M.2 not booting after the installation of Windows 10

Can you get a BIOS (and Chipset) upgrade for this motherboard?  That is the first thing I would try.

Hi teme, you should check on the BIOS the "Storage Mode"

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THwvw0RFoow
it should be RAID instead of PCH or the other mode.

after installing the w10 - remove the usb stick
then it can only boot from your disk
check also in bios that your sata channels are enabled

Hey! Thanks for the fast answers. John I'm not sure what do you mean upgrading. I first tried with my BIOS version being the original (when I built my PC I installed BIOS and drivers through disk) and when that didn't work I updated my BIOS to the latest version.

Hi Jose! I didn't have it as SATA and I changed it tried again but still the same problem. I also lent my friends Windows USB stick and when I boot through his windows stick and try to install Windows that way my M.2 is not even showing up.

Nobus I have tried it many times but without me pressing any buttons my pc boots goes into bios. And in BIOS I have selected that my pc should restart and boot from my m.2 it still won't work. Opens bios again and again. I don't think my problem is very common :D

I guess I have the option that when booting fails my pc opens BIOS I switch it off and look for the potential error codes.

when that didn't work I updated my BIOS to the latest version.

Are you sure the board is Windows 10 compliant?  Ask ASUS Support about this and why you cannot see the board or disk.

I have a Samsung 860 NVMe driver here and it works fine in Windows 10.  I assume the 970 should work as well

Yes I'm sure that my board is w10 compliant because it has run w10 previously on my ssd and now I want to install windows on my m.2 for smoother and faster experience but the m.2 is facing some problems. I don't know if it's a faulty m.2 or am I just doing something wrong here.

Can you temporarily bypass the M.2 and try a different SSD just to see if it can be seen the alternate way.

When I try to install w10 the normal way with the usb stick I cant select my m.2 because for some reason it's not visible. It's visible in BIOS though so it's not falsely installed. However when I go to bcdedit.exe it sees my m.2 see the attached pic.
1562163673547657278083222112649.jpg

Is the M.2 interface a replaceable part on the board?

The m.2 itself is ofcourse replaceable but I'm afraid that the interface itself is not.

in the advanced menu :
-page 3-17  of the manual says to set Sata to AHCI - did you set it like that?
https://dlcdnets.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/LGA1151/ROG_STRIX_Z370-F_GAMING/E13351_ROG_STRIX_Z370-F_GAMING_UM_WEB.pdf?_ga=2.155777715.903824537.1562133467-1685357623.1507461867

-page 3-18 tells you how to set m2 devices - is yours PCIe

Since it is NVMe I would try disabling any SATA mode.

You have omitted a critical step for secure boot.

Please read the procedure below.

"1- The M.2 drive has to be the only drive installed.

2 - Go into the bios, under the boot tab there is an option for CSM, make sure it is disabled.

3 - Click on secure boot option below and make sure it is set to other OS, not windows UEFI.

4 - Click on key management and clear secure boot keys.

5 - Insert a USB memory stick with a UEFI bootable iso of Windows 10 on it, USB3 is quicker but USB2 works also. A Windows DVD won’t work unless you’ve created your own UEFI Bootable DVD.

6 - Press F10 to save, exit and reboot.

7 - Windows 10 will now start installing to your NVME drive as it has its own NVME driver built in.

8 - When the PC reboots hit F2 to go back into the BIOS, you will see under boot priority that windows boot manager now lists your NVME drive.

9 - Click on secure boot again but now set it to WIndows UEFI mode. (see #3 above)

10 - Click on key management and install default secure boot keys

11 - Press F10 to save and exit and windows will finish the install. Once you have Windows up and running, shutdown the PC and reconnect your other SATA drives. Do not put anything on SATA port 1 as this is now may be reserved for the NVME drive

The M.2_1 socket shares SATA_1 port when use M.2 SATA mode device. Adjust BIOS settings to use a SATA device.

The M.2_2 socket shares SATA_56 ports when use M.2 PCIE mode device in X4 mode. Adjust BIOS settings to use SATA devices..

I would also recommend installing the Samsung NVME driver at this point to replace the Windows one.

The background here is NVME SSDs do not appear within the BIOS until Windows creates the system partition with the EFI Boot Sector. Your M.2 SSD contains UEFI driver information within the firmware. By disabling the CSM module Windows will read and utilize the M.2-specific UEFI driver."

Source: https://forums.tomshardware.com/threads/nvme-m-2-installation-on-a-asus-z270f-rog-strix.3070071/