Windows Server 2025 and 11 Embrace Native NVMe for Performance Gains

In December 2025, Microsoft announced native Non-Volatile Memory Express (NVMe) support for Windows Server 2025, promising significant performance improvements. The company claims systems utilizing this new feature will witness up to an 80% increase in Input/Output Operations Per Second (IOPS), translating to a more responsive system with compatible NVMe drives. Microsoft is as well extending these gains to Windows 11, specifically versions 25H2 and 26H2 .

The Shift Away from SCSI

Historically, Windows treated NVMe storage, like other storage devices, as if it were connected through the Small Computer System Interface (SCSI) protocol, originally designed for slower, rotational disks. This translation layer introduced overhead and limited the potential of modern NVMe hardware. Microsoft’s new approach bypasses this SCSI emulation, allowing Windows to directly communicate with NVMe drives and unlock their full capabilities .

Performance Improvements and Early Adoption

Early testing by enthusiasts revealed substantial performance gains when enabling native NVMe support on Windows 11. Reports indicated significant improvements, particularly in random read/write performance, which directly benefits applications requiring frequent small file access . Neowin’s testing also demonstrated a noticeable improvement in random write speeds after applying the changes .

Enabling Native NVMe on Windows 11 (Previously)

Initially, users could enable native NVMe support on Windows 11 versions 24H2 and 25H2 through registry modifications. The required entries were:

• reg add HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetPoliciesMicrosoftFeatureManagementOverrides /v 1853569164 /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f
• reg add HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetPoliciesMicrosoftFeatureManagementOverrides /v 156965516 /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f
• reg add HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetPoliciesMicrosoftFeatureManagementOverrides /v 1409234060 /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f
• reg add HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetPoliciesMicrosoftFeatureManagementOverrides /v 735209102 /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f

A system reboot was required for the changes to take effect. After applying these changes, the disk drive description in Device Manager would change from “disk drives” to “Storage disks.”

Microsoft Blocks Registry Trick

As of recent Windows 11 Insider builds, Microsoft has disabled the registry-based method for enabling native NVMe support. The company appears to have blocked this workaround, preventing users from directly accessing the feature .

Alternative Enablement with ViVeTool

Despite Microsoft’s efforts, users can still enable native NVMe support on Windows 11 using ViVeTool with feature ID 60786016,48433719. The process involves:

1. Download ViVeTool from GitHub and extract the files.
2. Open Command Prompt as an administrator (Win + X, then select Terminal (Admin)).
3. Navigate to the ViVeTool directory using the cd command.
4. Type vivetool /enable /id:60786016,48433719 and press Enter.
5. Restart your computer.

To revert the changes, replace /enable with /disable in the command.

Looking Ahead

Native NVMe support represents a significant step forward in Windows storage performance. While Microsoft has initially limited direct access to the feature, the ongoing efforts by the community and the availability of tools like ViVeTool demonstrate a strong desire to unlock the full potential of NVMe technology. As Windows Server 2025 and future Windows 11 releases mature, we can expect further refinements and optimizations to this crucial component of the operating system.