Windows 11 Legacy BIOS & UEFI Boot from NVMe with Clover USB Pen

[sambul65]

BOOTING WINDOWS 11 FROM NVME DRIVE WITH CLOVER ON A LEGACY PC

 

Legacy desktop PCs without NVMe ports can run faster if IDE or SATA OS drive replaced with NVMe SSD attached to a legacy Motherboard (Mobo) PCIe port using PCIe-to-NVMe adapter card. Cheap 256GB NVMe allows to run modern Windows with apps, and repurpose the old SATA drive for data storage. The adapter card choice depends on a) available PCIe slot types in your PC with enough clearance to adjacent components, b) your Mobo support for PCIe slot splitting to mount several independent NVMe drives on one card, or c) need to run fast NVMe RAID from a PCIe adapter with integrated RAID chip and speed limited only by your Mobo PCIe bus and slot specs, and d) faster drive read & write speeds running from adapter with an active cooler. 😉While latest NVMe drives wouldn't run at full speed on old PCs, they still allow to boot and run OS much faster than SATA, if boot sequence is optimized. Order NVMe Heatsink to avoid the drive speed drop at overheating. If your Mobo has no spare PCIe slots, consider running OS from a well cooled external USB3.0+ NVMe enclosure.

 

I recently attached a fast NVMe drive to my 15yo PC Mobo Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3P aiming to faster run Windows 11, but my Mobo BIOS couldn't recognize the drive at boot. Older Windows PCs used BIOS firmware to identify PC hardware and load OS from an MBR partitioned drive limited to 2TB and 4 primary partitions, later replaced on newer PCs with UEFI firmware and default GPT EFI partitioned drives running Windows 7 to 11. This Overview suggests a choice of tools to boot Windows from an NVMe drive on older PCs with unmodified BIOS or UEFI firmware (switched to CSM-Legacy BIOS Mode) using a USB pendrive with Clover - the best suited bootloader for the task. While trying the tools, you'll discover a working step-by-step method for your PC, as universal approach now doesn't exist. This Guide may also be suited for Hackintosh boot from NVMe drive on older PC - feedback welcome. Clover devs always attempted to support auto NVMe discovery and OS boot from it on a legacy PC, but success greatly depends on the Mobo model.

 

One can freshly install Windows from a bootable USB pendrive or clone an existing running Windows install from an MBR partitioned internal SATA or IDE drive onto NVMe with free disk backup tools like MultiDrive, Macrium Reflect, DiskDirector and other. Tick "Boot from USB" option if present when cloning to an NVMe in USB Enclosure. Then reboot from Windows to WinRE or run MBR2GPT tool from Windows Command Prompt to convert the NVMe drive from MBR into GPT formatted with installed Windows preserved and EFI System partition added before trying to boot the OS from it with Clover. I couldn't find any Clover release fit to identify and boot Windows from an MBR partitioned NVMe drive hooked to a PCIe slot on a legacy PC, despite Clover boots MBR based Windows installs from SATA drives, probably due to direct support by the Mobo chipset.

 

If your PC has only one internal HDD, switch to Boot from USB in PC BIOS and start an unpacked Clover ISO from an MBR bootable USB pendrive prepared with specialized BDU tool, or boot a chosen Clover ISO copied to a pendrive prepared with Rufus , Ventoy or similar "boot from USB" tool. Alternatively, follow another local Guide to install and launch Clover from a 2nd bootable internal SATA HDD recognized by your Mobo or use it for dual boot. Once Clover loads from your bootable drive by BIOS or UEFI firmware in Legacy mode, it creates virtual UEFI environment allowing to boot OS installs from various GPT EFI or MBR partitioned media types. While these are typical ways to use Clover, they may not work on your PC without some tinkering as Clover versions functionality was changing over time.

 

I tested each public Clover release from a BDU formatted 500MB USB pendrive and found only few older versions that can map and boot Windows from GPT EFI partitioned NVMe drive on my PC Mobo despite broadly past popular. Configure and use older BDU for earlier Clover versions. Yet even those r4439 and r5070 ISOs could only boot to Clover GUI (rename boot7 to boot and copy NVMe driver from .../Off to /BIOS and /EFI pen folders, if chosen Clover ISO is unpacked to pen). They didn't show Windows EFI Boot option in Clover Menu. Running below script from Clover Menu - Shell allowed to manually reconnect disk drivers with drives found at boot and start Windows from the NVMe. Adding same code to startup.nsh script to automate the process didn't work, and neither to Clover's config.plist in Boot-Arguments section, which now can't recognize below commands:

load FS0:\EFI\CLOVER\drivers\UEFI\NvmExpressDxe.efi  (optional command, also check your NVMe driver name)
reconnect -r
map -r
FS0:\EFI\BOOT\bootx64.efi   (alternatively:  FS0:\EFI\microsoft\Boot\bootmgfw.efi)

If latest Clover release can't start, recognize NVMe drive or boot OS from it on your PC, test and find an older or newer Clover version fit to start OS from your hardware in auto or manual mode using BDU prepared USB pen. If you found a working release, but couldn't auto boot Windows from NVMe with it from the pen prepared by BDU, Rufus or Ventoy tools or a secondary local SATA drive if present, try Easy2Boot USB pen tool that worked for me. Its a unique tool due to its developer's integration of supplied 3rd party apps, with a bit more complex setup for novices.

