How to install an AHCI SATA driver in Windows XP, Vista and Win7

[PowerPCMacMan]

Yes, just use ahci.sh from the downloads in the beginning of this thread and follow the instructions. Windows 8 is pretty much Windows 7 on STEROIDS Though I detest the tablet tiles as I have no use for the tiles on my Mac Pro under BootCamp.

Of course... you could go the Linux Grub Bootloader route, but I think ahci.sh and patching the MBR is a much better approach.

Does this work on windows 8? I can't find any info about it. I know the registry part is different though. Any help would be appreciated. I have a 2008 Mac Pro.

 

[bjar]

Yes, just use ahci.sh from the downloads in the beginning of this thread and follow the instructions. Windows 8 is pretty much Windows 7 on STEROIDS Though I detest the tablet tiles as I have no use for the tiles on my Mac Pro under BootCamp.

Of course... you could go the Linux Grub Bootloader route, but I think ahci.sh and patching the MBR is a much better approach.

Worked!

 

[PowerPCMacMan]

Told ya it would work

Worked!

 

[Tesseract]

Well I must have patched the wrong drive. Anyway I reinstalled win 7 and started from scratch the problem is that drive bays 3 and 4 refuse to take the ahci driver. In the device manager, when I select either the default AHCI 1.0 drivers or the newer intel ones, I get an error that the device cannot start...error 10.


This is so weird because I managed to do this perfectly a year ago...

This was my experience as well. I couldn't enable AHCI booting with bays 3 & 4 in my MP 2009. Swapped my Samsung to bay 2, fixed the mbr, and booted into AHCI mode flawlessly. I think I remember Apple specs saying something about bays 1 & 2 being different from 3 & 4...?

Anyways - if you're doing this with a Mac Pro 2009, make sure your SSD is in bay 1 or 2, or you will not benefit from AHCI.

 

[amenoera]

It Worked With Me but Sleep Is Not Working .

Windows 8 - x64
MacBook pro 2011
ssd Vertexzx 4 256 + 500g hdd .
Bootcamp 5

 

[Inconsequential]

Anybody done this with a disk in the ODD bays?

My Windows 7 x64 SSD is using the lower ODD bay SATA connection.

MP4,1 flashed to 5,1!

 

[Inconsequential]

Just done this for all 6 ports in my 2009 mac pro.

Works a treat!!

Edit 2: Ok, works for the 4 port device, has issues when applied to the 2 port device.

Wonder what drivers that needs then :/

 

[susanorento]

not working for me mac pro 2008



i followed this good tutorial but it doesn't work to me. can it be the ssd drive? it's a sandisk utra disk 256go. i patched thembr, change regedit but when i put the standart ahci drive on my mac pro 2008 , it's bsod all the time. can someone please help me? i tried various driver but nothing change.

 

[Inconsequential]

i followed this good tutorial but it doesn't work to me. can it be the ssd drive? it's a sandisk utra disk 256go. i patched thembr, change regedit but when i put the standart ahci drive on my mac pro 2008 , it's bsod all the time. can someone please help me? i tried various driver but nothing change.

No it isn't the SSD, you've just done it wrong!

 

[susanorento]

No it isn't the SSD, you've just done it wrong!

hello, can you help me? what can it be wrong? Thank you!

 

[Inconsequential]

hello, can you help me? what cant be wrong? Thank you!

Just follow the instructions to the letter tbh.

I can't help when I have no idea what you've done (and I have a 2009 Mac Pro anyway).

 

[susanorento]

Just follow the instructions to the letter tbh.

I can't help when I have no idea what you've done (and I have a 2009 Mac Pro anyway).

well , i just followed the tutorial. i've installed windows 7 on the ssd, installed bootcamp drivers, modify regedit, reboot, installed the standart ahci driver, reboot to mac os x on an another hdd to apply the mbr to the windows disk identified as /dev/disk0 with the script, reboot to windows with the big bsod. i tried with other type of driver but nothing changed .

 

[hokching]

Hi, I have a macbook white 13" mid 2010 and i have installed an SSD drive, i would like to know if the mbr patching works for me too? (the sata controller should be mcp98 and the model should be macbook 7,1 I need to check, but I'm sure it is mid 2010)

I have win 7 installed, do I need that floppy facility?

