Windows 10: M.2 SATA to NVME clone: Windows 10 won't boot

Problem: Windows partition won't boot after cloning M.2 SATA drive to M.2 NVME. Simply returns to BIOS splash screen are restarts boot sequence.

Background: Cloning process was simple raw dd copy. Drive had EFI, Windows 10, and Linux partitions. Cloning preserved exact partition sequence, sizes, and UUIDs.

Linux partition needed minor tweaks to /etc/fstab due to the device names being different (/dev/nvme0n1px vs. /dev/sdax), but boots fine.

The disk is GPT, and I believe the original Windows 10 was UEFI - the Linux installation definitely was.

Boot sequence brings up Linux 'grub' menu first. Choosing the EFI partition then brings up Windows EFI boot menu. Fresh Windows install (see below) boots fine from here, old install fails.

Attempts at solution: I did a fresh Windows install in a spare partition and it boots fine. Using the new Windows installation, I've edited the BCD entry for my original Win 10 install. I have the correct BCD device, osdevice, and path.

Questions:

• What else needs to be done to make Windows boot again?
• Are there any config file or registry changes that need to be made to account for the SATA to NVME move?
• How do I see boot error messages for a UEFI boot failure? No errors displayed and no log files that I can find in Windows or EFI partitions...

:)

 

M.2 NVMe/SATA

Yeah... except a few NVMe M.2 drives that have both keyes... like this LiteOn drive (LINK) or Intel Optane 16/32GB.
There are also AHCI (not NVMe) M.2 drives, that use M-Key only (Samsung XP941 or some SM951 models).

M.2 is basicly a minefield :
Some early boards don't support "SATA" type M.2s, and some laptops don't support M-Keyed ones.
Only one drive support Legacy booting (by default), however most M-key ones require (U)EFI modding for booting to work on Sandy Bridge or later platforms.

 

Migrating Windows 10 from m.2 sata to new pcie nvme ssd

Hello all,

I'm going to upgrade my current m.2 sata 128gb to a m.2 pcie nvme 480gb and have questions about migrating Windows over. From my understanding since i have a laptop and cant connect both drives at the same time and pcie nvme isnt supported externally I was
going to try and create a restore disk of my current drive and then image it to my new drive. Will this work?

Again my process will be, create rescue disk and image to usb, power down and swap drives, enable usb boot to my usb and power on, run the rescue disk and image to my new pcie nvme ssd.

Does anyone see problems with this? Do I need a large usb or will 32gb work for a 128gb ssd?

 

M.2 NVMe/SATA




sata has the 2nd "B" keys as well, as the "M" key slot.