VROC driver update problem on Windows boot drive

[DrKarol]

Hello all,

I am having some minor issues with my VROC matrix RAID, and I was going to update the drivers to see if that helps.  I am running Windows 11 23H2, the current VROC and RSTe drivers are version 6.3.  The VROC drive is a Windows boot drive.  I downloaded the latest VROC 7.7 drivers but the SetupVROC.exe fails with 0x00000643 "Fatal error during installation".

I experimented with a fresh Windows installation on a separate drive, and the VROC 7.7 drivers installed and worked fine.

Is there anything special needed for the update of VROC drivers when running on a Windows boot drive?

Best regards,

Karol

[DhannielM_Intel]

Hello DrKarol,

Thank you for posting in the community, I would just like to ask some clarification about this driver installation you had. Please answer the following questions:

1. Can you tell me if you are using a desktop or a server?
2. Are you using a RAID configuration on your system? If yes, can you specify which RAID level you are using (e.g., RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, etc.)?
3. Have you verified if the VROC 7.7 driver version is compatible with your hardware configuration?
4. Have you attempted to install the driver in Safe Mode?
5. Is your BIOS currently updated to the latest version?

Also, to better understand your entire system information, please use the System Support Utility (SSU). This will generate a text file that compiles all your system information. You can follow this link for instructions and send the text file here: Help Guide for the Intel® System Support Utility

Best regards,

Dhanniel M.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[DrKarol]

Hello Dhanniel,

thank you for getting back.  Here are my answers:

1. I have a workstation based on the C422 chipset with a Xeon W-2155 processor.

2. The VROC system is configured as matrix RAID with one RAID0 volume as Windows boot drive and one RAID5 volume for data.

3. Reading the VROC 7.7 documentation suggest that it is compatible with workstations based on the C422 chipsets. When I installed fresh Windows with VROC 7.7 on a different drive, it was able to access my Matrix RAID correctly.

4. How can I install a driver in the Windows Safe Mode?  This does not look possible.

5. My BIOS was the latest at the time of my original post.  I can see that ASUS has released a new version since then, though it is still missing the accompanying ME firmware right now, so it is not yet usable.

Best regards,

Karol

[DhannielM_Intel]

Hello DrKarol,

It seems that your system is a server. To ensure you receive the most specialized assistance, we have a dedicated forum that addresses these specific concerns. Therefore, I will be moving this discussion to our Server Forum. This will allow our knowledgeable community and experts to provide you with timely and accurate solutions.

Best regards,

Dhanniel M.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[Ragulan_Intel]

Hello DrKarol,

Hope this message finds you well.

Thank you for reaching to Intel Community Forum!

As pertaining to you your query, please find our recommendation that might be useful for you to tackle your issue.

This limitation is in reference to platforms having a PCH that supports more than 6 SATA ports. The Intel C620 and C422 series chipset SATA controller supports 8 SATA ports. As referenced above, The Microsoft Windows Operating systems that contain the “inbox” drivers for the Intel® C620 and C422 series chipset Platform Controller

Hub (PCH) when configured for RAID mode, only support 6 ports. Drives on ports 7 and/or 8 are not enumerated.

For this reason, Intel recommends not using these 2 ports as part of the Windows OS boot installation (as a passthrough drive or as part of a RAID volume). However, if you do need to use these ports as part of your Windows boot volume, the steps below can be used as a workaround.

Note: you will need a USB drive with the Intel VROC IntelVROCCLI.exe utility.

1. After you have created the desired RAID volume that includes ports 7 and/or 8 (which you intend to use as

your Windows boot volume) in the PreOS environment, begin the Windows installation process. Make

note of the RAID volume name.

2. Navigate to the Windows disk selection window. At this point, select the Load Driver button and install the

Intel VROC F6 driver (included in this package).

3. Attempt to continue installing the Windows OS onto the RAID volume. If the installation process does not

continue, this error has been encountered.

4. Press f10 to invoke a CMD window.

5. If you have not already done so, please insert the USB drive into the system. Navigate to your USB drive

with the RstCLI.exe utility.

6. Run command: IntelVROCCLI.exe --manage --normal-volume <volumeName>

7. This will reset the volume to a normal state.

8. Close the CMD window.

9. In the Windows disk selection window, reload the Intel VROC f6 driver.

10. Once completed, Windows should allow installation on the RAID volume.

With that being said, The use of the included Intel VROC F6 drivers are required to install an OS onto an Intel VROC managed device(s). There is no Microsoft “inbox” driver that supports Intel VROC 7.7. The supported Microsoft Operating Systems for this product include inbox drivers that support the Intel® C620 and C422 series chipset Platform Controller Hub (PCH) when configured for RAID mode. It is strongly recommended that the Intel VROC (SATA RAID) F6 drivers included in this release be used instead of the available “inbox” driver. The provided “inbox” driver is intended only for those customers who may not have the Intel VROC (SATA RAID) F6 drivers readily available and ONLY for installing to a single drive (NOT to a RAID volume). Once the OS is installed, it is strongly recommended that the Intel VROC 7.7 installer package be installed immediately. At that point, it will be safe to migrate the SATA system disk into a RAID Volume (using the Intel VROC GUI). 