Also, is setting up the restore pt safe enough? If backing up the ssd img is recommended, should i back up the whole disk or just the win 7 partition?

My two SSD partitions are GPT-based, I wonder if the MBR backup procedure is applicable?

Also, i haven't installed the drivers on the osx install cd, what's its effect?

Sorry for that long, but don't want to carelessly screwed up the ssd, and also i've been using win 7 without ahci for a few years already

 

[elvisizer]

well , i just followed the tutorial. i've installed windows 7 on the ssd, installed bootcamp drivers, modify regedit, reboot, installed the standart ahci driver, reboot to mac os x on an another hdd to apply the mbr to the windows disk identified as /dev/disk0 with the script, reboot to windows with the big bsod. i tried with other type of driver but nothing changed .

usually the problem is identifying the right drive. sounds like your windows boot drive isn't dev/disk0.
so, tell us a bit more about your storage config. open up terminal, type in

diskutil list

and then post the output. (protip- use the CODE tag when uploading the output, not QUOTE. QUOTE won't preserve the formatting from terminal)
here's the output from my mac, you can see my bootcamp installation is on /dev/disk4:

Last login: Sat Oct  5 11:58:40 on ttys000
Mac-Pro:~ elvisizer$ diskutil list
/dev/disk0
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *128.0 GB   disk0
   1:       Microsoft Basic Data Sammy830                127.8 GB   disk0s1
/dev/disk1
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *240.1 GB   disk1
   1:                        EFI                         209.7 MB   disk1s1
   2:                  Apple_HFS Electra                 239.1 GB   disk1s2
   3:                 Apple_Boot Recovery HD             650.0 MB   disk1s3
/dev/disk2
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *2.0 TB     disk2
   1:                        EFI                         209.7 MB   disk2s1
   2:                  Apple_HFS Mac Storage             2.0 TB     disk2s2
/dev/disk3
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:     FDisk_partition_scheme                        *2.0 TB     disk3
   1:               Windows_NTFS Alternaville            2.0 TB     disk3s1
/dev/disk4
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:     FDisk_partition_scheme                        *240.1 GB   disk4
   1:               Windows_NTFS BOOTCAMP                240.1 GB   disk4s1
/dev/disk5
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *3.0 TB     disk5
   1:                        EFI                         209.7 MB   disk5s1
   2:       Microsoft Basic Data Storage                 3.0 TB     disk5s2
/dev/disk7
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *2.0 TB     disk7
   1:                        EFI                         209.7 MB   disk7s1
   2:                  Apple_HFS Time Machine Backups    2.0 TB     disk7s2

The script never finds the right drive on my mac, I always have to point it at the right one manually.

 

[hokching]

Hi, I have a macbook white 13" mid 2010 and i have installed an SSD drive, i would like to know if the mbr patching works for me too? (the sata controller should be mcp98 and the model should be macbook 7,1 I need to check, but I'm sure it is mid 2010)

I have win 7 installed, do I need that floppy facility?

Also, is setting up the restore pt safe enough? If backing up the ssd img is recommended, should i back up the whole disk or just the win 7 partition?

My two SSD partitions are GPT-based, I wonder if the MBR backup procedure is applicable?

Also, i haven't installed the drivers on the osx install cd, what's its effect?

Sorry for that long, but don't want to carelessly screwed up the ssd, and also i've been using win 7 without ahci for a few years already

@gugucom: Is it possible that you can help me? Thanks!

 

[Gav Mack]

Hi, I have a macbook white 13" mid 2010 and i have installed an SSD drive, i would like to know if the mbr patching works for me too? (the sata controller should be mcp98 and the model should be macbook 7,1 I need to check, but I'm sure it is mid 2010)

I have win 7 installed, do I need that floppy facility?

Also, is setting up the restore pt safe enough? If backing up the ssd img is recommended, should i back up the whole disk or just the win 7 partition?

My two SSD partitions are GPT-based, I wonder if the MBR backup procedure is applicable?

Also, i haven't installed the drivers on the osx install cd, what's its effect?

