Are all NVMe PCIe drivers for Win7 64 bit the same?  

Or do I need specific drivers from Corsair for the M.2 SSD I have, which is a Corsair MP510 at 240GB NVMe PCIe Gen3 x4 drive? I am installing it on a Gigabyte H170-D3HP motherboard with the intention of loading afresh Windows 7 64 bit Pro to the M.2 drive, with a normal mechanical storage drive as the D: drive. Thanks. My other worry is whether a x4 M.2 SSD is compatible with this board, I was told it was fine when I bought it, but as we know, some vendors hate to lose a sale... Great forum, you experts have been a Godsend on the few times I have had issues or concerns, long may it continue!

That is a good question. The short answer is no, your corsair drive cannot use the samsung driver for instance, however all nvme drives can use the standard microsoft nvme driver that was released several years ago for win7. As to your compatibility question, your GA-H170-D3HP has "1 x M.2 Socket 3 connector (Socket 3, M key, type 2242/2260/2280 SATA & PCIe x4/x2/x1 SSD support)" and your Corsair MP510 drive is "M.2 Socket 3 M key PCIe x4 2280" per their sites, so you are all set there.

Though the microsoft nvme driver is all you need, after installation with that driver many users then install the specific nvme manufacturers' driver and software utility program to make sure trim is enabled and provides updates to firmware and if applicable, the driver. But I do not believe Corsair has an nvme driver, so you will be using the win7 microsoft nvme driver, which needs to be integrated into your win7 installation USB or DVD. An easy way to do this is to use gigabytes' "windows usb installation tool" way down in the utility section of your motherboard support page

GA-H170-D3HP (rev. 1.0) | Motherboard - GIGABYTE U.S.A.

just download it, run windowsimagetool.exe, check all three boxes, then click start. It will update your win7 installation usb so that it has the usb3 and nvme drivers you need at install time. I would not connect your D: data drive until after installation is done, just use the nvme drive by itself when you install win7 onto it using the win7 installation usb or dvd.

Just to point this out, if you already have win7 up and running on that motherboard using a different hard disk, the easiest path for you to take is to run the win7 nvme driver hotfix on your current win7 drive

https://files.soupcan.tech/KB2990941...990941-x64.msu

then shutdown, install your nvme drive, boot up, clone your existing drive onto the nvme drive using macrium reflect, then shut down, remove your existing drive, boot using only the nvme drive (and setting it as the primary boot drive in bios), and boot to the desktop. At that point you can shut down again and reconnect your data D: drive so it will be detected on the next boot. Depends if you want to go to the trouble of a clean install or not, but you do not have to if your system is already running and loaded with programs and/or tweaks.

SIW2 said:

You need to install the MS nvme updates into the installation media.
That is a prerequsite for any oem nvme drivers.
You won't be able to see an nvme disk unless you have installed the MS nvme updates.

You can do it with my program

Update your Win 7 installation media.

1. Put the nvme updates into the:

UPDATES\Bootx64 and UPDATES\Installx64 folders

2. Put the oem nvme drivers into:

DRIVERS\Bootx64 and DRIVERS\Installx64 folders

3. Put usb3 drivers into

DRIVERS\Bootx64 and DRIVERS\Installx64 folders

4. Then run 7updater.cmd

It will offer the option to download simplix update pack. That will put in the updates till april2019. It takes a while, and is not essential.

If you say No to downloading the updatepack, then only the updates and drivers you placed in the above mentioned folders will be integrated.

I am attempting this as I type, thanks for the link and the app! What I am not finding are the USB drivers. I have the PCIe SSB drivers ready to add, may I ask where I can get the USB drivers to also add please?

johnhoh said:

That is a good question. The short answer is no, your corsair drive cannot use the samsung driver for instance, however all nvme drives can use the standard microsoft nvme driver that was released several years ago for win7. As to your compatibility question, your GA-H170-D3HP has "1 x M.2 Socket 3 connector (Socket 3, M key, type 2242/2260/2280 SATA & PCIe x4/x2/x1 SSD support)" and your Corsair MP510 drive is "M.2 Socket 3 M key PCIe x4 2280" per their sites, so you are all set there.



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Wow, what a great, and detailed, reply, I really appreciate your time writing all that up. I feel easier now and have a much clearer understanding of what i have and what I need to get and do, thanks again, I'll print this out!

Excellent, thanks again, I believe I now have a bootable image on a USB stick with the added drivers to load it, so tonight I'll see if I can load my Win 7 64 bit onto this new fangled drive, I'll be sure to let you know if I succeed, and I appreciate all the help.