HighPoint RocketAIC 7505HW Series User manual

HighPoint NVMe Boot RAID Windows Installation Guide
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HighPoint NVMe Boot RAID Windows
Installation Guide
V1.08-June 27st 2023
Copyright 2023 HighPoint Technologies, Inc.
All rights reserved

HighPoint NVMe Boot RAID Windows Installation Guide
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Content
Prerequisites for a Bootable RAID Configuration .................................................................................... 3
UEFI BIOS Settings ..................................................................................................................................... 5
How to install Windows to the NVMe product.......................................................................................... 7
Method 1 UEFI Command Line (RAID Tool)....................................................................................... 7
Method 2 UEFI HII（UEFI Utility）....................................................................................................11
Disabling Hibernation.............................................................................................................................14
Trouble shooting..........................................................................................................................................15
No supporting host adapter is found......................................................................................................15
No supported controller detected...........................................................................................................15
Yellow warning before and after installation of the driver..................................................................16
Load driver error ....................................................................................................................................16
This PC Can’t run Windows11 ..............................................................................................................17
Appendix ......................................................................................................................................................18

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Prerequisites for a Bootable RAID Configuration
The NVMe products can support bootable RAID arrays. After configuring an array using the
UEFI RAID tool, you can install a Windows operating system to the NVMe SSD’s.
The following is a list of NVMe products that can support bootable RAID arrays.
Supported Controller
SSD7202
SSD7105
SSD7505
SSD7502
SSD7540
SSD780A
SSD7580B
SSD7749M
SSD7749E
RocketAIC 7505HW Series
RocketAIC 7540HW Series
RocketAIC 7749EW Series
Supported Enclosure
SSD6780A
In order to configure a bootable NVMe RAID array, you will need the following:
Note: Prior to system installation, please do not connect any NVMe to the motherboard M.2
SLOT to prevent any unexpected situation during the installation process.
1. An NVMe SSD must be installed. You must have at least one NVMe SSD installed into
the NVMe products .
Note: The RocketAIC 7505HW series, RocketAIC 7540HW series and RocketAIC
7749EW series NVMe drives already include pre-configured SSDs.
2. A PCIe 3.0/4.0/5.0 slot with x8 or x16 lanes. The NVMe products must be installed into
a PCIe 3.0/4.0/5.0 slot with x8 or x16 lanes.
3. Your motherboard must have a UEFI BIOS with option ROM settings for third party
devices (such as the NVMe products, optical drives and USB flash drives). If this is not c
onfigured correctly, the system will fail to load the NVMe products. Please check the co
mpatibility lists for recommended motherboards/platforms –these are available from the
Documentation sections of the product category webpages.
4. Secure Boot must be disabled. The UEFI capability of the NVMe product has not been
signed and certified. If Secure Boot is enabled, the motherboard will not recognize the
NVMe product, and you will be unable to proceed with installation.

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5. Prepare the Windows OS Installation media. You will need an official Windows
installation DVD or flash drive, or access to an official downloadable copy (which will
then have to be burned/transferred to a DVD or flash drive).
6. If you are installing the OS using a DVD/Blu-Ray disc, you will need to Install an
optical drive into the system (such as a DVD-ROM, DVD-RW or Blu-Ray drive).
7. You will need at least one USB flash drive –the UEFI package and driver should be
extracted to the root directory of this flash drive.
8. Remove all other drives during the OS installation process. Make sure only the
NVMe product, the USB flash drive, and the optical drive are installed into the system
during this procedure. This includes any other USB hard drives, USB flash drives,
memory sticks, or SAS/SATA drives. You can reattach these drives after the operating
system has been successfully installed.
9. Make sure any non-HighPoint drivers are uninstalled for any SSD’s hosted by the NVMe
product. 3rd party software and manufacturer provided drivers may prevent the NVMe
product from functioning properly.
10. For Windows 10/11 users, make sure to Disable Fast Boot.
11. The following are the basic requirements for installing Windows 11 on your
computer. If your device does not meet these requirements, you may not be able to
install Windows 11 on your device; If your device is already running Windows 10, you
can use the PC Health Check app to evaluate compatibility.
Please refer to the following link for detailed requirements：
Windows 11 Specs and System Requirements | Microsoft

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UEFI BIOS Settings
Different motherboards will provide different UEFI-related BIOS settings. Please consult your
motherboard’s user manual for more information. This section provides examples for two
different types of motherboard BIOS menus.
1. Example 1: Changing the UEFI setting (SuperMicro H12SSL-i motherboard).
a. Boot the system and access the motherboard BIOS menu.
b. Scroll to the Boot tab and set the "Boot Mode Select" to "UEFI";
c. Under "Advanced->PCIe/PCI/PnP Configuration->, change “CPU Slot x PCI-E
OPROM" to "EFI". “x” represents the PCIE slot assignment. For this example, the
SSD7505 is installed into “CPU Slot 3”.

