Why would one use the larger NvmExpressDxe_4.ffs (20.3 KB) if there’s full support in the NvmExpressDxe_Small.ffs (5.88 KB)?
Inquiring minds…
@hafizullah Welcome to the Win-Raid Forum!
We don’t offer anymore the v4 variant of the NVMe EFI module.
By the way - you can choose the module of your choice.
Good luck!
Dieter (alias Fernando)
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I’m already running the v4 variant, and it seems to be working perfectly. I was just wondering what the differences might be between the larger and smaller code modules.
@hafizullah
Please read the related part of the start post. Your question has been fully answered there.
I already read it. The narrative does not answer my question, so I’ll say it a different way: Is there any advantage, aside from a space saving, to running the Small driver over the larger one?
@hafizullah
No - it is vice versa: If there is enough space within the DXE Driver Volume, it is recommended to insert the “normal” (bigger sized) NVMe module.
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Hello, thanks for this great tutorial. I have successfully prepared modded bios for Maximus VI Hero Intel Z87 motherboard but not flashed yet because I have some questions:
- Why “The on-board SATA Controller should not been set to “RAID” mode within the BIOS.”? Currently I have 2xssd in raid0 working flawlessly and wanted to add nvme and keep also sata disks in raid mode.
- I can install W10 from usb with SecureBoot enabled. Do I realy need to disable it when bios mod done and nvme ssd added via pcie nvme adapter?
@zbigl Welcome to the Win-RAID Forum!
Although I am not a clairvoyant, here are my answers:
- According to some user reports it was not possible to get Win10/11 installed onto their NVMe SSD as long as the on-board Intel SATA Controller had been set to “RAID”. On the other hand it seems to be possible to re-enable the RAID setting and to re-use the existing RAID array once the OS installation onto the NVMe SSD has been successfully completed.
- You should not try to get Win10/11 installed onto the NVMe SSD while “Secure Boot” has been enabled within the BIOS. It is very unlikely, that you will succeed.
Good luck for the flashing of the modded BIOS!
Dieter (alias Fernando)
Ok, thank you for quick answers
I’m trying to NVME-mod a BIOS file for a GA-B85-HD3 rev2.1. Modded BIOSes for earlier revisions of that mobo are available, but sadly not for rev2.1.
Comparing my original BIOS file to my modded attempt, I can see at least one pad file missing from what i presume is vol2 (the DXE volume) of the modded version? Screenshot shows missing file highlighted in blue. I used the NvmExpressDxe_Small.ffs file, inserted compressed, as the DXE_5 version didn’t fit.
Can anyone verify that the modded BIOS (B85HD32.F4.fd) is good, please? Or if not, mod the original (B85HD32.F4) for me? Both attached in single zip file.
B85HD32.zip (5.8 MB)
Your modded BIOS may work or not (nobody can predict it), but is definitively “not good” due to the missing Pad-file.
By the way - the UEFITool 0.28.0 is able to insert the NvmExpressDxe_5.ffs module without touching the Pad-file.
Here is the proof:
Cheers for the info! I’ll give the UEFITool method a go.
EDIT: Ok, that worked. I modded, and then flashed the BIOS with the inbuilt Q-Flash, without issue. Thanks again for the help 
I’ll go and drop the file in the GA-B85-HD3 thread so others can try it if they want.
Hey guys, new to winraid but excited to get involved in the community.
I followed this threads tutorial with moderate success and was looking for some assistance in how to proceed with my project.
I have an Acer AC100 which I plan to turn into a NAS. As I didn’t want the OS to be on the storage array I added a fanxiang S501 256GB NVMe SSD via a GLOTRENDS M.2 PCIe NVMe 4.0/3.0 Adapter. I was hoping to take advantage of some extra RAM I have lying around and use truenas as the OS and ZFS for the storage array.
Following the guide I was able to get the extra NvmExpressDxe_5.ffs package loaded into the BIOS update and successfully flashed. Because of this I now see the PATA device listed in my boot order, however when attempting to follow step 4 I ran into some issues. Obviously this is not a windows installation but I still expected to be able to setup a pure UEFI environment as is the requirement.
Upon downloading the truenas ISO image and attempting to put it on a USB Rufus informs me the ISO is a hybrid-ISO and therefore must copy to the USB in DD mode. This removes my ability to select fat32 etc from options or really select any options. Upon completion the USB stick is left with a single EFI partition instead of a FAT32 one.
I installed the OS to the NVMe drive as a test and during the installation it asks me if I want to install it to boot with UEFI or Legacy BIOS. I of course selected UEFI, however after completing the installation it appears that BIOS still does not see a viable EFI partition to boot from.
Is this OS simply not capable of a true and pure UEFI environment or is there something else I can do to get the BIOS to see this OS on the NVMe drive? Any guidance is greatly appreciated.
@Opulis123
This thread has been designed for users with an UEFI capable system without full NVMe boot support, who want to get Windows 10/11 installed onto an NVMe SSD and to boot off it. As far as I understood your report, you succeeded with the BIOS modification and now should be able to boot off a freshly installed Win10/11.
Since you obviously don’t want to install any Win10/11 Edition, but an Open Source OS named TrueNAS, Step 4 of my Guide is not valid for you.
Unfortunately I have no own experience with the OS TrueNAS. As a consequence I cannot help you to get this OS properly installed onto your NVMe SSD and to boot off it.
Nevertheless I wish you good luck. If you should find a way how to solve your probem, your feedback is much appreciated.
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Hey,
Thanks for your response.
After a few hours of hair pulling I was able to figure it out so I figured I would share my success in case someone else comes across it. I got the idea when reading an arch forum, but basically I took the EFI file that was generated by the truenas installer (efi/boot/BOOTx64.efi) and made 2 copies of it, one in EFI/Boot/bootx64.efi and the other in EFI/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgfw.efi (note the change of capitalization). After this it booted without issue. It seems my bootloader/BIOS was only checking predefined locations for the EFI file and the place truenas put it was not one of them.
Everything is working great and I could not have done it without your guide on modding the BIOS to add the NVMe package. The whole thing was a fun learning experience into the inner workings of UEFI. Thanks for the guide!
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I need some assistance modifying the BIOS for my board. When I opened the .CAP file in UEFITool 0.28.0, the app crashes.
Any version after 0.28.0 will open the .CAP but the “Insert after” selection in right-click is disabled.
I just want to insert the NVMe driver into the BIOS. Can someone please help? Thanks
this is the link to the BIOS. There are many “BIOS” in the download but only 1 .CAP file.
Contrary to you I have found 3 *.CAP files within the linked package. The correct file with the the UEFI BIOS Region in it is named R3029.CAP.
As you already have realized, the modification of this specific BIOS is not easy. The UEFITool v0.28.0 cannot open the BIOS file, the AMI Aptio MMTool v4.50.0.23 works, but doesn’t show the content of the DXE Driver Volume.
My tip: Use the AMI MMTool v5.0.0.7. You can find the download link within the Tweaktown Forum, if you do a Google search for “MMTool Aptio 5.00.0007”.
I tested it and was able to get the NvmExpressDxe_5.ffs properly inserted.
Good luck!
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