Enabling AHCI on Windows 7 systems with AMD

de.das.dude · Nov 15, 2011

I didnt know of this till today.
this thing rocks. i am getting read/writes of excess of 100MB/s on my 4yr old 80GB itachi and the 500GB WD!

be sure AHCI is disabled in your BIOS

1. Goto start.
2. Type regedit.
3. Click on regedit.exe
4. Follow this path: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE>system>CurrentControlSet>services>msahci

Open HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE

Open system

Open currentcontrolset

Open services

Open/Select msahci

Select start

Right click and select modify

Put in the value 0 in the selected region

Press OK and exit regedit.

5. Reboot into BIOS.
6. You will find AHCI under SATA configuration or something like that.
7. Enable AHCI mode on one group. Connect all HDDs to this group(enable other groups if necessary). Note Optical Drives may/may not work with AHCI.
8. Save BIOS settings and reboot into Windows.
9. Windows will ask to restart to apply changes. Do EET!!
10. After rebooting, goto your motherboard product page and download the latest AHCI/RAID driver.
11. Will probably be in a zip file. extract it to some C:\temp (say)
12. Open Device Manager.
13. Click on the IDE/ATAPI controlers.
14. Select the AHCI controller ( it will be named AHCI<something>)
15. Right click, select update drivers
16. Select "Browse my computer for software" Option.
17. Point to the c:\temp folder which contains drivers. Press ok. Your Drivers will be automatically installed.
18. Reboot as necessary.
19. Enjoy new write Speeds.
20. Spread the love :toast:

itsakjt · Nov 15, 2011

You wrote and presented all the instructions super awesome

_JP_ · Nov 15, 2011

Not that there isn't any info about that on the internet, but still very good job. :toast:

In my case, I have still to find a way to enable AHCI on (mobile) platforms with nVidia chipsets.

Daimus · Nov 15, 2011

Microsoft have program Microsoft Fix it 50470. It enables AHCI automatic.
http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=9741862

claylomax · Apr 27, 2012

Daimus said:
Microsoft have program Microsoft Fix it 50470. It enables AHCI automatic.
http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=9741862

I forgot to install the AHCI driver during my last Windows intallation and now I want to enable AHCI mode.
Do I need the driver to enable AHCI mode in the bios? and what happens if I enable AHCI mode without the driver?
What's the difference with the AHCI driver my motherboard ships with?

OneMoar · Apr 27, 2012

you should not need todo anything other then enable ACHI in the bios and possibly install the chipset drivers ... on windows 7 at least
the absolutely worst thing that's gonna happen is that it might not boot in achi mode ... there's a registry fix for that iirc

newtekie1 · Apr 27, 2012

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\pciide

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\msahci

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\iaStorV

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\iaStor

I believe these cover Intel, AMD, and nVidia(not totally sure on nVidia). Just change the Start value in each of these to 0. Also, this allows you to go from AHCI to RAID as well.

OneMoar said:
you should not need todo anything other then enable ACHI in the bios and possibly install the chipset drivers ... on windows 7 at least
the absolutely worst thing that's gonna happen is that it might not boot in achi mode ... there's a registry fix for that iirc

Even with Win7 it sometimes won't boot. This is the registry fix.

Easy Rhino · Apr 27, 2012

ok, sorry this has always confused me. could somebody give a layman's answer to what AHCI is and how is differs from RAID and other things in the bios? Also, why would I need to disable AHCI in bios but enable in Windows??

Athlon2K15 · Apr 27, 2012

The Advanced Host Controller Interface (AHCI) is a technical standard defined by Intel that specifies the operation of Serial ATA (SATA) host bus adapters in a non-implementation-specific manner.

The specification describes a system memory structure for computer hardware vendors to exchange data between host system memory and attached storage devices. AHCI gives software developers and hardware designers a standard method for detecting, configuring, and programming SATA/AHCI adapters. AHCI is separate from the SATA 3Gb/s standard, although it exposes SATA's advanced capabilities (such as hot swapping and native command queuing) such that host systems can utilize them.

OneMoar · Apr 27, 2012

this is what yeilds the most gain with AHCI enabled
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Native_Command_Queuing

Daimus · Apr 27, 2012

claylomax said:
I forgot to install the AHCI driver during my last Windows intallation and now I want to enable AHCI mode.
Do I need the driver to enable AHCI mode in the bios? and what happens if I enable AHCI mode without the driver?
What's the difference with the AHCI driver my motherboard ships with?

