Hello there, I used this method for a Mac Pro 5,1. It worked except for 2 problems, I minor.
1. Windows takes too long to bootup
2. I have a SATA 3 6GB PCie cards installed with SSDs. This method disabled the AHCI Mode on the attached SSDs.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Tutorial: Enable SATA AHCI Mode in Windows 7,8,8.1 & 10
- Thread starter sanke1
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
1. Windows takes too long to bootup
2. I have a SATA 3 6GB PCie cards installed with SSDs. This method disabled the AHCI Mode on the attached SSDs.
Your's might be an unsupported configuration. If you have not backed up your bootcode.bin, use the fixmbr command by booting from Windows recovery.
[doublepost=1454559366][/doublepost]I finally got it to work. I removed the card and did the patch over and everything works fine now. For those who complain about wake up from sleep issues, take a look at your SAMSUNG Magicians performance setup. It disables computer sleep. Why? If you have no spinning disks there is no need to put ur computer to sleep, especially since SSDs perform TRIM operations during idle times.
I think Sleep function is useless on powered systems like iMac. It shuts down and starts up quite fast with SSD. Power is saved if you actually shut down. Less chances of data corruption. We hear all the time how people's hard drives got corrupted just by waking from sleep mode.
Hello.
Could I say "keeping the iMac locked, rather than moving to sleeping mode, is a better option if user just stay away from their iMac for a short while"?
And I think, sleeping mode is more useful on MacBook (Pro/Air).
Yes we are talking about iMac 2011 so I think that sleep mode is not required. Lock it or shut it down when not in use.
Verified works 2/16/2016
I was a little nervous about doing this.
Made a restore point.
Made a backup of MBR.
--------
My system:
MacBook Pro "Core i7" 2.66 15" Mid-2010, 6,2
Snow Leopard (Why? Much easier to set up Dual Boot, OSX, Boot camp with Shared Storage)
Win 10 Pro 64 Bit
Samsung SSD 850 EVO 500GB
Followed the guide work like a charm. Easy Peasy.
Thank You so much for this guide. I did a lot of searches and a lot of them were very complicated this was very simple the simplest I found. Was literally getting frustrated and getting a headache prior to finding the guide.
For those with Mid 2010 unfortunately will run at SATA II as it doesnt support SATA III. 2011 models some use SATA II some SATA III. After 2011 all use SATA III. I include this so people understand why they may be getting SATA II vrs SATA III speeds.
Still this is much faster after the AHCI driver install.
PS: Make sure to activate TRIM on Win and Mac side. Disable Defrag as it will kill SSD drives.
Once again thanks for the Info.
I was a little nervous about doing this.
Made a restore point.
Made a backup of MBR.
--------
My system:
MacBook Pro "Core i7" 2.66 15" Mid-2010, 6,2
Snow Leopard (Why? Much easier to set up Dual Boot, OSX, Boot camp with Shared Storage)
Win 10 Pro 64 Bit
Samsung SSD 850 EVO 500GB
Followed the guide work like a charm. Easy Peasy.
Thank You so much for this guide. I did a lot of searches and a lot of them were very complicated this was very simple the simplest I found. Was literally getting frustrated and getting a headache prior to finding the guide.
For those with Mid 2010 unfortunately will run at SATA II as it doesnt support SATA III. 2011 models some use SATA II some SATA III. After 2011 all use SATA III. I include this so people understand why they may be getting SATA II vrs SATA III speeds.
Still this is much faster after the AHCI driver install.
PS: Make sure to activate TRIM on Win and Mac side. Disable Defrag as it will kill SSD drives.
Once again thanks for the Info.
Working successfully on my 2011 iMac with Samsung 850 Pro.
I searched like crazy on Google because Samsung Magician refused to play nice while my 850 Pro was in IDE mode. Now no complaints. Like the poster above, I have also backed up my MBR just to be safe.
I realized that I do not need sleep mode.
Thanks again OP
I searched like crazy on Google because Samsung Magician refused to play nice while my 850 Pro was in IDE mode. Now no complaints. Like the poster above, I have also backed up my MBR just to be safe.
I realized that I do not need sleep mode.
Thanks again OP
Thank you so much for the perfect tutorial..!!
It worked like a charm on my Samsung SSD 850 EVO - 500 GB on bootcamp with Windows 10 on my MacBook Pro - Late 2011 model.
My SSD is now running at its optimal level.
Thanks again.
This patch method looks like it is a great solution for iMacs, as originally posted.