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d. Disable "Secure Boot", and set "Attempt Secure Boot" to "Disabled".
2. Example 2: Changing the UEFI setting (ASUS PRIME X299 –DELUXE):
a. Boot the system and access the motherboard’s BIOS menu.
b. Set "Boot from Storage Devices" to "UEFI driver first";
c. Set "Boot Device Control" to "UEFI Only" or "UEFI and Legacy OPROM";
d. Set "OS Type" to "Other OS".

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How to install Windows to the NVMe product
Method 1 UEFI Command Line (RAID Tool)
Step 1 - Preparing the USB Flash Drive
When preparing the USB flash dive, make sure to format the USB partition as FAT32. If another
file system is used, the USB drive may not be properly recognized, and will not appear as an
option under the motherboard’s UEFI BIOS menus.
Step 2 - Preparing the UEFI Package
The package must be unzipped directly to the root of the bootable USB flash drive (do not extract
the contents to a new folder). All of the following items must be present in the root of the USB
flash drive.
Example screenshot
Note: the picture is only for reference, please make the object as the standard.
Note: If the above content is not present in the root directory, the UEFI boot device will
not be properly recognized, and or you will be unable to create an array for OS
installation.
Step 3 –Creating the RAID Array
Note: RocketAIC 7505HW series, RocketAIC 7540HW series and RocketAIC 7749EW series NVMe drives
are already pre- configured with RAID0. You can skip this step. If you want to use another type of RAID for
Boot-RAID, you can refer to the following steps.
a. This procedure assumes you have already installed NVMe SSD’s into the NVMe product.
(please see Step 1- Prerequisites).
b. Insert the bootable USB flash drive into the motherboard and boot the system.
c. Enter the motherboard’s BIOS settings, and select the UEFI: “flash drive” from the menu.
d. At the prompt, enter the following command to change the resolution:
mode 100 31

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e. Next, enter the following command to enter the RAID creation utility:
ArrayCreate.efi
f. Next, create the array using the following command:
create RAID0
This will create a RAID0 array using all of the SSD’s, and configured for maximum
capacity.
g. You can now exit the utility. Enter the following command: exit
Note: For more additional commands, please refer to Appendix of this user guide.

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Step 4 - Install Windows
a. Insert the Windows installation media (USB flash drive or DVD), then reboot the system.
b. Enter the Boot list, and select the appropriate boot path to the Windows installation media
(the example below shows how the system’s optical drive was selected for a Windows
installation USB):
c. After Windows setup begins, follow the on-screen prompts. When Windows asks “Where
do you want to install Windows?”, you should see several Legacy disks available (one for
each SSD you have installed into the NVMe product).
Note: The screenshot below shows 4 SSD’s that have been installed into a SSD7505
controller.
d. Click “Load driver”, in the pop-up window and click “Cancel”:

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e. Next, insert a USB flash drive that contains the NVMe product driver into the motherboard
USB slot and click “Browse”. Select the driver file as shown:
Note: The driver revision shown in the screenshots may not correspond with current
software releases. Please make sure to download the latest driver from the product’s
Software Updates page.
f. After loading the driver, return to the “Where do you want to install Windows?” interface.
The previous Legacy disks will now be recognized as a RAID array:
g. After partitioning, continue and complete the Windows installation procedure.

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Method 2 UEFI HII（UEFI Utility）
Note: The following installation process uses the SSD7505 and SuperMicro H12SSL-i
motherboard as an example.
Step 1 –Create RAID
Note: RocketAIC 7505HW series, RocketAIC 7540HW series and RocketAIC 7749EW series NVMe drives
are already pre- configured with RAID0. You can skip this step. If you want to use another type of RAID for
Boot-RAID, you can refer to the following steps.
a. Power on the motherboard→the motherboard BIOS→Advanced, "HighPoint RAID
Management Utility" should appear under Advanced options.
b. Enter "HighPoint RAID Management Utility", Select Create RAID…
c. In Create menu, a device list will appear, and display all available hard disk drives. Select
the RAID type from dropdown list. Use the up and down keys of the keyboard or the mouse
to select the RAID type and press the Enter key.
d. Insert the Windows install media in (such as a Bootable USB drives) and reboot the system.