 

I stably auto start Windows 11 from the NVMe drive on my PC with a tested Clover release booted from a prepared by Easy2Boot pendrive (E2B). Some tricks followed, as E2B install tool formats the pen with 2 partitions, and copies unpacked Clover r4458 with chosen by the E2B developer older Clover files into \EFI\Clover folder on its 2nd volume, yet it still couldn't find my NVMe drive at boot. However, upon the pen boot to Grub4DOS Menu, a user can launch another tested working Clover release (in my case r4439 or r5070) from ISO prior copied into a chosen \_ISO\ subfolder like Mainmenu or Auto on the pen's 1st volume by following E2B Guides. At Clover launch, E2B mixes up Clover files from the ISO and pen defaults. This combo does the trick for me: it shows up Windows EFI Boot option for my NVMe drive in loaded Clover Menu with several choices to boot Windows from it and other OS from the drives found!

 

If the E2B pen allows to stably auto start Windows from your PC's NVMe, configure silent OS launch. Choose autostart Clover ISO option in the pen's Menu, and configure \_ISO\MyE2B.cfg to hide E2B messages at Clover launch. Then setup Windows autostart from NVMe by Clover without showing GUI Menu by editing \EFI\Clover\config.plist (set boot timeout=0 and Windows start with default bootloader EFI\microsoft\Boot\bootmgfw.efi ). It's faster than Clover's bootx64.efi and allows the OS upon launch to be put into and later wakeup from sleep or hibernation without special user config by own OS and Clover means. Wow... 😇 I run updated Windows 11 64-bit release 23H2 from the NVMe, since Windows blocks newer releases on old PCs due to lack of security, virtualization and other modern Mobo features. Configure Windows to switch offline and hide in Explorer your Clover USB pen at each boot with USBDLM tool.

 

Clover r5165 and newer releases also contain NVMe driver in boot6 and boot7 files. That may flatten the learning curve required to boot OS from NVMe drive on a legacy PC. 😂 It may not work though for some older Mobos, thus requiring to follow trial-and-error tweaks in this Guide. We're still waiting for a Clover release with full support for Windows boot from GPT EFI NVMe drives installed in any old Mobo, and also from MBR partitioned NVMe drives.

 

 

Edited February 5 by sambul65

[sambul65]

BOOTING WINDOWS 11 FROM NVME DRIVE WITH CLOVER ON A LEGACY PC (Continued)

GENERAL STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE (read details and follow links in the above post)

 

1. Check available PCIe slots in your PC Motherboard, their max speed specifications and clearance to adjacent parts. Order the NVMe drive of required capacity and speed, also PCIe-to-NVME Adapter Card matching your PCIe slot, and NVMe Heatsink. Upon delivery mount the hardware into your PC.

 

2. Configure your unmodified Mobo BIOS or UEFI Firmware (switch to CSM Legacy Mode) to allow boot from USB HDD (including flash drive) and set it as first drive to boot from.

 

3. Install latest Windows release that can run on your PC, or clone your existing Windows installation onto the NVMe drive. If you expect to run Windows from external USB NVMe enclosure, configure your OS cloning app to prepare the NVMe for USB boot. Once finished, convert the NVMe with Windows installed from BIOS to GPT EFI partitioned drive.

 

4. Download from Clover depositories, unpack to your 500MB+ USB pendrive with proper version of the configured BDU tool, and test-boot various Clover releases starting from latest to find the one that can boot on your PC to Clover GUI, and then automatically or manually from Clover Shell can recognize your NVMe drive and boot Windows from it.

 

5. If chosen Clover release can only recognize your NVMe with manual commands input, try Easy2Boot tool instead of BDU to prepare the USB pendrive, and copy that Clover ISO to it to test auto NVMe recognition.

 

6. Once your debugged setup allows to stably boot Windows from NVMe, configure silent OS boot using chosen USB tool and Clover version configuration files.

