How to Change the Boot Sequence for an XPS 8910??

The simplest way is to use F12 to bring up a boot menu.  Bear in mind that UEFI systems like this one require UEFI-aware boot media - flash drives in FAT32 format.  You should NOT boot or run utilities from CD or DVD that are not UEFI-compliant -- running such can result in an unbootable system.  If you're using imaging utilities, upgrade to a version that supports UEFI and prepare a set of UEFI-compliant boot media.

More information from running the diagnostics (ePSA Pre-boot System Assessment (4302.22)).

Under the [Cables} heading,

    M.2 SSD Card = Not Installed   (even though it is)

Under the [Storage] heading,

    Hard Drive 1-0-1       (This is the M.2 SSD drive)

        OEM: INTEL, product: INTEL SSDPEKKW512G7, revision:PSF100C,

        S/N ..., type NVMe, size 512 GB 2.5"

Under the [Boot] heading,

    BootPath = MBR of Hard Drive 0-0-1    (note that this is -NOT- hard drive 1-0-1)

So...  The M.2 SSD connector is "not installed", but the drive is recognized as storage.  Even though it should be a boot drive (as it is a clone of a boot drive), it does not show up in the boot path.

I've cloned the boot drive to an M.2 SSD installed in the M.2 connector on the motherboard.  However, I can't seem to get the BIOS to boot to the M.2 drive.

There are two things to check:

Make sure you turned secure boot OFF before you cloned the drive, and

Make sure the first boot of the cloned drive was without the original drive in the system.

So the next thing I tried (Since apparently just doing a system disk clone wasn't enough) was the following:

Using the Aomai partition tool, I copied the three smaller recovery partitions on the current (working) system drive sector for sector to the new SSD drive.  This included the master boot record partition.  Next I copied the main partition in such a way as to resize it down to the remaining memory on the SSD.  The SSD drive now has a complete image of the current boot drive.

Now I disconnected the current boot drive, and left the SSD installed.  When I booted the PC, I got a blue screen that I guessing was from the Windows boot sequence saying that it could not find the file C:\Windows\System32\Winload.efi.  The full error message was:

    Recovery

    Your PC/Device needs to be repaired

    The application or operating system couldn't be loaded because a required

             file is missing or contains errors.

    File: C:\Windows\System32\Winload.efi

    Error Code: 0xc0000225

    You'll need to use recovery tools...

I'm guessing this is a good sign, as it means that the computer is at least trying to boot from the drive, but can't because the data in C:\Windows\System32\Winload.efi doesn't match the drive.

To me this indicates that it is possible to set up the drive as a boot drive, and that UEFI will find it, if I can just get the disk set up correctly to begin with.  I'm continuing to work the problem, but any help on how to do this would be greatly appreciated.

Give Macrium Reflect a try - there is a free edition of it.  However, do not clone partitions separately - do a whole-disc clone of the original drive.

Tried both of those, no luck.

Tried the following:  Let AOMEI do a system clone,  and then tried booting the SSD before booting off the current boot disk.

There was some difference in behavior, however.  When I made sure the first boot of the cloned drive was without the original drive in the system., I got the initial Windows window with the little circle of dots going around, then a blue screen that said that the stop code is "INACCESSBIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE".  It then cycles back into the boot sequence, runs some diagnostics, tries to boot again, and etc. forever (or until the electricity runs out.

THIS IS REDICULOUS!!!!  I've burned an evening and most of today trying to get this figured out!!

Tried it and it didn't work either.  Same initial Windows window with the little circle of dots going around, then a blue screen that said that the stop code is "INACCESSBIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE".  There was the same loop of error and rebooting as in the previous case.

So here is the summary so far:

Headline: I can't clone my Intel M.2 SSD from the current boot drive of my new Dell 8910 such that it will successfully boot.

I have a Dell 8910 PC.  The motherboard has a connector for M.2 format SSDs, and supports NVMe PCIe.

The PC came from Dell with a 1TB hard drive.

The BIOS uses UEFI.

