A NVMe (Non-Volatile Memory Express) storage controller driver for Windows 2000, targeting both x86 and Alpha AXP platforms.

NVMe2K is a SCSI miniport driver that provides NVMe device support for Windows 2000. It uses the ScsiPort framework to integrate NVMe solid-state drives with the Windows 2000 storage stack.

It seemed like a good idea at first.

• Full NVMe 1.0 specification support

  • Single I/O queue pair (scalable architecture)
  • Admin queue for device management
  • PRP (Physical Region Page) based data transfers
  • Up to 2MB transfer sizes via PRP lists

• SCSI Translation Layer

  • Translates SCSI commands to NVMe commands
  • Tagged command queuing support
  • Ordered queue tag support with automatic flush
  • READ/WRITE/FLUSH/INQUIRY/READ_CAPACITY commands

• Advanced Features

  • SMP-safe with configurable locking (NVME2K_USE_*_LOCK defines)
  • Custom atomic operations for x86 and Alpha AXP
  • Proper alignment for Alpha 64-bit pointers
  • Non-tagged request serialization
  • Queue depth management and statistics

• Multi-Platform Support

  • x86 (Pentium and later)
  • Alpha AXP (DEC Alpha workstations/servers)

Application Layer
       ↓
  SCSI Disk Driver
       ↓
   ScsiPort.sys
       ↓
   nvme2k.sys ← This driver
       ↓
  NVMe Controller (PCI)

• atomic.h - Platform-specific atomic operations (x86 inline asm, Alpha LL/SC)
• nvme2k.c - Main driver logic, SCSI translation, NVMe command handling
• nvme2k.h - Data structures, constants, NVMe register definitions
• nvme2k.inf - Multi-platform installation file

• Windows 2000 DDK

  • Final version (5.00.2195.1) for x86
  • RC1 version for Alpha AXP

• Visual C++ 6.0

  • x86 compiler for x86 builds
  • Alpha AXP compiler for Alpha builds

REM Set up build environment
cd C:\NTDDK\bin
setenv.bat free          REM or 'checked' for debug build

REM Navigate to driver directory
cd <path-to-nvme2k>

REM Build
build -cZ

Output: obj\i386\nvme2k.sys

REM Set up build environment for Alpha
cd C:\NTDDK\bin
setenv.bat free alpha    REM or 'checked' for debug build

REM Navigate to driver directory
cd <path-to-nvme2k>

REM Build
build -cZ

Output: obj\alpha\nvme2k.sys

Edit nvme2k.h to configure:

#define NVME2K_DBG                    // Enable debug logging
// #define NVME2K_DBG_CMD             // Extra verbose command logging

// Locking control (comment out to disable)
#define NVME2K_USE_INTERRUPT_LOCK     // Serialize HwInterrupt on SMP
#define NVME2K_USE_SUBMISSION_LOCK    // Serialize command submission
#define NVME2K_USE_COMPLETION_LOCK    // Serialize completion processing

Create the following directory structure:

DriverDisk\
├── nvme2k.inf
├── i386\
│   └── nvme2k.sys    (x86 binary)
└── alpha\
    └── nvme2k.sys    (Alpha AXP binary)

1. Copy driver files to installation media
2. Boot Windows 2000
3. Use Device Manager or Add Hardware Wizard
4. Point to the driver location when prompted
5. Select "NVMe Storage Controller (Windows 2000)"

Note: The driver requires NVMe devices to be visible on the PCI bus with class code 01-08-02 (Mass Storage - Non-Volatile Memory - NVMe).

The driver supports registry-based configuration via the INF file:

• MaximumSGList (Default: 512) - Maximum scatter-gather list entries
• NumberOfRequests (Default: 64) - Queue depth
• MaxQueueDepth (Default: 64) - Tagged command queue depth

Enable checked (debug) builds and use WinDbg with the Windows 2000 kernel debugger:

!scsiport.miniport <DeviceExtension>
!devobj <DeviceObject>

Debug messages are output via ScsiDebugPrint() and visible in checked builds.

• Single I/O queue pair (no multi-queue support)
• No MSI/MSI-X interrupt support (uses legacy INTx)
• Maximum 10 concurrent large transfers (PRP list pool limitation)
• No namespace management (assumes namespace 1)
• No power management features
• Tested primarily in virtualized environments and Windows 2000 RC2 on Alpha

The driver uses multiple synchronization strategies:

1. InterruptLock - Prevents concurrent ISR execution on SMP systems
2. SubmissionLock - Protects submission queue tail pointer
3. CompletionLock - Serializes completion queue processing
4. NonTaggedInFlight - Ensures only one non-tagged request at a time

All locks can be disabled via #define for performance testing.

• Uncached Extension - 64KB for queues and PRP lists (DMA-accessible)
• Admin Queue - 4KB submission + 4KB completion (power-of-2 sized)
• I/O Queue - 4KB submission + 4KB completion (power-of-2 sized)
• PRP List Pool - 40KB (10 pages) for scatter-gather

Bit 15: Non-tagged flag (1 = non-tagged, 0 = tagged)
Bit 14: Ordered flush flag (for ORDERED queue tags)
Bits 0-13: QueueTag (tagged) or sequence number (non-tagged)

This project is licensed under the 3-Clause BSD License. See the LICENSE file for the full license text.

USE AT YOUR OWN RISK. This driver is experimental and may cause data loss, system instability, or hardware damage. Not recommended for production use.

• ✅ Free to use, modify, and distribute
• ✅ Commercial use permitted
• ✅ Modification and redistribution allowed
• ⚠️ No warranty provided
• ⚠️ Use at your own risk

Feel free to submit issues or pull requests. Areas of interest:

• Multi-queue support
• MSI-X interrupt support
• Power management
• Additional SCSI command translations
• Performance optimizations

• NVMe specification authors
• Windows 2000 DDK documentation
• Alpha AXP architecture documentation
• Everyone who thought this was a terrible idea (you were right)

Disclaimer: This is an unofficial, community-developed driver. Not affiliated with Microsoft, Intel, or the NVMe standards body.