win8.1 How do I get USB 3.0 to work in Windows 8.1?

[Yusuf M. Veteran]

I have an ASUS Z87-A motherboard which definitely supports USB 3.0 but for some reason, it isn't working. It seems like the Intel USB 3.0 Controller driver only supports Windows 7. Is there any way to to force-install a Windows 7 driver in Windows 8?

EDIT: I just found this:

 

Windows 8* has a native in-box USB 3.0 driver. Intel is not releasing a specific Intel? USB 3.0 eXtensible Host Controller Driver for Windows 8.

[Brandon H Supervisor]

you don't need to. windows 8 has native usb3 support

[Yusuf M. Veteran]

you don't need to. windows 8 has native usb3 support

I just found that moments after creating this thread. :pinch:

 

Anyway, why am I not getting USB 3.0 speeds with my 64GB flash drive? It's supposed to get 200 MB/s read and 100 MB/s write. I'm getting 40 MB/s write speeds with a blue USB 3.0 port on my case.

[Roger H. Veteran]

Are you copying a bunch of files or 1 large file?

 

Download a ISO/EXE (SP1 or something) from Microsoft and copy it to the USB drive to test.

[snaphat (Myles Landwehr) Member]

Also, test it in USB 2.0 ports to see if you get the same speeds.

[theyarecomingforyou]

I've had all sorts of problems with USB3.0 since installing Windows 8.1 and it seems that there are a lot of people having problems. Microsoft seems to have really dropped the ball on this one.

[Brandon H Supervisor]

how old is the usb3 controller? some of the first ones to come out were rather crap & didn't give the speeds they were supposed to

[Yusuf M. Veteran]

It seems to be working now. I think it only goes to ~100 MB/s when my SSD is idle. If I'm using it in any way at all, then the transfer rate drops to USB 2.0 speeds.

[exotoxic]

Some USB3 controllers don't work properly in windows 7 or windows 8(.1)

[+ir0nw0lf Subscriber²]

I just found that moments after creating this thread. :pinch:

 

Anyway, why am I not getting USB 3.0 speeds with my 64GB flash drive? It's supposed to get 200 MB/s read and 100 MB/s write. I'm getting 40 MB/s write speeds with a blue USB 3.0 port on my case.

These speeds you mentioned, where did you read it would get those speeds?  Nearly all of the USB 3.0 flash drives do not get even remotely close to the advertised speeds.

[Zidane]

I've had all sorts of problems with USB3.0 since installing Windows 8.1 and it seems that there are a lot of people having problems. Microsoft seems to have really dropped the ball on this one.

Unless Microsoft made your USB3 controller on your board, it is not Microsoft's problem to ensure it still works on future versions of Windows.

 

Go bark at your manufacturer...I deal daily with plenty of devices that are on 8.1 and use USB 3 with zero issues (at the correct speeds).

[Yusuf M. Veteran]

These speeds you mentioned, where did you read it would get those speeds?  Nearly all of the USB 3.0 flash drives do not get even remotely close to the advertised speeds.

It's a 64GB ADATA EU700 and it's much faster than the vast majority of flash drives out there. The highest write speed I've seen so far is 95 MB/s.

 

Write:

 

Read:

[Argi]

What's your motherboard?  Some of the older, discrete USB3 controllers share bandwidth with other connected devices.