As far as I know, the native driver offers better performance and compatibility than standard driver is windows. It is better to download the latest driver from the official website of the motherboard manufacturer.
Then you need to run Microsoft FixIt, which would make the necessary changes to the registry automatically.
You must then reboot and enable AHCI in the BIOS.
If you enable AHCI in the BIOS without changing the registry, then when you boot, you will get the message "OS not found" or something like that.

Derek12 · Apr 27, 2012

That was very nice, because before that I couldn't enable AHCI in BIOS for my netbook, or Winows would refuse to boot

Many thanks

Daimus · Apr 27, 2012

Easy Rhino said:
ok, sorry this has always confused me. could somebody give a layman's answer to what AHCI is and how is differs from RAID and other things in the bios?

It is strongly recommended to enable AHCI if you are using SSD (of course, if you want it to work more than a month and show the best performance). In addition, AHCI allows "hot swapping" drives without turning off the computer and some other functions.

Easy Rhino · Apr 27, 2012

Daimus said:
It is strongly recommended to enable AHCI if you are using SSD (of course, if you want it to work more than a month and show the best performance). In addition, AHCI allows "hot swapping" drives without turning off the computer and some other functions.

what if i have just a regular platter type sata 3 drive?

newtekie1 · Apr 27, 2012

Easy Rhino said:
what if i have just a regular platter type sata 3 drive?

It is still a good idea to enable AHCI, as it gives the system access to most of the advantages SATA offers such as NCQ and Hot Swapping. It won't make a huge difference, but still worth it. In fact, I think Native Command Queuing only really helps with traditional hard drives.

de.das.dude · Apr 27, 2012

claylomax said:
I forgot to install the AHCI driver during my last Windows intallation and now I want to enable AHCI mode.
Do I need the driver to enable AHCI mode in the bios? and what happens if I enable AHCI mode without the driver?
What's the difference with the AHCI driver my motherboard ships with?

the driver that comes with windows isnt really good.
the one that comes with the motherboard shows the real performance, well, thats what i have heard.

Drone · Apr 27, 2012

That registry trick won't work with recent drivers, it bsods, however I didn't try Microsoft's fixit tool

CaptainFailcon · Apr 27, 2012

Drone said:
That registry trick won't work with recent drivers, it bsods, however I didn't try Microsoft's fixit tool

Hmm try installing the native chip-set drivers before changing the key

suraswami · Apr 28, 2012

I have to try the recommendations. Nice post.

chudddds · May 2, 2012

worked for me on a :

ASUS CM1740 Desktop
ASUS A75-M mobo
Win 7 Home Prem 64 bit

got the latest bios from asus

latest ahci driver package from amd

no problems at all

thanx OP

chudddds · May 2, 2012

Works for my DVDRW also !!!!

de.das.dude said:
I didnt know of this till today.
this thing rocks. i am getting read/writes of excess of 100MB/s on my 4yr old 80GB itachi and the 500GB WD!

be sure AHCI is disabled in your BIOS

1. Goto start.
2. Type regedit.
3. Click on regedit.exe
4. Follow this path: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE>system>CurrentControlSet>services>msahci

http://img.techpowerup.org/111115/1.png
Open HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE

http://img.techpowerup.org/111115/2.png

Open system
http://img.techpowerup.org/111115/3.png

Open currentcontrolset
http://img.techpowerup.org/111115/4.png

Open services
http://img.techpowerup.org/111115/5.png

Open/Select msahci
http://img.techpowerup.org/111115/6.png

Select start
http://img.techpowerup.org/111115/7.png

Right click and select modify
http://img.techpowerup.org/111115/8.png

Put in the value 0 in the selected region
http://img.techpowerup.org/111115/9.png

Press OK and exit regedit.

