After integrating Microsoft Hotfixes 2990941 & 3087873 for NVMe driver into Windows 7 64 SP1, the resulting setup does not install on VMWare Player 14 when the disk controller is NVMe.
The setup stalls at Starting Windows logo. The problem appears to be in the VMware NVMe controller or some sort of incompatibility between the two
Steps to reproduce the issue.
- Refer this link and follow the exact procedure to integrate MS hotfixes into Boot.wim and Install.wim of Windows 7 64 SP1 (Choose the correct Index of Install.wim as per your version of Windows 7)
- Create a VM Windows 7 64 SP1 on VMWare Player 14 with disk controller as NVME. (Host is Windows 7 64 SP1)
- Boot using slip streamed Windows 7 64 SP1 ISO in EFI Mode
Now when setup loads, it stalls at Starting Windows logo forever.
The issue appears to be present only during boot stage. You can install Windows 7 64 SP1 on a SCSI disk then install those MS patches and then Windows 7 detects and loads drivers for the secondary virtual NVMe drive when added later on.