How do you enable AHCI in windows server 2003?

[KingGheedora]

I have a dual boot with Vista and windows server 2003. I installed both OS'es without loading SATA drivers during the install.

I was able to install the Intel Matrix Storage software (i.e. RAID drivers) in Vista by enabling the windows AHCI driver via the registry (something like LOCAL_MACHINE\...\Services\msahci\Start, setting that key from 4 to 0), booting in AHCI mode, installing the drivers, and then rebooting with RAID enabled.

The problem is with Windows Server 2003 I don't see that registry key so I'm not sure how to install the Intel Matrix Storage software, because AHCI or RAID needs to be enabled or you can't install the Intel software.

UPDATE: See posts below for details. But the ultimate solution was to re-install windows and load the SATA RAID drivers from a floppy disk. I had to buy a floppy drive to do this. For those hoping to buy this board, or other boards with this controller, it seems that you need to install windows and load the drivers at install time, or else you will not be able to get an existing install of windows 2k3 to boot in RAID mode.

This is not an issue in Vista, though it was difficult to figure out how to get it working in Vista I didn't have to re-install vista to get RAID working. It was easier to load the raid drivers during vista setup though. Especially since it lets you load them from USB flash drive, or from the hard disk, or any drives you have hooked up for that matter.

 

[KingGheedora]

Anybody?

 

[imported_Baloo]

Usually this is done by enabling it in the BIOS. Windows will then auto detect.

 

[KingGheedora]

I believe windows crashes if you enable it in the BIOS, because it doesn't have a driver for the controller. At least this is what happened with Vista. It was a chicken or the egg situation.

Couldn't install sata/raid drivers without AHCI enabled in BIOS
Windows would not boot with AHCI enabled because it didn't have drivers for AHCI

(at least the driver was in windows, but it was disabled in the registry)

 

[KingGheedora]

I was able to install the intel drivers manually, which enabled booting in AHCI mode, but, I still can't boot in RAID mode. There is no option for "...sata raid controller" when i browse to the .inf files, only "...sata ahci controller".

I tried to slipstream these drivers into the windows server 2003 disc, and it seemed to go okay. I see iastor.sy_ file now in the i386 folder on the cd i created. I installed windows with this slipstreamed cd, and it doesn't seem to have made any differnce. The system crashed after setup copied files to the hard drive and rebooted. I had to retry in IDE mode (AHCI and RAID modes both failed). After finishing setup, there was no iastor.sys in c:\windows\system32\drivers\ (iastor.sys is the intel driver for this controller).

Any ideas on what I may have done wrong with the slipstream? I used nlite, and just selected the "include drivers" and "bootable cd" options. the only driver i used was the intel sata controller ones.

 

[KingGheedora]

bump

 

[vailr]

You can choose: AHCI or Raid, but not both at the same time.
So, you should decide on which, of the two bios settings you want.
Get the latest "Intel Matrix Storage Manager", v. 7.6.0.1011
http://www.station-drivers.com/page/intel%20raid.htm

 

[KingGheedora]

I am aware you cannot use both at the same time, the bios only lets you choose one setting at a time.

I want RAID. Windows 2003 will not boot in RAID mode. The driver for RAID and AHCI is the same. I have already installed version 7.6 of the Intel Matrix Storage Manager software, which includes the drivers for the controller.

 

[vailr]

Note: your topic header is "How do you enable AHCI in windows server...".
Now you say that you really want Raid, and NOT: AHCI.
Then: I'd suggest a fresh install on a pair of newly-formatted drives, using the floppy F6 driver install method.
For example: if you're trying to convert a single HD (with an already installed copy of Windows Server) to one half of a Raid 1 drive pair: I don't think that's very likely to succeed.

 

[KingGheedora]

I see what you mean. I initially thought that being able to boot into ahci mode meant I'd be able to boot into RAID mode. Once I was able to do AHCI in Vista, I could get RAID with a little tweaking. My mistake. But I never said I was trying to boot both modes at once.

In any case, I had to buy a floppy disk drive, create a driver disk for the SATA RAID drivers, and install 2k3. Did F6 and was able to load the SATA RAID drivers for the controller without any problems. I installed windows 2k3 over the previous install of 2k3. I wasn't trying to do anything exotic like converting a drive with data and OSses installed into a member of a raid array. I had four drives set asside for use with the onboard RAID controller, and simply wanted to be able to use them. Also I would have done the floppy F6 loading before, but I didn't have floppy drives or disks. This is my first computer in about 6 years to have a floppy drive.


I need to restore the vista boot menu now. That was my 4th OS re-install this week, and I'm not looking to do another one again until it's time to do 2k3 x64.


Thanks for the help to everyone who posted.