 

Enjoy your OS running faster and smoother from NVMe. 😀

 

Edited January 11 by sambul65

[Max.1974]

@Sambul65 

Thank you for the post. I would like to understand this better, but I’m not sure how to explain it. Somehow, when I need to install Windows on my Lenovo T14, since it is impossible to add entries via the shell, I am able to copy and remove the entire Microsoft folder and put the same Clover EFI folder on a USB stick, and then Clover boots from the USB — but it does not boot from the NVMe with Windows. By removing it from the NVMe and leaving the NVMe as the main boot device, or vice versa, I can choose the Windows entry without getting a blue screen. I would like a solution that could write Clover into the BIOS, but either we put Clover on a USB stick or we have no way out — the Windows Boot Manager always starts first.

In other words, when Clover and Windows are on the same EFI partition (since I only have one NVMe in my laptop), only Windows boots. But if I leave Clover only on a USB stick and boot Clover from the USB, Windows boots from the NVMe without breaking the boot. I just don’t understand why this happens. Would there be another way for this to work without overwriting the Windows BCD? 

I don’t even use Windows, but I always need it to update the BIOS, firmware, and so on.  

Edited January 11 by Max.1974

[LockDown]

Use bootice in windows. Add Clover undet UEFI option

[sambul65]

ADDING CLOVER BOOT MANAGER IN EFI MODE TO A MULTIBOOT NVMe

 

On 1/11/2026 at 12:10 AM, Max.1974 said:

Since it is impossible to add entries via the shell, I am able to copy and remove the entire Microsoft folder and put the same Clover EFI folder on a USB stick, and then Clover boots from the USB — but it does not boot from the NVMe with Windows.

It appears, you have an older BIOS/UEFI based laptop with Windows and Hakintosh installed on the same NVMe, and want to use Clover as primary bootloader. Alternatively to Bootice, try using newer EasyUEFI (community ed. 😉) or your Mobo EFI Shell to add Clover in EFI mode:

Method 1: Using EasyUEFI (Windows)

Allows to manage the EFI partition without permission issues.

1. Download latest Clover and EasyUEFI, and run the later.

2. Explore the EFI System Partition (ESP) using EasyUEFI built-in ESP Explorer.

3. Upload the EFI folder from the extracted Clover package to the ESP root to ensure path: \EFI\CLOVER\CLOVERX64.efi.

4. Create a new boot entry in EasyUEFI:

      a) Select the type as "Linux or other OS", "Clover" as description and path: \EFI\CLOVER\CLOVERX64.efi

      b) Set boot priority. In the EasyUEFI main menu, move the new "Clover" entry to the top.

5. Restart the system booting into Clover menu. 

 

Method 2: Manual Installation via UEFI Shell

If your PC Mobo's BIOS allows launching an EFI shell, add Clover boot entry manually. 

1. Mount the EFI partition and copy the EFI/CLOVER folder onto it (as described in Method 1 by using diskpart and Task Manager's "Run new task" browse function in Windows, or mount command in Linux/macOS).

2. Start UEFI Shell from your PC BIOS/UEFI settings upon reboot:

     a) Run map command to find the filesystem (e.g., FS0, FS1) that contains your Clover EFI folder.

     b) Add Clover with bcfg command as the first boot entry:

map FS*
bcfg boot add 0 FS0:\EFI\CLOVER\CLOVERX64.efi "Clover EFI Bootloader"

3. Reboot the system

 

After Clover install, you might need to enter your Mobo's BIOS/UEFI settings to verify "Clover" is the primary boot device, disable Secure Boot, or disable CSM/Legacy OPROM for proper UEFI functionality. 

 

Edited January 15 by sambul65

[Max.1974]

 @LockDown and @sambul65  Hello my friends, thank you. My BIOS was recently updated — at the end of 2025 a new version was released. Lenovo blocks the register via Shell, and I will test the method you mentioned, but since I use Windows very little, I found a very good “formula”: I use my ACASIS Thunderbolt 4 NVMe enclosure, and because I have one Thunderbolt output and another USB-C, I can run Windows with no errors and no loss of speed, so I no longer need dual-boot.

It was the best solution, considering how much work that is. Thanks!! Cheers!!  

Edited January 12 by Max.1974

[sambul65]

On 1/12/2026 at 12:07 PM, Max.1974 said:

I can run Windows with no errors and no loss of speed, so I no longer need dual-boot. It was the best solution, considering how much work that is.

 

This approach is viable, but requires more hardware like an external NVMe enclosure and extra drive, plus Windows cloning, so I'm not sure it results in little effort or cost. More likely, its fan that drives you to play with new devices. 😀

 

Edited January 15 by sambul65

[Max.1974]

2 hours ago, sambul65 said:

 

This approach is viable, but requires more hardware like an external NVMe enclosure and extra drive, plus Windows cloning, so I'm not sure it results in little effort or cost. More likely, its fan that drives you to play with new devices. 😀

 

🤩👏🏻

The idea here is to play around with the tools. I believe a bootx64 stronger than the Windows one would solve it. Let’s keep playing the game — thanks, my friend.