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I am testing Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 on VMWare first as right now I do not have real NVMe drive. After integrating MS hotfix KB2990941 & 3087873 the resulting Windows 7 SP1 64 ISO boots in EFI mode but does not proceed beyond Starting Windows logo screen on VMWare Workstation 14 when the disk controller is NVMe. It does not freeze as such as I see the slight steady movement of logo around itself, however it gets stuck there. Hotfixes are integrated into both Boot.wim and Install.wim
The main purpose of these fixes is to enable native NVMe driver support on Windows 7 SP1. Windows 10 ISO installs fine though with its built-in native NVMe driver. The slipstreamed Windows 7 ISO also installs fine if the virtual drive is IDE, SATA or SCSI. This step conforms that slipstreaming is fine.
Things I have tried so far but did not help
- Integrated only KB2990941 and skipped 3087873
- First install Windows 7 on SATA virtual drive then manually install hotfixes then add second NVME disk.
- Found an OpenFabrics NVMe driver for Windows 7 64. Pushed it into Boot.Wim and Install.wim with DISM forceunsigned switch. Got BSOD for nvme.sys during boot.
- As indicated on some sites, copied Boot.wim and Setup.exe from Windows 10 ISO into Windows 7 sources. This time it detects the drive and copies files but when it reboots, back to being stuck at starting windows!
- Just for experimental purposes, tried my hands on an unofficial Windows 7 SP1 ISO available for download on third party sites. Still same result
- Tried with both Windows 7 SP1 and Windows 7 SP1 + April 2016 roll up updates. Same result
I am now exhausted with options. It appears to me that the above hotfixes somehow do not work with VMWare Virtual NVMe controller in Windows 7 64 SP1. Can someone point me to any further troubleshooting options or any possible solution? Host OS is Windows 7 Ultimate 64 SP1 if that matters in anyway.
Thanks.
Update Following works, it’s close but still not what I expect.
-Integrate KB2534111 in Windows 7 SP1 Ultimate 64 Bit
-Install the OS in VMWare 14 on virtual SATA HDD. Install the NVMe hotfixs. Add NVMe virtual disk and restart VM. Now Windows 7 installs drivers and detects the virtual NVMe disk.
-However the moment I slipstream 2534111, 2990941 & 3087873 the resulting ISO stalls at Windows logo during first boot the moment it finds NVMe virtual disk.
Update Just for experimental purposes I tried Windows 7 32 bit with OpenFabrics NVMe driver. This time it detected the Virtual NVMe Drive, copied all files and when it rebooted, again stuck at Starting Windows.
I suspect there’s some sort of incompatibility between Windows 7 SP1 and VMWare NVMe controller that I am unable to explain.
I wanted to test the slipstreamed Windows 7 64 SP1 with MS Native NVMe drivers on VM first hoping that it will work, but it did not. Now I am not too sure if the same setup would work on real hardware or not. I have no clue now if the issue exists in Windows 7 SP1 or VMWare’s NVMe Controller.
maybe you run into this issue Windows 7 doesn't support GOP only Windows 8 and later. So the hang is unrelated to NVMe. So in VMware option for the VM select BIOS and not UEFI – magicandre1981 – 2018-03-08T14:49:05.653
Windows 7 SP1 boots fine & installs normally in EFI mode on VMWare Workstation 14. The moment I integrate the NVMe drivers (MS Hotfixes) and the moment it detects Virtual NVMe drive, it stalls during boot. – rajeev – 2018-03-08T15:07:39.013
In case required storage controller driver is missing, then Windows 7 boots and comes to a point where it asks you to load driver. This typically happens when I use original Windows 7 SP1 (Without the hotfixes) and when storage is NVMe in VM. – rajeev – 2018-03-08T19:07:46.580