5. Reboot into BIOS.
6. You will find AHCI under SATA configuration or something like that.
7. Enable AHCI mode on one group. Connect all HDDs to this group(enable other groups if necessary). Note Optical Drives may/may not work with AHCI.
8. Save BIOS settings and reboot into Windows.
9. Windows will ask to restart to apply changes. Do EET!!
10. After rebooting, goto your motherboard product page and download the latest AHCI/RAID driver.
11. Will probably be in a zip file. extract it to some C:\temp (say)
12. Open Device Manager.
13. Click on the IDE/ATAPI controlers.
14. Select the AHCI controller ( it will be named AHCI<something>)
15. Right click, select update drivers
16. Select "Browse my computer for software" Option.
17. Point to the c:\temp folder which contains drivers. Press ok. Your Drivers will be automatically installed.
18. Reboot as necessary.
19. Enjoy new write Speeds.
20. Spread the love

just to add to your note about optical drives, it worked for mine:

DH24ABS (thats a rebadged model number for a LiteOn)

ASUS CM1740 desktop
ASUS A75-M mobo (FM1)
Win 7 home prem 64 bit

new bios from asus, new ahci drivers from amd, worked flawless !!!!!!!!

brought my sata controller drivers up to Jan, 2012

FishHead69 · Apr 18, 2014

Cheers de.das.dude . Worked a treat :toast:

I know it's a old thread , but had to bump

Cheers :lovetpu:

eidairaman1 · Apr 18, 2014

Shoot before i even installed windows id set Ahci on install windows and installed chipset drivers

System Name	Monke \| Work Thinkpad\| J1nnx took Old Monke
Processor	Ryzen 5600X \| Ryzen 5500U \| FX8320
Motherboard	ASRock B550 Extreme4 \| ? \| Asrock 990FX Extreme 4
Cooling	240mm Rad \| Not needed \| hyper 212 EVO
Memory	2x16GB DDR4 3600 Corsair RGB \| 16 GB DDR4 3600 \| 16GB DDR3 1600
Video Card(s)	Sapphire Pulse RX6700XT 12GB \| Vega 8 \| Sapphire Pulse RX580 8GB
Storage	Samsung 980 nvme (Primary) \| some samsung SSD
Display(s)	Dell 2723DS \| Some 14" 1080p 98%sRGB IPS \| Dell 2240L
Case	Ant Esports Tempered case \| Thinkpad \| Antec
Audio Device(s)	Logitech Z333 \| Jabra corpo stuff
Power Supply	Corsair RM750e \| not needed \| Corsair GS 600
Mouse	Logitech G400 \| nipple
Keyboard	Logitech G213 \| stock kb is awesome \| Logitech K230
VR HMD	;_;
Software	Windows 10 Professional x3
Benchmark Scores	There are no marks on my bench

System Name	Coffee \| Maximus
Processor	Intel Core i7 9700K @ 5.2 GHz with AVX/4.8 GHz cache \| i7 9700KF @ 5.0 GHz/4.7 GHz cache
Motherboard	ASUS Maximus X Formula \| ASUS Maximus VIII Ranger (modded BIOS for Coffee Lake)+TPM2.0 module
Cooling	Cooler Master ML240 Illusion \| Cooler Master ML120L RGB
Memory	216 GB (32 GB) Kingston Fury Beast @3600 MHz CL17 \| 48 GB (32 GB) HyperX Fury @3200 MHz CL14
Video Card(s)	Zotac RTX 3070 8 GB Twin Edge OC \| Galax RTX 2060 Super 8 GB
Storage	Samsung PM981a 1TB+Crucial P5 1TB+480GB SATA SSD+2 TB HDD \| Crucial P1 500GB+2.5TB HDDs
Display(s)	LG OLED 55 G3, 4K 120 Hz, VRR, ALLM, GSync, FreeSync \| Samsung 43AU9070 4K TV, VRR, ALLM
Case	Corsair Crystal 460X RGB \| Lianli Lancool 215
Audio Device(s)	Creative Sound Blaster Z SE w LG SC9S Dolby/DTS \| Realtek ALC1150 (Supreme FX) w 2.1 speakers
Power Supply	ASUS ROG Strix 750G (80+ Gold) \| Cooler Master MWE 650 V2 (80+ Bronze)
Mouse	Cooler Master MM731 19000 DPI gaming mouse
Keyboard	Cooler Master CK721 65% mechanical gaming keyboard (tactile)
Software	Windows 11 Pro x64 \|Windows 11 Pro x64
Benchmark Scores	Cinebench R20 MT 4200,ST 547 CPU-Z MT 4871, ST 620 \| R20 MT - 4158, ST - 534, CPU-Z MT 4798, ST 603

