I've installed Windows 11 on a W-2235 5820 and a W-2145 5820 without issues on an NVMe in a PCIe adapter - one onto an NVMe in a Dell Ultraspeed card, the other onto an NVMe in a Sabrent card (search Amazon UK for B0CQZ6SYD1 - if I add a link, it'll trip the spam filter and the post will have to wait for a mod to release it)
You may find you need to have the SATA Operation mode in the BIOS set to RAID rather than AHCI.
I downloaded the Intel-Intel-Virtual-RAID-on-CPU-Driver_F02F8_WIN_7.7.6.1003_A16_01.EXE package from the available drivers, used 7Zip to extract files to another folder and then copied them to a USB thumbdrive.
The extracted folder contains a folder called F6 this contains 2 subfolders, one of them works to make the NVMe visible, one doesn't. The folder names indicate that the drivers are for 64 bit Windows 10 but they work with Windows 11.
When I got to the part where you can load a driver, I just browsed to the F6 folder and tried each of the subfolders (can't remember which one worked) - it might also work if you just select the F6 folder and tell it to also search subfolders.
@PapaPee I actually just solved this. It turns out, the boot USB only wants to work on the Internal usb 2.0 port. Keeping it in AHCI, disabling VMD, and installing to a SATA SSD first, seemed to work great for me. Once in windows, you can plug in the PCIe M.2 adapter and it automatically installs the proper drivers.
Yes, installing to SATA SSDs should never be an issue.
If you have the front/rear USB ports enabled and 'Enable USB boot' set in BIOS, the worst you should have to do is hit F12 when the Dell logo is displayed and it'll enter the boot menu and you can select USB and it should boot from any USB port.
Anyway, even if you haven't solved your original problem of installing to the NVMe drive in a PCIe adapter I'm pleased that you've found a workaround that you're happy with
PapaPee
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August 31st, 2025 11:39
I've installed Windows 11 on a W-2235 5820 and a W-2145 5820 without issues on an NVMe in a PCIe adapter - one onto an NVMe in a Dell Ultraspeed card, the other onto an NVMe in a Sabrent card (search Amazon UK for B0CQZ6SYD1 - if I add a link, it'll trip the spam filter and the post will have to wait for a mod to release it)
You may find you need to have the SATA Operation mode in the BIOS set to RAID rather than AHCI.
I downloaded the Intel-Intel-Virtual-RAID-on-CPU-Driver_F02F8_WIN_7.7.6.1003_A16_01.EXE package from the available drivers, used 7Zip to extract files to another folder and then copied them to a USB thumbdrive.
The extracted folder contains a folder called F6 this contains 2 subfolders, one of them works to make the NVMe visible, one doesn't. The folder names indicate that the drivers are for 64 bit Windows 10 but they work with Windows 11.
When I got to the part where you can load a driver, I just browsed to the F6 folder and tried each of the subfolders (can't remember which one worked) - it might also work if you just select the F6 folder and tell it to also search subfolders.
unsowne
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August 31st, 2025 12:46
@PapaPee I actually just solved this. It turns out, the boot USB only wants to work on the Internal usb 2.0 port. Keeping it in AHCI, disabling VMD, and installing to a SATA SSD first, seemed to work great for me. Once in windows, you can plug in the PCIe M.2 adapter and it automatically installs the proper drivers.
PapaPee
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44 Posts
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August 31st, 2025 14:02
Yes, installing to SATA SSDs should never be an issue.
If you have the front/rear USB ports enabled and 'Enable USB boot' set in BIOS, the worst you should have to do is hit F12 when the Dell logo is displayed and it'll enter the boot menu and you can select USB and it should boot from any USB port.
Anyway, even if you haven't solved your original problem of installing to the NVMe drive in a PCIe adapter I'm pleased that you've found a workaround that you're happy with