I installed Windows 7 onto a SSD with the motherboard in IDE mode. Now when I try to change the motherboard to AHCI mode, Windows 7 will not successfully boot (blue screens mid-boot).
How can I add AHCI support to the Windows 7 installation? If I can not add AHCI support I plan on doing a reinstall of Windows 7 with the motherboard in AHCI mode.
As a note, I just did the Windows 7 install yesterday, so I don't need to worry about losing any data on the hard drive due to reinstall.
You don't have to reinstall Windows to enable AHCI. From this Microsoft Support article:
- Exit all Windows-based programs.
- Click Start, type
regeditin the Start Search box, and then press Enter.
If you receive the User Account Control dialog box, click Continue.- Locate and then click one of the following registry subkeys:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\MsahciHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\IastorV- In the pane on the right side, right-click Start in the Name column, and then click Modify.
In the Value data box, type 0, and then click OK.
On the File menu, click Exit to close Registry Editor.
Caution is necessary when mucking around in the registry. If you're uncomfortable with doing it yourself, Microsoft also offers an automated "Fix-It" utility to do it for you.
