Native NVMe path with nvmedisk.sys: Server 2025 route vs Windows 11 risk

Microsoft has quietly shipped a new, native NVMe disk driver — nvmedisk.sys — in the Windows servicing stream, and early tests show real-world throughput and IOPS gains on some SSDs, but the fastest path today requires either using Microsoft’s supported opt‑in on Windows Server 2025 or applying community-discovered Feature Management overrides on Windows 11 25H2 — the latter carries real risk of incompatibility and boot failure if your hardware or vendor driver isn’t compatible.

Background / Overview​

Microsoft’s storage stack historically exposed NVMe devices through layers that were optimized for legacy SCSI-like models, which created translation overhead for modern NVMe media. The company has been developing a native NVMe I/O path to eliminate that translation and take advantage of NVMe’s multi‑queue design and lower latency. Microsoft documented the native NVMe feature in the context of Windows Server 2025 and published an opt‑in enablement path that administrators can deploy after installing the servicing update that contains the new stack. Early community reports and independent tests show meaningful gains in both sequential throughput and random I/O performance on compatible drives, but enabling the feature on client Windows builds is still effectively an experimental, community-driven process.

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What changed: nvmedisk.sys and the native NVMe path​

The problem Microsoft addressed​

For years Windows has handled NVMe drives through drivers that relied on SCSI-style abstractions or translation layers. That design worked well during the transition from spinning disks to flash, but it creates unnecessary CPU overhead and latency on hardware designed for massively parallel IO (NVMe supports many queues and tens of thousands of commands per queue). Modern NVMe SSDs — especially PCIe Gen4 and Gen5 parts — now push millions of IOPS; translating NVMe into a SCSI-like model becomes a bottleneck. Microsoft’s native NVMe path targets that gap by removing the translation and providing a storage stack that is NVMe‑aware end-to-end.

nvmedisk.sys vs disk.sys / StorNVMe​

• disk.sys: The longstanding Microsoft “disk” driver historically used for a broad set of block devices; community reporting has described it as part of an older stack that falls back to SCSI-style handling for NVMe devices. This is what many Windows systems have traditionally used for NVMe devices presented via the generic disk class.
• nvmedisk.sys: The new Microsoft kernel driver that implements the native NVMe disk path and avoids the legacy SCSI translation. When enabled and actively used, NVMe devices may appear in Device Manager in a different category (reported as "Storage disks" or similar) and the Driver Details dialog will show nvmedisk.sys as the backing driver.

Microsoft’s own guidance frames the native NVMe stack as a server‑grade feature first (Windows Server 2025), delivered as an opt‑in capability in servicing updates; the company provides a documented registry toggle or a Group Policy MSI for administrators to enable the feature on supported server builds.

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How big the gains look (real-world tests and vendor claims)​

Independent outlets and early testers have produced a range of measurements:

• NotebookCheck reported notable gains in both sequential and random workloads after switching to nvmedisk.sys on certain client systems — including single‑digit to double‑digit percentage improvements for some workloads and larger boosts for others (the site documented a case of up to ~45% sequential read uplift in one configuration). NotebookCheck emphasized the variance by model and system.
• Heise (German publication) ran early benchmarks and reported ~10–15% throughput increases on at least one PCIe 4.0 SSD in a workstation-style test, with improvements also visible on PCIe Gen3 SSDs.
• Microsoft’s server documentation and public messaging claim much larger potential gains for high-end enterprise contexts: in lab testing the native NVMe stack can yield substantially higher IOPS and lower CPU cost under heavy load — Microsoft has framed this as an enabler for workloads that demand extreme I/O parallelism (database hosts, virtualization platforms, AI training scratch disks). Microsoft’s server guidance cites performance advantages on enterprise NVMe devices.

Important context: performance improvements are hardware and driver dependent. High-end enterprise NVMe devices will show larger absolute gains than typical consumer SSDs, and vendor-supplied drivers or firmware can change the baseline. Always treat percentage numbers as indicative rather than guaranteed across all systems.

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How to check which driver your NVMe drive is using​

Before changing anything, verify how Windows currently presents your NVMe disk and which driver is in use. The process is simple and reversible:

• Open Device Manager (right‑click Start → Device Manager).
• Expand the relevant category — historically this appears under Disk drives; with the native path enabled some reports show devices under Storage disks or Storage media.
• Right‑click the NVMe drive and choose Properties.
• Go to the Driver tab and click Driver Details.
• Look for filenames such as disk.sys, storNVMe.sys, or nvmedisk.sys.

