Samsung 950 PRO 512GB M.2 NVMe not recognised afte

Can someone look at the issue and help me please? I still cannot find a solution to the problem.

You must use the Samsung SM951 in 128GB, 256GB, or 512GB.

arkantoe wrote: Hello everyone, I have encountered a problem with Samsung 950 PRO 512GB M.2 NVMe. I would appreciate your help as my knowledge in hardware and software is minimal. So thank you in advance. I have just finished installing windows 10 in a new pc while using old HDD drives I had from my older pc. I have purchased Samsung 950 PRO 512GB M.2 NVMe to be my boot drive and purchased the samsung 850 ssd for regular storage. In addition to the above I already had 2 older HDDs from my previous pc that I connected them for extra storage. When I started the windows 10 installation I chose custom so that I could choose the NVME ssd for installation and boot, however, I noticed that I couldn't differentiate between the two samsung ssds as both were 512 gb and windows only called each 'drive 1 or drive 2' and so on. So, I randomly chose one and I think it appears to be the 850 that was installed, to my dismay. Now the issue is that I cannot locate the NVME drive on 'this pc' although it is seen in BIOS for boot drive. To confuse me even more, in the BIOS I cannot see the M_1 slot when I go to advenced then storage in BIOS, the other 3 drives are located by their different satas. I don't know what to do. to summarise I would appreciate it if someone can help me in getting: 1 - the samsung 950 to be my installed windows, currently it says its the boot drive but i dont know if it needs to have windows installed on it 2 - to have the NVME recognised by windows so I can use it for storage and so on. my mother board is ASROCK Z170 EXTREME 7+ cpu intel i7-6700k Thank you so much for your kind help.

(I had to change your black text to white in your first post in order to see it, why is that like that??)

Given your questions, you are not familiar with installing Windows correctly, particularly on an NVMe SSD. It will take quite a bit of explanation so you will understand this and perform the Windows 10 installation.

The Samsung 950 Pro is a PCIe NVMe SSD, which is very different than the SATA drives we usually work with. NVMe is a new storage protocol that is different than SATA. Don't expect NVMe drives to be included with SATA drives in the UEFI/BIOS Storage Configuration screen. For example, USB flash drives are also not listed with the SATA drives, since they also use a different protocol.

You should read the guide I wrote about installing Windows on a PCIe SSD, since it sounds like you did not have the UEFI/BIOS configured correctly:

http://forum.asrock.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=1236&title=how-to-install-windows-on-a-pcie-ssd

I'll review the main steps for you here.

There is some configuration that must be done in the UEFI/BIOS before you can install Windows on an NVMe SSD. I assume you did not do that, which is (only) part of the reason your Windows 10 installation failed. I'll mark important, required steps, with ***.

*** In the UEFI/BIOS, in the Boot screen, find the CSM option. Click on it to reveal its sub-options. Find the Launch Storage OpROM Policy option. Set it to UEFI Only. This option setting must be maintained as long as you are using an NVMe SSD as the OS drive.

It is best to only have the target OS drive connected to the PC, with no other drives at least connected to power during the OS installation. Otherwise the Windows installation program will put the System (Boot) partition on another drive. This is a well known reality (among PC builders) of the Windows installation program. That means your OS installation depends upon two drives, and if you remove the drive with the System partition on it, the PC will not boot. That can be fixed but it is much easier to do this right from the start.

You also experienced what happens when two similar drives are operating at the same time during the OS installation. You can't tell which is which.

*** You will need to install Windows 10 again, with only the 950 Pro connected to the PC. You will need to delete any partitions that are on it now. That can be done in the Custom installation option of the Windows 10 installation. You will also need to delete the OS installation on the 850 SSD.

*** Once you delete any partitions from the 950 Pro in the Windows 10 Custom installation screen, click on the New button. You'll see a message about Windows creating the necessary partitions, just click Ok. You'll then see four partitions created on the 950 Pro, which is correct. You can then continue with the Windows 10 installation.

*** When Windows 10 has been installed on the 950 Pro, its entry in the Boot order screen will be "Windows Boot Manager". You won't see anything about "Samsung" or "950 Pro".

It is NORMAL for an NVMe SSD to NOT be listed in the Storage Configuration screen. An NVMe SSD will NOT be shown connected to any of the M.2 slots in the Storage Configuration screen. As I said above, that is because the 950 Pro is not a SATA drive.

*** Once you set the Launch Storage OpROM Policy option to UEFI Only, and then Save and Exit the UEFI/BIOS, when you go back into the UEFI/BIOS you will find a new screen listed in the Advanced screen listing. That is the NVMe Configuration screen. Your 950 Pro will be listed in that screen. There are no configuration options in this screen at this time.

You can also check if an NVMe SSD is detected without changing the default CSM configuration, by going to the Tools, System Browser screen in the UEFI. That will show that your 950 Pro is connected to the M2_1 port.

Another thing that may be causing a problem for you is the way Z170 boards share resources. The M.2 ports share resources with the SATA ports. This is described in the manual. For example, you can either use the M2_1 port, OR the SATA3_0 and SATA3_1 ports, but not at the same time. If you have drives connected to the SATA3_0 and/or SATA3_1 ports, the M2_1 port will not be available for use. The opposite is also true.

If you had SATA drives on the SATA3_0 and SATA3_1 ports, and tried using the M2_1 port, don't think this was your only problem, and all you need to do is move the SATA drives. Everything else I wrote is true and required.

One final thing, do you have a copy of the Samsung NMVe driver that you install after Windows is installed? You can just use the built in Windows 10 NVMe driver, but installing the Samsung NVMe driver is preferred.

The two things you listed in your summary will be provided if you follow these directions. But there is really no difference between your 1 and 2, as you will have both of those thing, only one or the other does not make sense.

I've left out details that are included in my guide about PCIe SSDs. This post contains mostly HOW to do it, not explaining WHY and other technical details.

I've installed Windows 10, 8.1, and even 7, on a Samsung 950 Pro, and on two 950 Pros in RAID 0. Also on a Samsung SM951 and on two SM951s in RAID 0, and on Intel 750 NMVe SSDs. That is on multiple ASRock boards, including Z170, X99, Z97, and even a Z77 board.

Let me know if you have any questions.

so go into disk managment click on ur 950 pro format it assaign it a letter and name it. if you wish to install windows on it it will be named and you should be able to distinguish it...

@Parsec How is Linux support for this mobo? Have you tryed to run a linux distro from nvme drive, or even better from raid 0 array, either fake or softraid?