BIOS: Change SATA Operations from RAID to AHCI, without loosing Windows boot, even if no RAID is used

As seen in Install Ubuntu 18.04 along Windows 10 on a Dell Alienware m15 with NVME disks, we need to change a BIOS setting in order to make the NVME disks visible to the Ubuntu installer.

Note 1:  this is necessary but not sufficient to make the NVME disks visible by Ubuntu installer, see also Make NVME disks visible to Ubuntu USB-key installer

Note 2: changing this setting is necessary, even if you do not use RAID on your hard drives.

Let’s go.

Step 0

• From Windows 10, run CMD as administrator (Start Button, type CMD, choose Run as administrator)
• Type: bcdedit /set {current} safeboot minimal
• Reboot.

Step 1

• At boot time, get into the BIOS (on a Dell/Alienware, press F2 just when logo is appearing).
• Change SATA Operations from RAID on to AHCI.
• Save and reboot to Windows 10 (that will be in Safe Mode).

Step 2

• Windows is in Safe mode, launch again CMD as administrator
• Type: bcdedit /deletevalue {current} safeboot
• Reboot to Windows 10. Everything should be OK.

Conclusion

This procedure ensures that:

1. Your NVME disks will be visible by the Ubuntu installer
2. Your Windows 10 will still be correctly booting (before and after Ubuntu installation).

Resources

• Switch Windows 10 from RAID/IDE to AHCI,
• From Microsoft Hardware Dev Center: BCDEdit /set (by the way, I couldn’t find documentation about the safeboot option of BCDEdit).