Please find the release notes and user guides in the links below that would provide more information in resolving your information.

https://downloadmirror.intel.com/713033/Windows_VROC_7.7_PV_ReleaseNotes.pdf

https://downloadmirror.intel.com/713033/Windows_VROC_7.7_User_Guide-338065-013US.pdf

Thank You & Best Regards,

Ragulan_Intel

[Ragulan_Intel]

Hello DrKarol,

Hope this message finds you well.

Thank you for reaching to Intel Community Forum!

This is a follow up on this thread, we would appreciate if you had the chance to review our POAs. If yes, we would appreciate if you can provide feedback on it.

Thank You & Best Regards,

Ragulan_Intel

[DrKarol]

Hello Ragulan_Intel,

I think there a little bit of misunderstading of my issue.  First of all, I do not have any SATA drives in my workstation.  I am only using NVMe SSDs connected directly to the CPU's PCIe lanes.  The Matrix RAID volumes, composed of four NVMe SSDs, have been created in the PreOS environment.  Second, making a fresh Windows installation with the VROC 7.7 drivers works fine, as I reported earlier.  But I would really like to avoid a completely new Windows installation.

Thus, the actual problem I have is updating my existing Windows installation already running VROC drivers 6.3 on the RAID0 volume.  The update using the Intel 7.7 provided SetupVROC.exe fails with 0x00000643 "Fatal error during installation".

Best regards,

Karol

[vish1]

Hello DrKarol,

Greetings!!

Updating VROC (Virtual RAID on CPU) drivers can sometimes be tricky, especially when dealing with RAID configurations. The error code 0x00000643 typically indicates a general installation failure, which can be caused by various factors. 

1) Before making any changes to your RAID configuration or drivers, ensure you have a complete backup of your important data.

2) Ensure your Windows installation is up to date. Sometimes, missing updates can cause driver installation issues.

3) Also we request you to share the error screenshots to assist you further.

Best Regards,

Vishal Shet P

Intel Customer Support Technician

intel.com/vroc

[Ragulan_Intel]

Hello DrKarol,

Hope this message finds you well.

Thank you for reaching to Intel Community Forum!

This is a follow up on this thread, we would appreciate if you can provide feedback on the extra details requested.

Thank You & Best Regards,

Ragulan_Intel

[DrKarol]

Hello Ragulan_Intel,

I am sorry for the delay in my reply.  I have performed Windows Update to ensure that I have all the latest updates, and then attempted to update the VROC drivers.  The result is again the same:

I am also attaching the log files that were linked in the above window.

Best regards,

Karol

[Azeem_Intel]

Hello DrKarol,

Greetings!!

Thank you for your response. We are currently reviewing your case and will update you as soon as possible.

Best Regards,

Azeem

Intel Customer Support Technician

[Ragulan_Intel]

Hello Dr. Karol,

I hope you’re doing well.

We would like to confirm if the BIOS, chipset drivers, and all other drivers are up to date. If they are not, please proceed to update them, particularly the BIOS and any other hardware firmware. Once you’ve completed the updates, kindly let us know the results.

Thank you!

Ragulan_Intel

[DrKarol]

Hello Ragulan_Intel,

a new BIOS and a new Intel ME driver and firmware were released in the meantime.  I have upgraded all those components, and then re-run the VROC 7.7 upgrade.  The result is the same failure.  I am attaching the new log files.

Best regards,

Karol

[vish1]

Hello Dr. Karol,

Greetings!!

Could you kindly allow us some time to review the matter further. We will get back soon with an update.

Best Regards,

Vishal Shet P

Intel Customer Support Technician

[Ragulan_Intel]

HI DrKarol,.

Greetings!

Can you please let us know what is the system that you are using (Model, Brand, Type)?

Secondly, are you using the installer package provided by your system manufacturer or are you trying to update the drivers using the installer package downloaded from Intel website?

Keep in mind that the Intel® VROC drivers available in the Intel Download Center are intended for Intel server systems only. If you are using a non-Intel server system, it is highly recommended that you contact your system manufacturer to get the respective Intel® VROC drivers.

