot loader on the drive, that you can then select as the boot option in the BIOS.  It actually should automatically detect the Windows Boot Manager and put it as a boot option, so you don't have to manually select it.  The only time you will have to manually select what to boot to is if you have more than one drive with Windows installed on it, like if you plug your old drive back in that had Windows on it.  Then you might see two Windows Boot Managers as options for booting, good luck finding the right one in that case(it's actually pretty easy through trial and error).


----------



## oli_ramsay (Dec 12, 2018)

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/answers/id-3506030/nvme-drive-bootable.html

Followed this guide, seems to be working now!


----------



## TheLostSwede (Dec 12, 2018)

oli_ramsay said:


> http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/answers/id-3506030/nvme-drive-bootable.html
> 
> Followed this guide, seems to be working now!



No need for step 9 and 10, unless you want to use secure boot.


----------



## oli_ramsay (Dec 12, 2018)

I honestly don't know wheat secure boot is or the pro/cons of it?


----------



## jboydgolfer (Dec 12, 2018)

newtekie1 said:


> Disconnect all other drives



this is paramount , for any windows install,. NvMe or traditional.


----------



## oli_ramsay (Dec 12, 2018)

jboydgolfer said:


> this is paramount , for any windows install,. NvMe or traditional.



Roger that


----------



## Mussels (Dec 13, 2018)

I know the board and SSD you're using, so i can offer advice

1. Make sure your windows installer is setup for UEFI. DVD works, as does specially making your USB installer (I use Rufus like this)







2. Disconnect all storage devices that are not the M.2 destination drive, and your installer USB/DVD drive
3. Disable CSM, set the board to "windows 8/10 mode) (Dont recall the exact wording)
4. Boot from the USB stick using the quickboot menu, it will specify UEFI if done correctly
5. happy fun times with crazy speeds, but pretty average boot times because the MSI ryzen boards turn on pretty slowly for some reason


----------



## fusseli (Dec 17, 2018)

I cloned my OS from an old ssd 840 Evo to a new m.2 NVMe 970 Evo, it was extremely easy with Samsung's software.  UEFI partitions and everything cloned fine, and booted fine, not a single hiccup.

The issue I chased for hours was getting the 2nd m.2 drive to be recognized by bios or Windows on my motherboard that has two m.2 slots, a new Crucial P1 NVMe.  I tried a million bios settings combinations, shuffling my other drives to different sata ports, and restarts.  Turned out that the P1 was not all the way clicked into the m.2 slot, despite being screwed down securely.


----------



## Kissamies (Dec 17, 2018)

jboydgolfer said:


> this is paramount , for any windows install,. NvMe or traditional.


Sometimes Windows installation makes partitions to other drives. It's not a big job to disconnect the SATA cables from the motherboard during that process.


----------



## Flaky (Dec 17, 2018)

Chloe Price said:


> Sometimes Windows installation makes partitions to other drives.


Quite the opposite. The problem occurs if there is already a boot partition somewhere - if it exists, then it is being used, instead of creating a new one.

In general, windows does not like same-type bootloaders present on multiple drives. I've seen windows 10 upgrade process fail just because of that.


----------



## Mats (Dec 17, 2018)

Flaky said:


> Quite the opposite. The problem occurs if there is already a boot partition somewhere - if it exists, then it is being used, instead of creating a new one.


It used to happen to me with a data disk and a blank OS disk connected tho. The installer puts one partition on the data drive every now and then.


----------



## Mussels (Dec 17, 2018)

It puts the boot partition on whatever it thinks is 'disk 0' sometimes, definitely happens. my brothers a great one for screwing that up regularly.


----------



## Kissamies (Dec 17, 2018)

Exactly. That's why I take the SATA cables away during the installation.


----------

