AHCI : Enable in Windows 7 / Vista

AHCI : Enable in Vista and Windows 7 after OS install​

   Information

AHCI Advanced Host Controller Interface makes NCQ Native Command Queing along with hot-plugging or hot swapping through SATA Serial-ATA host controllers possible; Vista was the first to offer this feature. The issue with AHCI is it needs to be enabled in the BIOS prior to OS installation; doing so after you have installed the OS will disable the PC. The reason why is Windows disables the AHCI drivers not needed durring installation.

This tutorial will show you how to enable AHCI after you have installed the OS if you didn't already have AHCI enable in the BIOS when you installed the OS.

   Warning

Changing values in the Windows registry can disable your machine; if you're not sure how to do this please post a question in this tutorial and someone will be glad to help you.

   Note

This method will also work for Windows Vista though the default DWORD string value in Vista will be "4" where it will be "3" in Windows 7.

As a precaution it would be a good idea to create a "System Restore Point" before you start this, the tutorial can be found at the link below.

System Restore Point - Create

Let's get started!
1) In the Windows start menu search box type regedit, right click the entry, click Run as Administrator, enter your user credentials for the UAC prompt, then click yes to open regedit.



2) In regedit navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services.

3) In the left pane, click on msahci, in the right pane double click on Start to modify it.


4) In the window that opens change the value to 0 (zero), and click OK.

5) In the left pane, click on iaStorV (if there), in the right pane double click on Start to modify it. Repeat step 4, and go to step 6 below.
NOTE: From: Error message occurs after you change the SATA mode of the boot drive

6) Close Registry Editor.
7) Now you'll need to restart the PC and go into the BIOS and enable AHCI. When Windows boots up, it will finish installing the AHCI drivers.



8) You will need one final restart to finish the process after the drivers are installed.

   Note

For those with nForce boards, have a look at the Information post below.

The method was worked out by Everlong and credit for that goes to him, thanks mate!

Enjoy!

Related Tutorials

---

• How to Enable AHCI in Windows 8 and Windows 10 after Installation
• How to Enable HIPM and DIPM for your SSD and HDD in Windows 7

 

[golem]

I only disconnected from the HD and directly to the DVD drive. No wholesale cabling maneuvers.

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

I only disconnected from the HD and directly to the DVD drive. No wholesale cabling maneuvers.

In the BIOS see if the HDD the OS is on is the first in the boot order.

 

[golem]

In the BIOS see if the HDD the OS is on is the first in the boot order.

I read your mind, was just getting ready to add that at the initial moments of boot it does display all drives in the positions at which they have been since setting this comp up a couple weeks ago.

Hold for an edit...

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

In the BIOS see if the HDD the OS is on is the first in the boot order.

I read your mind, was just getting ready to add that at the initial moments of boot it does display all drives in the positions at which they have been since setting this comp up a couple weeks ago.

Hold for an edit...

Check it first hand; I'm running out of suggestions.

 

[golem]

Happily I can say I am now typing this from the computer we "were" working on. Unfortunately your "So others (and I) can learn..." in your sig will not benefit. I have no Idea what I did to get her back from the dead. All I did do was delve back into BIOS, open and view all the pertinent parameters (no changes made), close and save. Upon the next reboot it opened smoothly all the way to Windows 7. I took a moment to revert back to my restore point and then physically checked the reg was back to normal (which it is) so for now all is well. Think I'll just skip AHCI for now.

The thing I really wanted to check was hard disk boot priority in BIOS (which was OK) because the boot screen has always displayed my primary OS drive as being attached to IDE Channel 2 Master. On IDE Channels 0 & 1 (master and slave) only the Slave 0 is being utilized and this is by a PATA drive. Not sure it really matters but that is for a different thread anyhow.

Thanks again for your support!