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Step 2 - Install Windows
a. Enter the Boot list, and select start from UEFI BOOT:
b. After Windows setup begins, follow the on-screen prompts. When Windows asks “Where
do you want to install Windows?”, you should see several Legacy disks available (one for
each SSD you have installed into the NVMe product).
Note: The screenshot below shows 4 SSD’s that have been installed into a SSD7505
controller:
c. Install Windows, to “Where do you want to install Windows?”; Click “Load driver”，
in the pup-up window, click “Cancel”.

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d. Next, insert a USB flash drive that contains the NVMe product driver into the motherboard
USB slot and click “Browse”. Select the driver file as shown:
Note: The driver revision shown in the screenshots may not correspond with current
software releases. Please make sure to download the latest driver from the product’s
Software Updates page.
e. After loading the driver, return to the “Where do you want to install Windows?”
interface. The previous Legacy disks will now be recognized as a RAID array:
f. After partitioning, continue and complete the Windows installation procedure.

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Disabling Hibernation
a. After Windows is installed, boot into the operating system and disable Hibernation.
Hibernation fails when the system is installed on an NVMe RAID array; this bug will slow
down or prevent startup and disable sleep mode.
If you do not turn the hibernation functionality off, you may experience the following
problems：
a) Shutdown time is extended by an additional 3-5 minutes.
b) You cannot shut down properly; you need to manually press the power switch button
of the motherboard to power off the system.
Please use administrator privileges to turn off hibernation using the following command
(Command Prompt utility):
#powercfg /h off
Enter the command to check that the quick shutdown is turned off;
powercfg / a

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Trouble shooting
No supporting host adapter is found
In the UEFI environment, run the command, " go.nsh (Please see UEFI Read me for specific
input content.)".
Solutions: If you get the message, "No supporting host adapter is found. "Try the following,
a. The error message is to remind the user that when the card cannot be found in UEFI. Make
sure the NVMe product is installed into a PCIe slot with x8 or x16 lane.
b. In order to avoid this slot is broken, so replace the slot and test again.
No supported controller detected
In the UEFI environment, run the command, "ArrayCreate.efi".
Solutions: If you get the message, "No supported controller detected." Try the following,
a. Check whether the Storage option ROM is Enabled in the motherboard BIOS.
b. Check whether NVMe is connected to the controller.
c. Replace the motherboard slot, enter the UEFI environment and re-enter the command.
If none of the above methods work, please provide UEFI log. You can submit a support ticket
using our Online Support Portal, include a description of the problem in as much detail as
possible.

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Yellow warning before and after installation of the driver.
Before and after installing the driver, a yellow exclamation point warning appears in the lower
left corner of the installation interface.
Solution:
a. Please confirm "Boot from Storage Devices" is set to "UEFI driver first";
b. Confirm whether UEFI DVD is selected to enter the system installation interface.
Load driver error
When installing the driver, it prompts that the driver needs to be updated.
Solution: The appearance of the error message indicates that other NVMe Drives are
connected to your applicable motherboard. Try the following:
a. Remove all NVMe Drive installed on the motherboard and reinstall OS.
If none of the above methods work, please provide pci&driver information. You can submit a
support ticket using our Online Support Portal ,include a description of the problem in as much
detail as possible.

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This PC Can’t run Windows11
If it prompts ‘This PC Can’t run Windows11’ during the installation process, please check
whether the computing platform you are using complies with " Minimum system requirements for
windows11"

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Appendix
Support command: help/info/quit/exit/create/delete.
Create Command
Syntax
Create Array Type (RAID0/RAID1) Member Disk list (1/1, 1/2|*) Capacity
(100|*)
Examples
<<< create RAID0
<<< create RAID0 *
<<< create RAID0 * *
Create RAID0 array with all disks and with maximum capacity.
<<< create RAID1 1/1, 1/3 10
Create RAID1 array with disk 1/1 and 1/3 and with 10GB capacity.
<<< create RAID10 * 10
Create RAID1 array with all disks and with 10GB capacity.
Delete Command
Syntax
delete {array ID}
Examples
<<< delete 1
Delete the first array from Logical device list.
<<< delete 2
Delete the second array from Logical device list.
Info Command
Syntax

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info
Display physical device list and logical list
Exit Command
Syntax
Q/q/quit/exit
Quit the application
Help Command
Syntax
H/h/help
This is help message