Sorry for that long, but don't want to carelessly screwed up the ssd, and also i've been using win 7 without ahci for a few years already

If it's MCP79 it's an nvidia SATA driver with core 2 duo cpu's you will have to check on insanelymac to see if the can be done yet but last time I checked they couldn't . Only the later mid 2010 models onwards with with the intel chipset and SATA driver can be modded to boot AHCI. If it is intel bear in mind there are drawbacks - you will have to disable sleep totally in windows and rely on hibernate only and the boot camp control panel will also be broken.

If it is an intel model the procedure is slightly simpler than the Mac Pro's, you make the registry change, reboot into osx, run the AHCI enabler app then windows will install a standard AHCI controller which will require another reboot and you can then upgrade to the intel RST driver.

 

[NOTNlCE]

Hello guys, I was directed here because I have a problem with my Velocity Solo causing a BSoD in Windows 7 Boot Camp. A forum member suggested that I enable AHCI, as the Velocity is an AHCI controller. The guide worked flawlessly, thanks to all who contributed. However, I still BSoD with the Solo installed. Anyone experienced this before? Thanks in advance.
-N

 

[MattDSLR]

thank you
I saved this for future

 

[gpatpandp]

Is this still truly necessary or has a better method come to surface ?

I had an original Windows 7 64 bit install on its own dedicated hard drive that recognized my blu ray optical drive without issue...no mod no bootcamp. I got rid of it as I never used it much and needed the HD it was installed on. Oddly as the interest to have a Windows system has reappeared and in duplicating exactly what I had done previously installation wise, my blu ray drive is no longer appearing. I have tried to follow these instructions but to no avail. As this post is now over four years old, is there a better/easier way of getting Windows 7 installed on a Mac Pro (2,1) to recognize a BD optical drive connected to SATA motherboard port ?

As I generally despise Windows, frankly this way more effort then I am willing to put forth on a Windows system.

 

[Gav Mack]

Not Mac Pro related but totally AHCI so thought I'd share this.

My 2010 17" MBP SSD went Pete Tong on New Year's Eve. Had to order a m500 960gb for next day delivery which ended up being Friday. It needed firmware flashing to 03 which fixes MacBook Pro issues which I did in the spare sled of my 3,1 running Windows 7.

Saturday I did a clean USB stick install of 10.9.1 using diskmakerx made off the Mac Pro, downloaded the latest bootcamp support onto a usb stick via BC assistant and did a 7 x64 SP1 install via DVD, then let the bootcamp 5.0.5033 drivers install automatically after. After doing all the updates and copying the data over, I set the function key setting for the brightness controls in bootcamp control panel saying farewell to ever seeing it again. I modded the AHCI and IAStor registry keys, rebooted into Mavericks, patched the mbr using Johnsock's enabler app and got AHCI running. Updated to the newest Intel RST driver which had the chipset support for the controller which was about six months old - version 11.7.0.1013.

All running great, so out of curiosity last night I thought I'd open up the Windows bootcamp control panel to get the usual startup disk error. I didn't and got a fully working windows bootcamp control panel, the first I've ever had on an older Mac after I've done the AHCI mod . This is the fourth time but lucky on this alone add my other Macs plus clients it easily runs into dozens!

It's going to be a while before I do that on my 3,1 but maybe that method might work for some of you lot!

 

[Gav Mack]

I had an original Windows 7 64 bit install on its own dedicated hard drive that recognized my blu ray optical drive without issue...no mod no bootcamp. I got rid of it as I never used it much and needed the HD it was installed on. Oddly as the interest to have a Windows system has reappeared and in duplicating exactly what I had done previously installation wise, my blu ray drive is no longer appearing. I have tried to follow these instructions but to no avail. As this post is now over four years old, is there a better/easier way of getting Windows 7 installed on a Mac Pro (2,1) to recognize a BD optical drive connected to SATA motherboard port ?

As I generally despise Windows, frankly this way more effort then I am willing to put forth on a Windows system.

I stopped using the scripts as soon as Johnsock's enabler app was perfected and have never had an issue using that app in the dmg he posted on the original insanelymac thread. I've successfully done the AHCI mod to practically all of the older Intel SATA chipset Mac's including yours that can't be done easily via EFI (which is the method for the 4-5,1 to get the six ports working). Make sure you change the registry keys for both MSAHCI and IAStor to zero, reboot into OSX and then run the app clicking the drop down box to select the right partition. Click the menu at the top to make a backup of the mbr first then patch it. The windows volume must be labelled BOOTCAMP for it to work.