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

Happily I can say I am now typing this from the computer we "were" working on. Unfortunately your "So others (and I) can learn..." in your sig will not benefit. I have no Idea what I did to get her back from the dead. All I did do was delve back into BIOS, open and view all the pertinent parameters (no changes made), close and save. Upon the next reboot it opened smoothly all the way to Windows 7. I took a moment to revert back to my restore point and then physically checked the reg was back to normal (which it is) so for now all is well. Think I'll just skip AHCI for now.

The thing I really wanted to check was the boot order in BIOS (which was OK) because the boot screen has always displayed my primary OS drive as being attached to IDE Channel 2 Master. On IDE Channels 0 & 1 (master and slave) only the Slave 0 is being utilized and this is by a PATA drive. Not sure it really matters but that is for a different thread anyhow.

Thanks again for your support!

Are you saying that your HDDs are not SATA?

 

[golem]

Are you saying that your HDDs are not SATA?

HDD's - 2 are SATA one is PATA. The PATA is temporary in that I'm still organizing over to the SATA data storage drive. Optical is USB.

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

Are you saying that your HDDs are not SATA?

HDD's - 2 are SATA one is PATA. The PATA is temporary in that I'm still organizing over to the SATA data storage drive. Optical is USB.

OK, I thought that may have something to do with the probs.

 

[dsosb]

Clarification

How do I know if this worked? I didn't get the window showing the drivers updating. I only got the message that driver updating was complete.

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

How do I know if this worked? I didn't get the window showing the drivers updating. I only got the message that driver updating was complete.

Hello dsosb, welcome to Seven Forums!


If you got this it is complete.

 

[dsosb]

How do I know if this worked? I didn't get the window showing the drivers updating. I only got the message that driver updating was complete.

Hello dsosb, welcome to Seven Forums!


If you got this it is complete.

View attachment 53934

Thanks very much! It worked. I appreciate your help.

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

You're welcome, I'm glad it worked for you!

 

[BugMeister]

- cool, Bare Foot..
- had a scare when my Bloodrage BIOS hicupped, but staggering the drive initialisation via the BIOS AHCI settings cured that..

- repo pointage coming your way..

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

Thanks mate, I'm glad it worked for you.

 

[Iam918]

Happily I can say I am now typing this from the computer we "were" working on. Unfortunately your "So others (and I) can learn..." in your sig will not benefit. I have no Idea what I did to get her back from the dead. All I did do was delve back into BIOS, open and view all the pertinent parameters (no changes made), close and save. Upon the next reboot it opened smoothly all the way to Windows 7. I took a moment to revert back to my restore point and then physically checked the reg was back to normal (which it is) so for now all is well. Think I'll just skip AHCI for now.

I had pretty much same issues golem had trying to turn on AHCI. I only have 1 HD (Sata), 1 DvD drive (Sata) and a 9in1 reader connected via onboard USB port. no IDE drives not anything else.

It would see the HD when booting up then give me error no bootable partition in table

I set it back to IDE mode in BIOS but it was still giving same error. Couldn't figure out how to get the LKGC screen up for my gigabyte ud4 board so just booted into BIOS while googling for a way from other computer; probably a good 15 minutes.

Never did find a way to get to the LKGC screen, but booted to the Boot Menu and selected to boot from the HD from there and windows decided it'd play nice.

Once into windows I restored to my preAHCI restore point and figure I'll just skip enabling this for now.

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

Hello Iam918.


I have no knowledge of why some are having these similar issues but I'll keep looking into it, if you learn anything new please keep us informed.

 

[erkme73]

BFK - searched high and low how to do this, and found all the non-working confusing ones (including needing .sys files). I can't believe how simple this is, and thought to myself, surely it can't be this easy... it worked like a charm. Thanks for sharing your expertise. First post here, and you get it.

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

Hello erkme73, welcome to Seven Forums!




I'm glad this has been a help to you!

 

[garysgold]

Welcome to Seven Forums erkme73.

Gary

 

[Dave76]

Great tut, this will be a very useful link.

Managed to switch my other computer from IDE to AHCI by loading the drivers, reboot to BIOS change the settings to AHCI, and it booted as AHCI enabled.
This evidently won't work on all MOBOs.