If you see nvmedisk.sys listed after enabling the new stack, the native driver is active for that device. NotebookCheck and several community testers used this exact check to confirm driver changes after applying Feature Management overrides.

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Official, supported route (Windows Server 2025) — recommended for production​

Microsoft published an official enablement path for the feature on Windows Server 2025. This is the supported route and the place to start for organizations and admins who manage servers.
Steps (officially documented):

• Install the servicing update that introduces the native NVMe capability (the October servicing LCU that includes the relevant update; MK references indicate the 2510-B cumulative update as the baseline).
• Run the registry toggle as Administrator (PowerShell or cmd):
  reg add HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Policies\Microsoft\FeatureManagement\Overrides /v 1176759950 /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f
• Reboot and verify Device Manager presentation and driver details. NVMe devices should be shown under the new storage category and use the native stack.

Why follow the server path?

• It is documented and supported by Microsoft for server SKUs.
• It’s designed for large‑scale validation and staged rollouts.
• Microsoft explicitly calls out firmware, vendor driver checks, and lab validation as prerequisites.

For enterprises, use the supplied Group Policy MSI and staged testing before rolling this into production. Microsoft’s guidance stresses conservative rollout and testing for server fleets.

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The client (Windows 11 25H2) situation — community discoveries and the risk profile​

What the community found​

Enthusiasts and independent testers discovered that the native NVMe code path exists in client servicing builds (Windows 11 25H2 and recent cumulative updates), but Microsoft has not published an official client enablement toggle for every SKU. Community members documented a set of Feature Management override values (three numeric registry entries) that appear to flip on the native NVMe path on many Windows 11 systems. After applying those values and rebooting, some systems present drives under the “Storage disks” category and show nvmedisk.sys as the driver. The commonly reported community commands (use with extreme caution):

• reg add HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Policies\Microsoft\FeatureManagement\Overrides /v 735209102 /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f
• reg add HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Policies\Microsoft\FeatureManagement\Overrides /v 1853569164 /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f
• reg add HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Policies\Microsoft\FeatureManagement\Overrides /v 156965516 /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f

Several community writeups and guides (including NotebookCheck) explain how to perform this change and how to verify whether your device switched drivers. But that approach is not Microsoft‑supported for client SKUs, and Microsoft’s official documentation recommends using the server opt‑in where supported.

Why the community method is risky​

• Compatibility: Not all NVMe controllers or vendor drivers work with the native stack. Some vendor drivers provide functionality or firmware hooks that the native path may not accommodate.
• Boot risk: Changing the storage driver path for a boot drive can render a system unbootable if the driver is incompatible with your controller or if a vendor driver was required during boot. NotebookCheck and community forums explicitly warn that enabling this on a boot drive can break Windows boot.
• Unsupported state: Because the client toggle is community-discovered, Microsoft may change or remove internal flags in future updates, and you have no official rollback or support path beyond standard Windows recovery tools.

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If you decide to experiment: safety-first checklist​

Do not attempt the client/community method on a production machine or without full backups. These are the minimum safety steps to take before experimenting:

• Image your system drive: Create a full block-level image (Macrium Reflect, Acronis, or Windows System Image) and verify the image integrity. A full image allows bare‑metal restore if the system won’t boot.
• Create a recovery USB: Build a Windows Recovery USB and confirm you can boot into WinRE and restore an image.
• Firmware & vendor drivers: Update your SSD firmware and install the vendor-provided storage drivers and tools before trying the native path. If your SSD is already using a vendor driver (Intel/AMD/Samsung), the native Windows path may not take effect until that driver is removed.
• Test on a secondary internal or external NVMe: If possible, test on a non‑boot NVMe or a spare system where failure is acceptable.
• Document how to revert: Know the exact registry names you add so you can delete or set them to 0 to attempt a revert:
• reg delete HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Policies\Microsoft\FeatureManagement\Overrides /v 735209102 /f
• reg delete HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Policies\Microsoft\FeatureManagement\Overrides /v 1853569164 /f
• reg delete HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Policies\Microsoft\FeatureManagement\Overrides /v 156965516 /f

NotebookCheck and other outlets strongly recommend image backups because community enablement has produced a small number of unbootable systems in early reports.

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Step-by-step: safe server route and a cautious note about client tweaks​

Supported (Server 2025) — official enablement​

• Confirm your server is patched with the servicing update that includes Native NVMe (the October servicing LCU or newer that carries the feature).
• Run, as Administrator:
  reg add HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Policies\Microsoft\FeatureManagement\Overrides /v 1176759950 /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f
• Reboot, then verify Device Manager and Driver Details show nvmedisk.sys for NVMe devices that use Windows’ in-box driver. Use Group Policy MSI for fleet rollouts.