It is important that you consult with the system manufacturer about the latest available Intel® VROC driver for Windows*, as they may have a customized version that has been tested and validated to work with a specific system model. The versions available in the Intel site are specific for different Intel systems, and they may not work with third-party systems.

Thank You & Best Regards,

Ragulan_Intel

[DrKarol]

Hello Ragulan_Intel,

first, the system is a boutique build workstation based around the WS ASUS C422 PRO/SE motherboard with Intel Xeon W-2155 CPU, ASUS Hyper M.2 x16 PCIe card populated with four Samsung 1TB SM961 SSDs, and an Intel VROC Premium key.

Second, ASUS currently does not provide any Windows 11 VROC drivers for this system.  The only available ASUS VROC driver is tagged for Windows 10 and it is a very old version 6.3.  This driver caused an accidental marking of one healthy SSD as faulty, and a following sudden crash of the system.

Finally, the VROC driver version 7.7 downloaded from Intel works correctly on this system when installed in a fresh Windows 11 installation.  The problem is only with an upgrade from version 6.3 to version 7.7 on an existing Windows 11 installation.

Best regards,

Karol

[Azeem_Intel]

Hello DrKarol,

Greetings!!

We have observed that upgrading the Intel VROC driver from version 6.3 to 7.7 using the SetupVROC.exe file fails with error code 0x00000643 ("Fatal error during installation"). However, the Intel VROC driver version 7.7 downloaded from Intel installs correctly on this system when using a fresh Windows 11 installation.

Since you are looking for an alternative method to upgrade the Intel VROC driver without reinstalling the operating system, could you please confirm the following:

• Is the currently running Intel VROC driver version 6.3 on the workstation intended for Windows 10?
• Is the Intel VROC driver version 7.7 intended for Windows 11?

Additionally, have you tried running Windows Recovery?

Best Regards,

Azeem

Intel Customer Support Technician

[Ragulan_Intel]

Hello DrKarol,

Greetings!!

As from your description we understand that upgrading the Intel VROC driver from version 6.3 to 7.7 using the SetupVROC.exe file fails with error code 0x00000643 ("Fatal error during installation") and that is for Windows 10.

However, the Intel VROC driver version 7.7 downloaded from Intel installs correctly on this system when you are deploying a fresh Windows 11.

So, to address your upgrade issue on the system which is running Windows 10, we would appreciate if you can update the latest .NET framework and try updating the VROC again. Let us know the outcome soonest.

If the system has internet access, a web installer can be used, which should go out and install the latest version. For example: (https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4054531/microsoft-net-framework-4-7-2-web-installer-for-windows). 

If the system is not connected to the Internet, then an offline version must be downloaded, moved to, and installed on the system. The following are some additional instructions to help in this process:

1. Download the latest version of .NET Framework from Microsoft

2. Compress the downloaded image (to avoid potential undesirable side effect as outlined in https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/framework/install/troubleshoot-blocked-installations-anduninstallations#compat)

3. Copy the compressed file to a USB drive

4. Copy the compressed file from the USB drive to the Download directory of the platform being configured

5. Uncompressed the file

6. Run the executable file as administrator

You may make use of the release notes and user guide in the links below:

Release note: https://downloadmirror.intel.com/713031/Windows_VROC_7.7_PV_ReleaseNotes.pdf

User Guide: https://downloadmirror.intel.com/713031/Windows_VROC_7.7_User_Guide-338065-013US.pdf

Thank You & Best Regards,

Ragulan_Intel

[DrKarol]

Hello Ragulan_Intel,

I think this latest reply is a bit of a misunderstanting.  The full history if the workstation is as follows: the system was originally delivered to us with Windows 10 and VROC driver 5.5.  Then over the span of several years, various automatic Windows 10 updates were installed and also the VROC driver was upgraded first to version 6.1 and later to version 6.3.  Finally, early 2024, the system was automatically upgraded to Windows 11 via Windows Update.

Now, we would like to upgrade the VROC drivers to version7.7.  So, the upgrade failure is on a system currently running Windows 11 and VROC driver 6.3.

Best regards,

Karol

[IntelSupport]

Hello DrKarol,

Thank you for your response.

We kindly request that you reach out to your OEM ASUS for further assistance with your query regarding the VROC drivers update. As all drivers and software utilities are provided exclusively by ASUS, they will be the best point of contact for this matter.

Regards,

Akshaya 

Intel Customer Support Technician

[Ragulan_Intel]

Hello DrKarol,

Hope this message finds you well.

We are notifying you that your request will be archived as there are no pending actions from Intel Customer Support.

In the coming days, you may be invited to participate in a survey. Your feedback is highly valued, and we are eager to hear about your experience with our support.

Thank You & Best Regards,

Ragulan_Intel