How to enable AHCI mode in Windows 10

Advanced Host Controller Interface (AHCI) is an Intel technical standard that specifies the operation of Serial ATA (SATA) host bus adapters. AHCI enables features such as Native Command Queuing and Hot Swapping. The main benefit of using AHCI is that hard drives using AHCI mode can run at higher speeds than hard drives using Integrated Drive Electronics (IDE) mode.

The only problem with using AHCI mode is that it cannot be changed after installing Windows, so you need to set AHCI mode in BIOS before installing Windows. Luckily, there is a fix for this, so without wasting any time, let's learn how to enable AHCI mode in Windows 10 with the help of the guide below!

Note : Make sure to create a restore point in case something goes wrong.

Method 1: Enable AHCI mode via Registry

1. Press Windows + R , then type regedit and press Enter to open Registry Editor.

2. Navigate to the following registry:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesiaStorV

3. Select iaStorV , then from the right panel, double-click Start.

4. Change its value to 0 and then click OK.

5. Next, expand iaStorV and select StartOverride.

6. Again from the right window, double-click 0 .

7. Change its value to 0 and click OK.

8. Now navigate to the following registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesstorahci

9. Select storahci then in the right window, double click Start.

10. Change its value to 0 and click OK.

11. Expand storahci then select StartOverride and double click 0 .

12. Change its value to 0 and then click OK.

13. Boot the PC into Safe Mode, then boot not into Windows but into BIOS and enable AHCI mode.

Note : Locate the memory configuration then change the setting that says 'Configure SATA as' and select ACHI mode.

14. Save changes then exit BIOS setup and start your PC normally.

15. Windows will automatically install the AHCI driver then reboot again to save the changes.

Method 2: Enable AHCI mode via CMD

1. Press Windows key + X then select Command Prompt (Admin) .

2. Enter the following command in cmd and press Enter :

bcdedit /set {current} safeboot minimal

3. Boot the PC into BIOS and then enable AHCI mode.

4. Save changes then exit BIOS setup and boot PC into Safe Mode.

5. In Safe Mode , open Command Prompt, then enter the following command and press Enter :

bcdedit /deletevalue {current} safeboot

6. Restart your PC normally and Windows will automatically install the AHCI driver.

Method 3: Enable AHCI mode by removing StartOverride

1. Press Windows key + R , then type regedit and press Enter.

2. Navigate to the following registry:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesstorahci

3. Expand storahci then right-click StartOverride and select Delete.

4. Open Notepad, then copy and paste the following text:

reg delete 'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesstorahci' /v StartOverride /f

5. Save the file as AHCI.bat (the .bat extension is important) and from Save as type , select 'All Files' .

6. Now, right click on AHCI.bat and select Run as Administrator .

7. Restart your PC, enter BIOS and enable AHCI mode.

Lesley Montoya

Update 17 October 2023