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220-1201 Practice Question: A customer reports that their new NVMe SSD is not…
A customer reports that their new NVMe SSD is not detected by the system, even though it is properly seated. The motherboard supports both UEFI and legacy BIOS. Which firmware setting should be enabled to ensure the NVMe drive is recognized?
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Enable UEFI boot mode and disable CSM
NVMe drives require UEFI mode because legacy BIOS lacks the necessary driver support for NVMe controllers. Enabling UEFI boot mode and disabling legacy/CSM allows the firmware to initialize the NVMe drive correctly. This question tests understanding of UEFI's role in supporting modern storage interfaces.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
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Enable Legacy BIOS mode
Why it's wrong here
Enabling Legacy BIOS mode is incorrect because NVMe (Non-Volatile Memory Express) drives utilize the PCIe bus and require UEFI firmware for native support of the NVM Express protocol. Legacy BIOS, designed for older MBR partitioning and SATA/IDE controllers, lacks the necessary drivers and architecture to properly detect and initialize modern NVMe SSDs, making them unbootable without highly specialized and rare option ROMs.
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Enable Secure Boot
Why it's wrong here
Enabling Secure Boot is a security feature within UEFI firmware that verifies the digital signatures of bootloaders and critical operating system components to prevent unauthorized software from loading during startup. While it operates within the UEFI environment, Secure Boot does not influence the system's ability to physically detect or initialize an NVMe drive; its function is purely for boot integrity, not hardware recognition.
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Enable UEFI boot mode and disable CSM
Why this is correct
Enabling UEFI boot mode and disabling the Compatibility Support Module (CSM) is the correct solution. UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) natively supports NVMe drives through its integrated NVM Express driver and the GPT (GUID Partition Table) partitioning scheme. Disabling CSM ensures the system operates in pure UEFI mode, preventing it from attempting to emulate a legacy BIOS environment that would fail to recognize the NVMe SSD.
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Enable SATA hot-plug
Why it's wrong here
Enabling SATA hot-plug is irrelevant to NVMe drive detection. SATA hot-plug is a feature specific to SATA (Serial Advanced Technology Attachment) interfaces, allowing SATA drives to be connected or disconnected while the system is running. NVMe drives connect via the PCIe (Peripheral Component Interconnect Express) bus, which operates fundamentally differently from SATA, and their detection occurs during the system's Power-On Self-Test (POST) via PCIe enumeration, not through a hot-plug mechanism.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This 220-1201 practice question is part of Courseiva's free CompTIA certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the 220-1201 exam.