I have an Intel 512GB SSD6 M.2 card in the slot.  The card also uses NVMe.  With the card installed in the slot, the diagnostics (ePSA Pre-boot System Assessment (4302.22)) shows the following:

Under the [Cables] heading,
    M.2 SSD Card = Not Installed   (even though it is)

Under the [Storage] heading,
    Hard Drive 1-0-1       (This is the M.2 SSD drive)
        OEM: INTEL, product: INTEL SSDPEKKW512G7, revision:PSF100C,
        S/N ..., type NVMe, size 512 GB 2.5"

Under the [Boot] heading,
    BootPath = MBR of Hard Drive 0-0-1    (note that this is -NOT- hard drive 1-0-1)

So the BIOS recognizes the card as storage, and I can certainly get at the card and do all kinds of disk operations from Windows like format the card, assign it a drive letter, and read and write files to it.

Now for the failures in attempting to clone the system to the SSD and use it as a boot drive.

The first software package I tried was the Intel Data Management Software.  This is just a stripped-down version of Acronis for Intel.  I could not successfully clone the drive using this software, with the drive installed in the computer, running the Data Management Software from Windows.  Several online threads suggested that I needed to create bootable Data Management Software media and boot from that.  I tried that, but I could not get the Dell 8910 BIOS to boot from the DVD.  I tried both disabling boot security and then using legacy boot.  Neither worked well enough to be able to boot up the DVD.

The second software package I used was AOMEI Backupper.  Had to buy this one becasue the free software won't do a system clone.  I tried to do a system clone.  No luck.  Not only that, but the set of partitions created on the SSD by Backupper did not include an MBR partition, which seems like a fatal flaw when trying to clone the system.

Next I tried AOMEI Patrition Assistant.  So the next thing I tried (Since apparently just doing a system disk clone wasn't enough) was the following:

Using the Aomai partition tool, I copied the three smaller recovery partitions on the current (working) system drive sector for sector to the new SSD drive.  This included the master boot record partition.  Next I copied the main partition in such a way as to resize it down to the remaining memory on the SSD.  The SSD drive now has a complete image of the current boot drive.

Now I disconnected the current boot drive, and left the SSD installed.  When I booted the PC, I got a blue screen that I guessing was from the Windows boot sequence saying that it could not find the file
C:\Windows\System32\Winload.efi.  The full error message was:

    Recovery
    Your PC/Device needs to be repaired
    The application or operating system couldn't be loaded because a required
             file is missing or contains errors.
    File: C:\Windows\System32\Winload.efi
    Error Code: 0xc0000225
    You'll need to use recovery tools...

I'm guessing this is a good sign, as it means that the computer is at least trying to boot from the drive, but can't because the data in C:\Windows\System32\Winload.efi doesn't match the drive.

To me this indicates that it is possible to set up the drive as a boot drive, and that UEFI will find it, if I
can just get the disk set up correctly to begin with.

Tried the following:  Let AOMEI do a system clone,  and then tried booting the SSD before booting off the current boot disk.

There was some difference in behavior, however.  When I made sure the first boot of the cloned drive was without the original drive in the system, I got the initial Windows window with the little circle of dots going around, then a blue screen that said that the stop code is "INACCESSBIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE".  It then cycles back into the boot sequence, runs some diagnostics, tries to boot again, and etc. forever (or until the electricity runs out).

I also tried some other variations, but nothing got me any closer to a working system.

Next I tried Macrium Reflect.  I did a full disk clone of the current boot drive to the SSD and again got the initial Windows window with the little circle of dots going around, then a blue screen that said that the stop code is "INACCESSBIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE".  There was the same loop of error and rebooting as in the previous case.

Finally got a message that said that after multiple unsucessful reboots, your PC needs to be repaired.

Doh!

At least it still reboots with the original boot drive.

I could not get a disk clone to work.  I finally was able to boot Windows 10 from the NVMe SSD by doing the following:

• Made a Windows 10 recovery USB stick.
• Unconnected all of the SATA hard drives.
• Booted from the USB stick (F12 on boot-up).
• Recovered Windows to the NVMe SSD.

So not as satisfactory as being to clone the entire disk, because I now have a lot of manual work to do.  At least I'm booting off a very fast drive.

You mentioned booting to flash drive by hitting f12.  Did you have to find boot sequence and select flash drive? If so did you have to turn off secure boot and choose legacy first? At what point did you change from RAID to AHCI?   Thanks!