Enhancing existing Vista or Windows 7 images from IDE mode or native AHCI mode

Vista and Windows 7 have a native AHCI driver. If Vista or Windows 7 was installed while in IDE mode, a registry change will allow users to gracefully switch to AHCI mode using the Microsoft driver. See the Microsoft Knowledge Base Article at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/922976/en-us .

Corporate IT may be able to update an existing Vista or Window 7 image that was created in IDE mode to use the Intel AHCI driver. The process requires inserting the Intel AHCI drivers into the image in a pre-installation environment using the appropriate OS Tools.

Required software to insert the Intel AHCI driver:

•Windows Preinstallation Environment (WinPE) CD

•Windows OPK (OEM Preinstallation Kit) CD

•PKGMGR.EXE (Package Manager)

The OPK CD is not available for general download. It must be obtained through a Microsoft authorized distributor. PKGMGR.EXE is a tool that installs, uninstalls, configures, and updates features and packages for Vista and Windows 7.

For more information and instructions on OPK or PKGMGR.EXE, go to http://www.hp.com.

The process is as follows:

1.Boot into WinPE.

2.Run PKGMGR.EXE from OPK A sample command line is:

pkgmgr.exe /o:"C:\;C:\Windows" /n:"C:\AddAHCI\HP-AHCI.xml"

Where C:\AddAHCI\HP-AHCI.xml contains:

<?xml version="1.0" ?>

<unattend xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v3" xmlns:wcm="http:// schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State">

<settings pass="offlineServicing">

<component name="Microsoft-Windows-PnpCustomizationsNonWinPE" processorArchitecture="x86"

publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS">

<DriverPaths>

<PathAndCredentials wcm:keyValue="1"> <Path>C:\AddAHCI</Path>

</PathAndCredentials>

</DriverPaths>

</component>

</settings>

</unattend>

3.Reboot the computer.

4.Enter F10 Setup and change SATA Emulation mode to AHCI.

5.Reboot the computer into the OS.

An existing Vista or Windows 7 image using the native AHCI driver can be updated to use the Intel AHCI driver (iastor.sys). The driver can be downloaded from www.hp.com.

NOTE: Be careful when moving an image to computer with a different chipset. The Device ID of the AHCI controller must match what is in the INF or the AHCI driver will fail and the computer will not boot.

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