Client (Windows 11 25H2) — community method (UNSUPPORTED; proceed only after imaging)​

• Take a full image of your boot disk and confirm a tested recovery path.
• If you still want to proceed, apply the three community overrides (run as Administrator):
• reg add HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Policies\Microsoft\FeatureManagement\Overrides /v 735209102 /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f
• reg add HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Policies\Microsoft\FeatureManagement\Overrides /v 1853569164 /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f
• reg add HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Policies\Microsoft\FeatureManagement\Overrides /v 156965516 /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f
• Reboot and check Device Manager → Properties → Driver Details for nvmedisk.sys.
• If you experience issues or boot failures, use your recovery USB to restore the image or delete the registry values (via WinRE command prompt) and reboot.

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Rollback and recovery tips​

If the system fails to boot after you change driver behavior:

• Boot from your recovery USB or Windows installation media and select Repair your computer.
• Use System Image Recovery (if you created an image) or the Command Prompt to delete the FeatureManagement override values shown above.
• If you did not create a disk image but had System Restore enabled, try a System Restore point.
• In severe cases, rebuild the Windows bootloader or restore the previously imaged disk to return to a known good state.

Always prefer the official Microsoft server path for production systems; keep vendor firmware/tools up to date and test in a lab before broad rollouts.

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Practical guidance for different audiences​

• Enterprise/IT teams: Evaluate the Windows Server 2025 official path in a staged lab environment. Use Microsoft’s Group Policy MSI and fleet management procedures. Validate vendor drivers and firmware before enabling in production.
• Power users and enthusiasts: If you want the potential performance uplift on a personal machine, image first, test on a secondary drive if available, and expect a little trial and error. Report success/failure to vendors and Microsoft to accelerate compatibility feedback loops.
• Gamers and creators: Real‑world boot and application load improvements can be noticeable, but gains vary widely by storage, CPU, and workload. Consider whether the incremental performance is worth the risk of tinkering with a boot drive.

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Strengths, limits, and unanswered questions​

• Strengths
• Native NVMe removes translation overhead, enabling better utilization of NVMe parallelism and lower latency for workloads that can use it.
• Early independent tests show material improvements in both throughput and IOPS in certain configurations.
• Limits
• Gains are highly dependent on SSD model, controller, firmware, and whether the device is already using a vendor-provided driver.
• The client enablement path documented by the community is unsupported and can cause boot failures on incompatible hardware.
• Unanswered questions / caveats
• Exact cross-vendor behavior: vendor drivers from Samsung, Intel/Solidigm, Western Digital, etc., may interact with Microsoft’s native path in different ways; additional vendor validation is needed.
• Long-term stability: community experience is early and anecdotal; broad deployment data and Microsoft’s client‑SKU guidance are still evolving. Microsoft’s server guidance is authoritative for server class deployments — client SKU behavior may change as Microsoft formalizes client enablement.

Where claims could not be independently verified (for example, precise origin year of disk.sys or an exact guaranteed percentage uplift across all consumer SSDs), those remain community observations and should be treated as indicative, not guaranteed. Proceed only after accounting for that uncertainty.

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Final verdict — practical recommendation​

The native NVMe stack is a sensible and necessary modernization of Windows’ storage architecture and provides measurable benefits where hardware and drivers allow. For server environments, the supported Microsoft path in Windows Server 2025 is the correct, tested route. For Windows 11 clients, treat current community methods as experimental: they may unlock impressive performance on some systems but carry non-trivial boot and compatibility risk.
If you value raw performance and are comfortable with recovery procedures, back up your image, update firmware and vendor drivers, and test in a safe environment. If you run production workloads or rely on a single machine for critical tasks, wait for Microsoft or your OEM to provide an officially supported path tailored to client SKUs or for vendor driver updates that explicitly enable and certify the native NVMe stack for your SSD model.

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The storage landscape is changing: NVMe hardware has outpaced decades‑old abstractions, and Microsoft’s native NVMe work is the right engineering response. Enthusiasts and administrators who follow the safety guidance can capture early gains — but the cautious route is to prefer supported server toggles and vendor‑validated updates while the client story matures.

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Source: TechPowerUp Windows 11 25H2 Includes a Faster NVMe Driver Needing Manual Installation