However, if you are using a Mac Pro and your Windows install will be one its own drive (not shared on a drive with OS X), you are better off just doing an EFI installation of Windows onto the blank drive. The EFI installation enables AHCI by default. You won't have to use this patch, and sleep mode will work just fine.
As for your PCIe SATA3 SSDs, I have no personal experience with that. But if this patch indeed broke AHCI with them, perhaps the lack of the patch (native AHCI support) will be compatible with them.
There is something going on with iMac 2011 models. Maybe the HD6700 Series GPU does not natively support some parts of UEFI or their Video bios is not capable.
Or Apple has deliberately disabled proper UEFI booting for Windows. Who knows.
If we forcefully boot in EFI mode and install windows, it is not possible to use AMD GPU and Cirrus Audio. Intel driver which installs via Windows Update makes the whole Windows bootloop.
Since you cannot disable driver updates in Windows 10, EFI mode is actually useless.
Or Apple has deliberately disabled proper UEFI booting for Windows. Who knows.
If we forcefully boot in EFI mode and install windows, it is not possible to use AMD GPU and Cirrus Audio. Intel driver which installs via Windows Update makes the whole Windows bootloop.
Since you cannot disable driver updates in Windows 10, EFI mode is actually useless.
BootCamp 6 worked perfectly on my iMac "Mid 2011" with 256 GB Samsung SSD 840 PRO Series.
1. Installed Windows 10 Pro 64 Bit
2. Edited BootCamp.msi using Orca, deleted the three lines as shown in the screenshot below and saved the .msi file.
3. I deleted the installation file inside the folder RealTek, it was freezing the installation. However, my iMac is not needed for RealTek driver.
4. Run the BootCamp.msi and installed all the required drivers without a single issue.
5. SATA AHCI was enabled automatically. I didn't modify anything. Means I am using the full speed of the SSD.
6. By default, in the Power, Sleep was not enabled, I only have Hibernate, Shut down and Restart.
If you need any more info let me know.
Thank you everyone who participated in this useful thread.
1. Installed Windows 10 Pro 64 Bit
2. Edited BootCamp.msi using Orca, deleted the three lines as shown in the screenshot below and saved the .msi file.
3. I deleted the installation file inside the folder RealTek, it was freezing the installation. However, my iMac is not needed for RealTek driver.
4. Run the BootCamp.msi and installed all the required drivers without a single issue.
5. SATA AHCI was enabled automatically. I didn't modify anything. Means I am using the full speed of the SSD.
6. By default, in the Power, Sleep was not enabled, I only have Hibernate, Shut down and Restart.
If you need any more info let me know.
Thank you everyone who participated in this useful thread.
BootCamp 6 worked perfectly on my iMac "Mid 2011" with 256 GB Samsung SSD 840 PRO Series.
5. SATA AHCI was enabled automatically. I didn't modify anything. Means I am using the full speed of the SSD.
6. By default, in the Power, Sleep was not enabled, I only have Hibernate, Shut down and Restart.
If you need any more info let me know.
Thank you everyone who participated in this useful thread.
You also have Dual Channel IDE controller entry so I am sure you are still running in IDE mode. Best way would be to install Samsung Magician or run Crystal Disk Info to get an idea what mode it is actually running into.
Very interesting tutorial.
I own a early 2011 MacBook Pro running OS X 10.11.4 El Capitan and Windows 7 Professional 64 bit on a Bootcamp partition.
I noticed a very slow bootup of the Windows partition, about 40 seconds to the logon window.
As you explained, in this generation of Macintosh computers by default AHCI is not enabled on SATA controller. I verified it on Device manager.
I downloaded the archive named AHCI Mode Enable.zip, but don't know what to do with the files contained in the BOOTICEx64_v1.321 folder.
Could please explain in more detail this part of your tutorial?
I mean the steps clarified by images -- I'm blind and my screen reading software can't recognize them.
If you add some line of text you will made a still better tutorial.
Thank you very much for your work and best regards.
Robert.
I own a early 2011 MacBook Pro running OS X 10.11.4 El Capitan and Windows 7 Professional 64 bit on a Bootcamp partition.
I noticed a very slow bootup of the Windows partition, about 40 seconds to the logon window.
As you explained, in this generation of Macintosh computers by default AHCI is not enabled on SATA controller. I verified it on Device manager.
I downloaded the archive named AHCI Mode Enable.zip, but don't know what to do with the files contained in the BOOTICEx64_v1.321 folder.