I've always had a broken windows bootcamp control panel after with the older pre 2011 kit until this weekend for four years now so excuse me for being too cheerful

Here's the app for you

 

[gpatpandp]

I stopped using the scripts as soon as Johnsock's enabler app was perfected and have never had an issue using that app in the dmg he posted on the original insanelymac thread. I've successfully done the AHCI mod to practically all of the older Intel SATA chipset Mac's including yours that can't be done easily via EFI (which is the method for the 4-5,1 to get the six ports working). Make sure you change the registry keys for both MSAHCI and IAStor to zero, reboot into OSX and then run the app clicking the drop down box to select the right partition. Click the menu at the top to make a backup of the mbr first then patch it. The windows volume must be labelled BOOTCAMP for it to work.

I've always had a broken windows bootcamp control panel after with the older pre 2011 kit until this weekend for four years now so excuse me for being too cheerful

Here's the app for you

Thanks for all (your reply, instructions, and the file). As sort of a continuation of this process being a PITA, the enabler .app would only locate the the "System Reserve" partition created by Windows and not the main "BootCamp" drive. I am erasing my Windows install and will try it again. I have completed extensive hacks involving getting this very same Mac Pro to initially run Mountain Lion while booting from Chameleon and now Mavericks (save now with the new Tiamo's boot.efi boot loader) without any trouble or issue whatsoever. This stupid Windows trick is a real drag.

 

[Gav Mack]

Thanks for all (your reply, instructions, and the file). As sort of a continuation of this process being a PITA, the enabler .app would only locate the the "System Reserve" partition created by Windows and not the main "BootCamp" drive. I am erasing my Windows install and will try it again. I have completed extensive hacks involving getting this very same Mac Pro to initially run Mountain Lion while booting from Chameleon and now Mavericks (save now with the new Tiamo's boot.efi boot loader) without any trouble or issue whatsoever. This stupid Windows trick is a real drag.

Yep you'll have to start over and re partition.

Having done a fair bit of Hacktintosh stuff I have to say its on a level of PITA with hacking OSX whether for an older Mac or compatible parts. Modding the MBR using just the one script however is a one shot option, unless you use the others which most dont, you will have to flatten the NTFS partition and start over. However using the app from the start it's a different ballgame, you can easily backup the original MBR and restore it if you make a cock up which even after dozens of successful attempts I've occasionally done before and been able to rescue myself from Blue screen hell.

 

[Typifyre]

I have had a Mac Pro 2,1, for some time, that I was never able to successfully achieve AHCI mode under Windows with and just recently purchased a 5,1. What are the chances the newer hardware would affect the relative ease of achieving this? I'd love to still be able to use the Bootcamp Control Panel as my primary boot disk is Windows, but was put off by the amount of time I spent NOT getting it to work last time. I have a copy of both Windows 7 & 8 x64, if either would be a better candidate.

The instructions seem rather long and convoluted, anywhere I've found them. From my own personal experience changing the disk mode after installing Windows even on a Windows machine is a problem. But that's likely an issue the MBR patch resolves. What are the chances you could patch the MBR of an NTFS formatted disk prior to installing Windows, letting Windows install the AHCI drivers for you during the OS install after being forced into AHCI mode by the patched MBR?

 

[sauria]

Success?

I have had a Mac Pro 2,1, for some time, that I was never able to successfully achieve AHCI mode under Windows with and just recently purchased a 5,1. What are the chances the newer hardware would affect the relative ease of achieving this? I'd love to still be able to use the Bootcamp Control Panel as my primary boot disk is Windows, but was put off by the amount of time I spent NOT getting it to work last time. I have a copy of both Windows 7 & 8 x64, if either would be a better candidate.

The instructions seem rather long and convoluted, anywhere I've found them. From my own personal experience changing the disk mode after installing Windows even on a Windows machine is a problem. But that's likely an issue the MBR patch resolves. What are the chances you could patch the MBR of an NTFS formatted disk prior to installing Windows, letting Windows install the AHCI drivers for you during the OS install after being forced into AHCI mode by the patched MBR?

Did you get it working? I am about to install on a Mac Pro 5,1 (2012) 3.33