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The vendor? Ha! Let me laugh. Would this have tripped on some obscure device specific to Dell laptops, sure, I would understand. (like their blimey fingerprint

The vendor? Ha! Let me laugh. Would this have tripped on some obscure device specific to Dell laptops, sure, I would understand. (like their blimey fingerprint reader). But this is the standard NVMe controller on this generation of intel CPUs. The drivers are common for _most intel platforms_: the Intel Rapid Storage Technology. As somebody else pointed out, Linux fares much better in this space. All devices are properly recognized out of the box, including this bog-standard NVMe controller.

justsomehnguy 3y ago
> Intel Rapid Storage Technology. This is a SATA AHCI/RAID controller. It has nothing to do with NVMe. Also iRST was (and looks like still is) the most troublesome driver for Windows since it's introduction: there are bazillion of variants and vendor sub-variants with different VEN/DEV IDs, so it's CAN'T be identified by some generic driver! And yes, it was (and from your description - is) the one stupid driver which couldn't be loaded at the running install, because for somegodfuckingreason it did shenanigans when loaded 'online' and Windows couldn't use it as the install destination. This is not (and were not) a problem with any other SATA and SAS controller I ever encountered, from cheap-ass Silicon Image ones to $2000 LSI/HPE ones. Only Intel, only ICH/R. There is no such thing as generic driver for a hundreds and thousands of variants of some vendor specific device if the vendor did not provided such driver. Your loved Linux works there only because the kernel module which supports Intel ICH\R chipset (which provides iRST) has those bazillion of PCI VEN/DEV IDs assigned to it and this is why it works 'out of the box' on Linux kernel. Intel NEVER provided such driver for Windows and never would. Eg: there is a thing called `HPE Smart Array SR Gen10`. It's a series of RAID controllers made by HPE. Except `HPE Smart Array S100i SR Gen10 SW RAID`, aka S-class. Notice `SW` there? That's just a regular Intel ICH/R. You can manually install Intel ICH/iRST driver on that `HPE controller` and it would work, because it's just a regular Intel ICH/R. You know what wouldn't happen? Windows wouldn't install `the default` Intel ICH driver on it, because: there is no such thing as `the default SATA` driver there is no such thing as `the default Intel SATA` driver all `Intel SATA` drivers built-in in Windows install media do have the PCI VEN/DEV IDs listed for INTEL (VEN8086), not HP/E, DELL, Lenovo or whoever.[0] You can shit on Microsoft and Windows all you want, but the problem here is strictly with the vendor, Intel. As soon as Intel would provide MS with the `default Intel SATA` driver what would have all VEN/DEV combos for all their licensed and white-labeled controllers - you would be able to install Windows client SKUs on all these controllers without slipstreaming the drivers in the install media. Source: I know things, I lost too many hours of my life wrestlning with Intel ICH/R [0] ffs, just open the .inf you slipstreamed and look for IDs there.
- tuetuopay 3y ago
  >> Intel Rapid Storage Technology. > This is a SATA AHCI/RAID controller. It has nothing to do with NVMe. Yet it was somehow required to use the NVMe drive in this machine. This is braindead. > This is not (and were not) a problem with any other SATA and SAS controller I ever encountered, from cheap-ass Silicon Image ones to $2000 LSI/HPE ones. Only Intel, only ICH/R. Learnt this the hard way on a previous motherboard I had with two sata controller, the native Intel one, and an additional Marvell one. Sanity would encourage to use the intel one, except for all those friggin issues. As for Linux, I know why it works :) But it always amazes me that this FOSS project can ship all those IDs, quirks and all, but not one of the largest company on the planet. What a time to live where Linux has less driver issues than Windows. Thank you for all the details, I did not know iRST was such a hot mess. It's not that new, one would have guessed shit would have been figured out since. But no. Oh well... Btw sorry for the tone, I thought by "vendor" you meant Dell and not Intel. They produce some of the worst driver I ever had to work with. Don't get me started on their drivers for the E810 line of datacenter network adapters.

justsomehnguy 3y ago

> Intel Rapid Storage Technology. This is a SATA AHCI/RAID controller. It has nothing to do with NVMe. Also iRST was (and looks like still is) the most troublesome driver for Windows since it's introduction: there are bazillion of variants and vendor sub-variants with different VEN/DEV IDs, so it's CAN'T be identified by some generic driver! And yes, it was (and from your description - is) the one stupid driver which couldn't be loaded at the running install, because for somegodfuckingreason it did shenanigans when loaded 'online' and Windows couldn't use it as the install destination. This is not (and were not) a problem with any other SATA and SAS controller I ever encountered, from cheap-ass Silicon Image ones to $2000 LSI/HPE ones. Only Intel, only ICH/R. There is no such thing as generic driver for a hundreds and thousands of variants of some vendor specific device if the vendor did not provided such driver. Your loved Linux works there only because the kernel module which supports Intel ICH\R chipset (which provides iRST) has those bazillion of PCI VEN/DEV IDs assigned to it and this is why it works 'out of the box' on Linux kernel. Intel NEVER provided such driver for Windows and never would. Eg: there is a thing called `HPE Smart Array SR Gen10`. It's a series of RAID controllers made by HPE. Except `HPE Smart Array S100i SR Gen10 SW RAID`, aka S-class. Notice `SW` there? That's just a regular Intel ICH/R. You can manually install Intel ICH/iRST driver on that `HPE controller` and it would work, because it's just a regular Intel ICH/R. You know what wouldn't happen? Windows wouldn't install `the default` Intel ICH driver on it, because: there is no such thing as `the default SATA` driver there is no such thing as `the default Intel SATA` driver all `Intel SATA` drivers built-in in Windows install media do have the PCI VEN/DEV IDs listed for INTEL (VEN8086), not HP/E, DELL, Lenovo or whoever.[0] You can shit on Microsoft and Windows all you want, but the problem here is strictly with the vendor, Intel. As soon as Intel would provide MS with the `default Intel SATA` driver what would have all VEN/DEV combos for all their licensed and white-labeled controllers - you would be able to install Windows client SKUs on all these controllers without slipstreaming the drivers in the install media. Source: I know things, I lost too many hours of my life wrestlning with Intel ICH/R [0] ffs, just open the .inf you slipstreamed and look for IDs there.

tuetuopay 3y ago
>> Intel Rapid Storage Technology. > This is a SATA AHCI/RAID controller. It has nothing to do with NVMe. Yet it was somehow required to use the NVMe drive in this machine. This is braindead. > This is not (and were not) a problem with any other SATA and SAS controller I ever encountered, from cheap-ass Silicon Image ones to $2000 LSI/HPE ones. Only Intel, only ICH/R. Learnt this the hard way on a previous motherboard I had with two sata controller, the native Intel one, and an additional Marvell one. Sanity would encourage to use the intel one, except for all those friggin issues. As for Linux, I know why it works :) But it always amazes me that this FOSS project can ship all those IDs, quirks and all, but not one of the largest company on the planet. What a time to live where Linux has less driver issues than Windows. Thank you for all the details, I did not know iRST was such a hot mess. It's not that new, one would have guessed shit would have been figured out since. But no. Oh well... Btw sorry for the tone, I thought by "vendor" you meant Dell and not Intel. They produce some of the worst driver I ever had to work with. Don't get me started on their drivers for the E810 line of datacenter network adapters.