By request, I am writing a tutorial to enable AHCI mode for iMacs which run Windows in IDE mode (via Bootcamp partitioning)
1. Open BOOTICEx64.exe from the BOOTICEx64_v1.321 folder. (Right click and Run as Administrator)
Click as per shown in the pics.
Make sure the boot drive containing Windows is selected. We mistakenly select PEN drives or any other drives and wonder what went wrong.
It would make great sense if you click on Backup MBR first and store a copy. You can use this file to restore things back to normal if things go wrong. Restore using the same tool or through Windows recovery commandline tools.
Dont worry. My MBR has already been modified hence it is showing Unknown MBR. Your's will show NT6 or similar.
Here we point out the modified MBR file which enables AHCI support from boot.
Select the correct file patchedcode.bin and click on Open.
Click Restore and make sure settings are as per the above screenshot.
You should be greeted by success message. If not then you did not follow the arrows or run the program as administrator.
Could please explain in more detail this part of your tutorial?
I mean the steps clarified by images -- I'm blind and my screen reading software can't recognize them.
If you add some line of text you will made a still better tutorial.
Thank you very much for your work and best regards.
Robert.
Sorry, I don't have specified that I have installed a Sandisk Extreme Pro 480GB SSD.
Thank you for your reply and best regards.
You can ask your friend or relative to assist you with the steps mentioned in the screenshots.
It is actually difficult to explain the screenshots in steps as the screenshots themselves are self explanatory. I don't want to sound rude.
Hello,
I do not understand it 6 months ago I followed this tutorial that worked without problem.
Today I formatted and reinstalled windows 7 bootcamp, I followed the tutorial and I have a blue screen every rebooting, I does not understand because I'm already handling on the same IMAC (IMAC MID 2001 27 850 EVO SSD 1TB) I have to go through bootrec / fixmbr to return corectement under windows.
Could you help me solve the problem? Thank you because I tear my hair to make and remake handling.
I thank you all and stands Race against my apologies for my english (I'm french)
----------
In french
Bonjour,
Je ne comprend pas, il y a 6 mois j'ai suivi ce tuto qui a fonctionné sans pb
Aujourd’hui j'ai formaté et réinstallé bootcamp windows 7, j'ai suivi le tuto et j'ai un ecran bleu à chaque redemarage, je ne comprend pas car j'ai deja fais la manipulation sur ce même IMAC (IMAC 27 MID 2001 SSD 850 EVO 1TO) je suis obligé de passer par bootrec /fixmbr pour revenir corectement sous windows.
Pourriez-vous m'aider à resoudre le probleme ? Merci car je m'arrache les cheveux à faire et refaire la manipulation.
Merci à tous et je vousa dresse mes excuses pour mon anglais (je suis français)
I do not understand it 6 months ago I followed this tutorial that worked without problem.
Today I formatted and reinstalled windows 7 bootcamp, I followed the tutorial and I have a blue screen every rebooting, I does not understand because I'm already handling on the same IMAC (IMAC MID 2001 27 850 EVO SSD 1TB) I have to go through bootrec / fixmbr to return corectement under windows.
Could you help me solve the problem? Thank you because I tear my hair to make and remake handling.
I thank you all and stands Race against my apologies for my english (I'm french)
----------
In french
Bonjour,
Je ne comprend pas, il y a 6 mois j'ai suivi ce tuto qui a fonctionné sans pb
Aujourd’hui j'ai formaté et réinstallé bootcamp windows 7, j'ai suivi le tuto et j'ai un ecran bleu à chaque redemarage, je ne comprend pas car j'ai deja fais la manipulation sur ce même IMAC (IMAC 27 MID 2001 SSD 850 EVO 1TO) je suis obligé de passer par bootrec /fixmbr pour revenir corectement sous windows.
Pourriez-vous m'aider à resoudre le probleme ? Merci car je m'arrache les cheveux à faire et refaire la manipulation.
Merci à tous et je vousa dresse mes excuses pour mon anglais (je suis français)
@dpcinfo
You need to start fresh and follow the guide step by step. Do not skip or miss any step. Also when you apply the patch, make sure you have selected Evo 850 only and not any other hard drive or USB drive and then clicked on Process MBR.
There is also a mini tutorial after the main tutorial to disable sleep/hibernation and install Mac Fan Control.
You need to start fresh and follow the guide step by step. Do not skip or miss any step. Also when you apply the patch, make sure you have selected Evo 850 only and not any other hard drive or USB drive and then clicked on Process MBR.
There is also a mini tutorial after the main tutorial to disable sleep/hibernation and install Mac Fan Control.
Last edited: