Disable RST for Linux Mint without deleting Windows?

[CentreMetre]

I'm looking to use Mint for the year of Linux (TM) and wanted to try it out on my PC so I got PCIe to M.2 adapter and planned to install it on there. But when i tried it said about disabling Intel RST (Rapid Store Technology) so I looked around and apparently can make the current windows installation unusable.

 

My current storage setup is:

1 128GB M.2 on the motherboard.

1 SATA 1TB HDD

1 SATA 500GB HDD

2 External USB SSDs (1TB and 5TB) 

1 M.2 via PCIe riser and PCIe to M.2 adapter

 

My windows/C drive is on the 128GB M.2. Could I just remove physical drive, disable RST, and then reconnect everything and have it be fine and still able to use windows?

I also have some partitions on some of my other drives, and I've read that can affect RST or vice versa. 

 

For now I need to have my windows installation.

Is there a way to disable RST and still be able to use my windows?

Or even have to turn it on and off in the bios if I swap between Windows and Mint.

I haven't tried anything yet out of fear of wiping my windows installation. I will back anything up before i try anything.

 

I didn't have to do this when installing Nobara (based on Fedora) either, I'm guessing since its not ubuntu based. 

I also don't have raid setup (manually), but RST is on my system. I know since I've seen it on the bottom right of my windows task bar and in task manager. I mention since I've read that RST and RAID are somehow related.

 

Thanks.

[SpookyCitrus]

Depending on the computer most of the time RST is setup within Windows, usually with the Intel Optane application or the RST application. Typically you can just open the application and disable RST/Optane and it will disable it without affecting Windows.

[igormp]

You either can try to install whatever linux you want with the system in RST. If the installer manages to recognize the drive, then you shouldn't have any issues and won't need to change anything in your windows install.

 

However, if it doesn't then you'll need to disable RST. There are ways to convert your windows install from RST to a regular AHCI one:

https://help.ubuntu.com/rst/

https://superuser.com/questions/1529049/how-to-change-safely-storage-controller-mode-from-rst-to-ahci-in-windows-10/1662997#1662997

 

Then you'll be able to disable RST in your bios and proceed to install your linux distro.

27 minutes ago, CentreMetre said:

I also don't have raid setup (manually), but RST is on my system. I know since I've seen it on the bottom right of my windows task bar and in task manager. I mention since I've read that RST and RAID are somehow related.

RST is kind of a RAID implementation from Intel.

[CentreMetre]

On 2/28/2024 at 6:47 PM, SpookyCitrus said:

Depending on the computer most of the time RST is setup within Windows, usually with the Intel Optane application or the RST application. Typically you can just open the application and disable RST/Optane and it will disable it without affecting Windows.

Sorry for late reply.

 

Shouldve mentioned this. This is a prebuilt PC and i didnt put any of the stock stuff in nor enable RST manually so im not too sure how that works.

Theres an application called Intel Rapid Storage Technology when i searched for intel in windows 10 and when i click on the Intel Optane Memory tab it says thats disabled and i have no clue what else i can click i dont see any button for disabling it on any of the tabs or other buttons.

When i go to install mint it come up with a thing saying i need to disable RST and gives me a link to an ubuntu help page and i can only restart from there.

 

On 2/28/2024 at 6:55 PM, igormp said:

You either can try to install whatever linux you want with the system in RST. If the installer manages to recognize the drive, then you shouldn't have any issues and won't need to change anything in your windows install.

 

However, if it doesn't then you'll need to disable RST. There are ways to convert your windows install from RST to a regular AHCI one:

https://help.ubuntu.com/rst/

https://superuser.com/questions/1529049/how-to-change-safely-storage-controller-mode-from-rst-to-ahci-in-windows-10/1662997#1662997

 

Then you'll be able to disable RST in your bios and proceed to install your linux distro.

RST is kind of a RAID implementation from Intel.

Thanks for the link. Didnt read far enough ahead to see the tutorial on ubuntu site. Ill back my data up and try that. If you happen to know Should i just drag and drop copy all my c drive to another drive or convert it to some sort of ISO/bootable disc file incase it or i somehow mess up and make my windows unbootable?

 

Thanks

[SpookyCitrus]

29 minutes ago, CentreMetre said:

Sorry for late reply.

 

Shouldve mentioned this. This is a prebuilt PC and i didnt put any of the stock stuff in nor enable RST manually so im not too sure how that works.

Theres an application called Intel Rapid Storage Technology when i searched for intel in windows 10 and when i click on the Intel Optane Memory tab it says thats disabled and i have no clue what else i can click i dont see any button for disabling it on any of the tabs or other buttons.

When i go to install mint it come up with a thing saying i need to disable RST and gives me a link to an ubuntu help page and i can only restart from there.

 

Thanks for the link. Didnt read far enough ahead to see the tutorial on ubuntu site. Ill back my data up and try that. If you happen to know Should i just drag and drop copy all my c drive to another drive or convert it to some sort of ISO/bootable disc file incase it or i somehow mess up and make my windows unbootable?

 

Thanks

Simply copying and pasting your C drive is not a backup. If you want a complete backup of the full system OS and everything use Macrium Reflect or the Windows 7 Backup settings(in windows settings) to create a System Image backup. If you just need files you can simply do a file history backup. 

 

As for the RST thing, it might just mean that the system is in Raid mode in bios and not in AHCI. You can try switching it from Raid in bios to AHCI and see if that fixes it. Just an FYI Windows may not boot anymore in AHCI mode, if it doesn't just switch it back to Raid. You'll then need to convert it out of raid. Which is a little tough to explain.

[CentreMetre]

1 hour ago, SpookyCitrus said:

Simply copying and pasting your C drive is not a backup. If you want a complete backup of the full system OS and everything use Macrium Reflect or the Windows 7 Backup settings(in windows settings) to create a System Image backup. If you just need files you can simply do a file history backup. 

 

Yea i just meant incase it goes tits up so at least i can get the data that is on my C drive that i may need and/or create a system image from that copy paste.

 

1 hour ago, SpookyCitrus said:

As for the RST thing, it might just mean that the system is in Raid mode in bios and not in AHCI. You can try switching it from Raid in bios to AHCI and see if that fixes it. Just an FYI Windows may not boot anymore in AHCI mode, if it doesn't just switch it back to Raid. You'll then need to convert it out of raid. Which is a little tough to explain.

From how you worded it i assume that i switch from the current mode to AHCI and switch back will windows work as if nothing changed? Is there a possibility that it will completely make my windows unusable no matter if i swap back?

Will it possibly affect other drives aswell since ive read about sata being affected or something, maybe it was if windows was on a sata drive?

 

Edit: Checked Bios and i couldnt find any option to turn of RST or switch to AHCI. The only thing i could see was to view information:

Edited February 29 by CentreMetre
Looked at Bios, no settings

[SpookyCitrus]

11 minutes ago, CentreMetre said:

Yea i just meant incase it goes tits up so at least i can get the data that is on my C drive that i may need and/or create a system image from that copy paste.

 

From how you worded it i assume that i switch from the current mode to AHCI and switch back will windows work as if nothing changed? Is there a possibility that it will completely make my windows unusable no matter if i swap back?

Will it possibly affect other drives aswell since ive read about sata being affected or something, maybe it was if windows was on a sata drive?

 

Edit: Checked Bios and i couldnt find any option to turn of RST or switch to AHCI. The only thing i could see was to view information:

 

Oof, you have the HP bios that is incapable of manually switching from Raid to AHCI. If you were able to switch it wouldn't mess with Windows in a permanent way, I've always been able to just switch it back to raid and have it boot normally again. It says it's not setup in raid, honestly I'd just remove any optane or rst related program from Windows and see if that works, the Linux installer could just be detecting the program not knowing it's not enabled. Since it says RST and Optane are disabled it shouldn't cause an issue just uninstalling those programs.

 

As for the C: drive stuff again, copy and pasting the C: drive DOES NOT make an image backup. If you copy the folders off of your C: drive onto another it will not be bootable. You can of course pull the files and documents off, but it does not copy over the necessary junk for the OS to be bootable, you would need to do an actual image backup through a program that does it in order for the image to be recoverable and bootable.

[CentreMetre]

15 minutes ago, SpookyCitrus said:

Oof, you have the HP bios that is incapable of manually switching from Raid to AHCI. If you were able to switch it wouldn't mess with Windows in a permanent way, I've always been able to just switch it back to raid and have it boot normally again. It says it's not setup in raid, honestly I'd just remove any optane or rst related program from Windows and see if that works, the Linux installer could just be detecting the program not knowing it's not enabled. Since it says RST and Optane are disabled it shouldn't cause an issue just uninstalling those programs.

But i think RST is enabled?

Optane isnt

(are they rst and optane the same?)

ill try uninstalling this but im not too sure that mint would detect that it exists since it would have to look in my windows drive and if it went through bios bios wouldnt care if it was on my windows drive anyway?

Heres what the RST app looks like if it helps at all.

with some other background processes

Even tho its on my pc and open in the background would it be safe to just uninstall like you mentioned doing?

17 minutes ago, SpookyCitrus said:

As for the C: drive stuff again, copy and pasting the C: drive DOES NOT make an image backup. If you copy the folders off of your C: drive onto another it will not be bootable. You can of course pull the files and documents off, but it does not copy over the necessary junk for the OS to be bootable, you would need to do an actual image backup through a program that does it in order for the image to be recoverable and bootable.

Ah didnt know about some files not being copied to make it bootable, hence i wouldn't be able to make a bootable drive from the copy paste, thanks for that heads up.

[igormp]

56 minutes ago, CentreMetre said:

Edit: Checked Bios and i couldnt find any option to turn of RST or switch to AHCI. The only thing i could see was to view information:

 

Seems like you can press ctrl+s in there and something should happen, try it out.

 

40 minutes ago, SpookyCitrus said:

It says it's not setup in raid, honestly I'd just remove any optane or rst related program from Windows and see if that works, the Linux installer could just be detecting the program not knowing it's not enabled. Since it says RST and Optane are disabled it shouldn't cause an issue just uninstalling those programs.

Even though it says it's not setup in raid, I believe that doesn't imply that RST is off, just that there's no proper RAID config setup with different disks.

Also, the mint installer doesn't look at anything inside of windows other than the bootloader partition for the dual boot stuff, the actual windows partition is left untouched, so there's no way for it to check that.

 

What's likely happening is that the controller is set as RST, and thus the regular nvme/ahci drivers won't work.

[CentreMetre]

9 hours ago, igormp said:

Seems like you can press ctrl+s in there and something should happen, try it out.

Do you mean ctrl+s on that screen i was on in Bios? I cant see that option, though i can see "-/+ change options". Ill give both a try either way.

 

Update: it didnt do anything

Edited March 1 by CentreMetre

[CentreMetre]

9 hours ago, igormp said:

What's likely happening is that the controller is set as RST, and thus the regular nvme/ahci drivers won't work.

Does this mean my M.2 NVMe drive wont work anyway and i may need a new motherboard to be able to disable RST/switch to AHCI? The one i have now is a just a proprietary Acer one in an Acer prebuilt

[igormp]

5 hours ago, CentreMetre said:

Do you mean ctrl+s on that screen i was on in Bios? I cant see that option, though i can see "-/+ change options". Ill give both a try either way.

 

Update: it didnt do anything

Yeah, just opening it and pressing ctrl+s, I found this on a quick look and seems to be the case for certain acer laptops.

 

If it didn't work for you, then ouch.

5 hours ago, CentreMetre said:

Does this mean my M.2 NVMe drive wont work anyway and i may need a new motherboard to be able to disable RST/switch to AHCI? The one i have now is a just a proprietary Acer one in an Acer prebuilt

pretty much, unless you find a way to "unlock" your bios.

[CentreMetre]

13 minutes ago, igormp said:

Yeah, just opening it and pressing ctrl+s, I found this on a quick look and seems to be the case for certain acer laptops.

 

If it didn't work for you, then ouch.

pretty much, unless you find a way to "unlock" your bios.

Shit. Well i guess at least i have more of a reason to do a full* upgrade.

 

*full as in change the mother board and maybe the case.

 

I regret buying a prebuilt a little more every time i want to do something with it.

 

Thanks for your help with this

[CentreMetre]

@igormp

Would you happen to know if my windows SSD would work on a new motherboard with/without RST? Or could i just turn it on with that option ahve it work, and turn it off when i want to use Mint?

[igormp]

22 minutes ago, CentreMetre said:

@igormp

Would you happen to know if my windows SSD would work on a new motherboard with/without RST? Or could i just turn it on with that option ahve it work, and turn it off when i want to use Mint?

I don't think you'd be able to dual boot on the same disk this way.

 

Anyhow, you can "convert" your windows install to a regular AHCI one, you can see it in the links I posted before.

Also, your new motherboard has to support RST for you to do the switch on/switch off thing.

[CentreMetre]

1 minute ago, igormp said:

I don't think you'd be able to dual boot on the same disk this way.

I plan to have 2 different M.2 drives for windows and mint. If thats what you meant.

 

1 minute ago, igormp said:

Anyhow, you can "convert" your windows install to a regular AHCI one, you can see it in the links I posted before.

Also, your new motherboard has to support RST for you to do the switch on/switch off thing.

Ah that makes sense, didn't think about that, ill make sure to get one that supports that if i plan on using windows on the new motherboard/PC before i fully switch to mint. Though i do have a spare GPU and might get a new CPU and case aswell as new motherboard so maybe i can just keep this as a separate machine in the end.

Thanks.

[igormp]

1 hour ago, CentreMetre said:

I plan to have 2 different M.2 drives for windows and mint. If thats what you meant.

 

Ah, ok, good.

1 hour ago, CentreMetre said:

Ah that makes sense, didn't think about that, ill make sure to get one that supports that if i plan on using windows on the new motherboard/PC before i fully switch to mint. Though i do have a spare GPU and might get a new CPU and case aswell as new motherboard so maybe i can just keep this as a separate machine in the end.

 

If you have two different drives and is going for a new mobo, you could clone your current install, try change either the new or the old one to AHCI, see if everything is ok, and then after that install mint on the RST-windows-drive.

[CentreMetre]

1 hour ago, igormp said:

If you have two different drives and is going for a new mobo, you could clone your current install, try change either the new or the old one to AHCI, see if everything is ok, and then after that install mint on the RST-windows-drive.

Do you mean install mint on the drive that currently has windows on it? I wasnt gonna bother since its only 128gb and the main reason i bought the 4TB one was to put mint on it. But yes i could try and de-RST my current windows install after cloning it just to test, i didnt think of that, was just gonna leave it alone.