System Name	LenovoⓇ ThinkPad™ T430
Processor	IntelⓇ Core™ i5-3210M processor (2 cores, 2.50GHz, 3MB cache), Intel Turbo Boost™ 2.0 (3.10GHz), HT™
Motherboard	Lenovo 2344 (Mobile Intel QM77 Express Chipset)
Cooling	Single-pipe heatsink + Delta fan
Memory	2x 8GB KingstonⓇ HyperX™ Impact 2133MHz DDR3L SO-DIMM
Video Card(s)	Intel HD Graphics™ 4000 (GPU clk: 1100MHz, vRAM clk: 1066MHz)
Storage	SamsungⓇ 860 EVO mSATA (250GB) + 850 EVO (500GB) SATA
Display(s)	14.0" (355mm) HD (1366x768) color, anti-glare, LED backlight, 200 nits, 16:9 aspect ratio, 300:1 co
Case	ThinkPad Roll Cage (one-piece magnesium frame)
Audio Device(s)	HD Audio, RealtekⓇ ALC3202 codec, DolbyⓇ Advanced Audio™ v2 / stereo speakers, 1W x 2
Power Supply	ThinkPad 65W AC Adapter + ThinkPad Battery 70++ (9-cell)
Mouse	TrackPointⓇ pointing device + UltraNav™, wide touchpad below keyboard + ThinkLight™
Keyboard	6-row, 84-key, ThinkVantage button, spill-resistant, multimedia Fn keys, LED backlight (PT Layout)
Software	MicrosoftⓇ WindowsⓇ 10 x86-64 (22H2)

System Name	Cruncher
Processor	AMD FX-8370
Motherboard	Asus Crosshair V Formula
Cooling	Thermalright Silver Arrow SB-E
Memory	2x4 GB Corsair XMS3 2000
Video Card(s)	Sapphire HD7870+Powercolor HD7850 CrossFire
Storage	Corsair ForceGT 90 SSD,WD Black 500
Display(s)	Acer 24'' 2ms
Case	Cooler Master HAF 932
Audio Device(s)	onboard
Power Supply	Thermaltake Grand 1050w 80+Gold
Software	Win 7 SP1 Ult x64

System Name	Jaspe
Processor	Ryzen 1500X
Motherboard	Asus ROG Strix X370-F Gaming
Cooling	Stock
Memory	16Gb Corsair 3000mhz
Video Card(s)	EVGA GTS 450
Storage	Crucial M500
Display(s)	Philips 1080 24'
Case	NZXT
Audio Device(s)	Onboard
Power Supply	Enermax 425W
Software	Windows 10 Pro

Enabling AHCI on Windows 7 systems with AMD

de.das.dude

Pro Indian Modder

itsakjt

_JP_

Daimus

claylomax

OneMoar

There is Always Moar

newtekie1

Semi-Retired Folder

Easy Rhino

Linux Advocate

Athlon2K15

HyperVtX™

OneMoar

There is Always Moar

Daimus

Derek12

Daimus

Easy Rhino

Linux Advocate

newtekie1

Semi-Retired Folder

de.das.dude

Pro Indian Modder

Drone

CaptainFailcon

New Member

suraswami

chudddds

New Member

chudddds

New Member

FishHead69

eidairaman1

The Exiled Airman

System Name	RPC MK2.5
Processor	Ryzen 5800x
Motherboard	Gigabyte Aorus Pro V2
Cooling	Thermalright Phantom Spirit SE
Memory	CL16 BL2K16G36C16U4RL 3600 1:1 micron e-die
Video Card(s)	GIGABYTE RTX 3070 Ti GAMING OC
Storage	Nextorage NE1N 2TB ADATA SX8200PRO NVME 512GB, Intel 545s 500GBSSD, ADATA SU800 SSD, 3TB Spinner
Display(s)	LG Ultra Gear 32 1440p 165hz Dell 1440p 75hz
Case	Phanteks P300 /w 300A front panel conversion
Audio Device(s)	onboard
Power Supply	SeaSonic Focus+ Platinum 750W
Mouse	Kone burst Pro
Keyboard	SteelSeries Apex 7
Software	Windows 11 +startisallback

Processor	Intel Core i7 10850K@5.2GHz
Motherboard	AsRock Z470 Taichi
Cooling	Corsair H115i Pro w/ Noctua NF-A14 Fans
Memory	32GB DDR4-3600
Video Card(s)	RTX 2070 Super
Storage	500GB SX8200 Pro + 8TB with 1TB SSD Cache
Display(s)	Acer Nitro VG280K 4K 28"
Case	Fractal Design Define S
Audio Device(s)	Onboard is good enough for me
Power Supply	eVGA SuperNOVA 1000w G3
Software	Windows 10 Pro x64

System Name	Desktop
Processor	i5 13600KF
Motherboard	AsRock B760M Steel Legend Wifi
Cooling	Noctua NH-U9S
Memory	4x 16 Gb Gskill S5 DDR5 @6000
Video Card(s)	Gigabyte Gaming OC 6750 XT 12GB
Storage	WD_BLACK 4TB SN850x
Display(s)	Gigabye M32U
Case	Corsair Carbide 400C
Audio Device(s)	On Board
Power Supply	EVGA Supernova 650 P2
Mouse	MX Master 3s
Keyboard	Logitech G915 Wireless Clicky
Software	The Matrix

Processor	Intel Core i9 11900K
Motherboard	MSI Z590 Carbon EK X
Cooling	Custom Water
Memory	Team DDR4 4000MHz
Video Card(s)	ASUS TUF RTX 3080 OC
Storage	WD WN850 1TB
Display(s)	43" LG NanoCell 4K 120Hz
Power Supply	Asus Thor 1200w
Mouse	Asus Strix Evolve
Keyboard	Asus Strix Claymore

System Name	Custom Built
Processor	AMD Ryzen 5 3600
Motherboard	Asus PRIME A520M-A
Cooling	Stock heatsink/fan
Memory	16GB 2x8GB Corsair Vengeance LPX 2400MHz
Video Card(s)	MSI 1050Ti 4GB
Storage	KINGSTON SNVS250G 256GB M.2 + 2 data disks
Display(s)	Dell S2421NX
Case	Aerocool CS103
Audio Device(s)	Realtek
Power Supply	Seasonic M12II-520 EVO
Mouse	Logitech MX Master 2S
Keyboard	Logitech
Software	Windows 11 Pro 64-bit

System Name	---
Processor	FX 8350 @ 4.00 Ghz with 1.28v
Motherboard	Gigabyte 990FX-UD3 v4.0, Hacked Bios F4.x
Cooling	Silenx 4 pipe Tower cooler + 2 x Cougar 120mm fan, 3 x 120mm, 1 x 200 mm Red LED fan
Memory	Kingston HyperX DDR3 1866 16GB + Patriot Memory DDR3 1866 16GB
Video Card(s)	Asus R9 290 OC @ GPU - 1050, MEM - 1300
Storage	Inland 256GB PCIe NVMe SSD for OS, WDC Black - 2TB + 1TB Storage, Inland 480GB SSD - Games
Display(s)	3 x 1080P LCDs - Acer 25" + Acer 23" + HP 23"
Case	AeroCool XPredator X3
Audio Device(s)	Built-in Realtek
Power Supply	Corsair HX1000 Modular
Software	Windows 10 Pro 64 bit

Processor	R5 5600X
Motherboard	MSI MGP B550 GAMING PLUS
Cooling	Noctua NH-C12P SE14
Memory	G.Skill 16G(2x8G)F4-3200C14-8GFX
Video Card(s)	RX 6700 XT
Storage	nvme 1 TB /ssd 1 TB /hdd 4 TB
Display(s)	AOC 24G2
Case	NANOXIA DS1
Power Supply	Be Quiet PP10 500w
Mouse	Logitec G502
Software	Win 11

System Name	PCGOD
Processor	AMD FX 8350@ 5.0GHz
Motherboard	Asus TUF 990FX Sabertooth R2 2901 Bios
Cooling	Scythe Ashura, 2×BitFenix 230mm Spectre Pro LED (Blue,Green), 2x BitFenix 140mm Spectre Pro LED
Memory	16 GB Gskill Ripjaws X 2133 (2400 OC, 10-10-12-20-20, 1T, 1.65V)
Video Card(s)	AMD Radeon 290 Sapphire Vapor-X
Storage	Samsung 840 Pro 256GB, WD Velociraptor 1TB
Display(s)	NEC Multisync LCD 1700V (Display Port Adapter)
Case	AeroCool Xpredator Evil Blue Edition
Audio Device(s)	Creative Labs Sound Blaster ZxR
Power Supply	Seasonic 1250 XM2 Series (XP3)
Mouse	Roccat Kone XTD
Keyboard	Roccat Ryos MK Pro
Software	Windows 7 Pro 64