Issuing Format NVM Fail

[CharlesJuGit]

Hi Ken-Yossy, During usage of the Tool, I tried the commands and found that I could not issue Format NVM. And the error message is: [E] DeviceIOControl : (ErrorCode=1) Incorrect function. [E] Failed in issuing Format NVM command by DeviceIOControl (IOCTL_STORAGE_REINITIALIZE_MEDIA)

I'm wondering to know if there is some setting or config I should modify or change? Thanks for your kindly help.

Environments as below: MB : Gigabyte X570 UD CPU : AMD Ryzen 3 3100 4-Core Processor OS: Windows 10 10.0.10586

Here is the attachment picture.

[ken-yossy]

Hi Charles,

Thank you for your comment. I will investigate it.

Could you please tell me the build number of Windows 10 of your system? You can get it in "System" > "About" as follows.

Kind regards, Ken

[CharlesJuGit]

Hi Ken, Here is the update: Test Result 1: OSInfo: Windows 10 10.0.10586 (It is 1511 threshold 2 by wikipedia https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Windows_10%E3%81%AE%E3%83%90%E3%83%BC%E3%82%B8%E3%83%A7%E3%83%B3%E5%B1%A5%E6%AD%B4)

Test Result 2: OSInfo: 19042.1052(It is 20H2 by wikipedia https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Windows_10%E3%81%AE%E3%83%90%E3%83%BC%E3%82%B8%E3%83%A7%E3%83%B3%E5%B1%A5%E6%AD%B4)

The Test Result2 environment is 20H2 version (19042.1052) with Visual Studio 2019

Thanks for your reply.

Best Regards, Charles.

[eeric7777]

Hello,

I thought the IOCTL_STORAGE_REINITIALIZE_MEDIA API is only enabled in WinPE mode ?
or it's just my misunderstanding ?

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/drivers/storage/stornvme-command-set-support

[ken-yossy]

Hi @eeric7777,

Thank you for your comment.

It says:

Only enabled in Win PE mode for IOCTL_STORAGE_PROTOCOL_COMMAND. SCSIOP_SANITIZE for IOCTL_SCSI_PASS_THROUGH. IOCTL_STORAGE_REINITIALIZE_MEDIA only supports crypto erase.

I think this means the following three independent limitations.

• Issuing Format NVM by IOCTL_STORAGE_PROTOCOL_COMMAND is limited to WinPE mode
• To issue Format NVM by SCSIOP_SANITIZE, IOCTL_SCSI_PASS_THROUGH should be used
• IOCTL_STORAGE_REINITIALIZE_MEDIA only supports "Cryptographic Erase" in NVMe spec; Secure Erase Settings (SES) should be 0b010

Regards, Ken

[ken-yossy]

Hi all,

I tried FormatNVM command with Samsung 970 EVO Plus on Windows 10 Insider Preview (build 21354), and succeeded as follows.

So this phenomenon probably depends on drive and/or version (build) of Windows. Next, I will try to issue the command with the drive on Windows 21H1 (build 19043). Also, I will try to find drives other than the above one that FormatNVM command can be issued with this tool among drives that I have.

PS C:\users\ken\downloads> .\NVMeTool.exe 1
[I] nvmetool-win version 2.0

[I] Running on Windows 10 build 21354
[I] Getting controller identify data succeeded.

[M] SerialNumber (SN): -----
[M] Model Number (MN): Samsung SSD 970 EVO Plus 500GB
[M] Firmware Revision (FR): 2B2QEXM7
[M] Version (VER): 0x00010300 (NVMe Revision 1.3.0)

[I] Getting controller's SMART / Health information log page succeeded.

# Input command:
#  - r: Read data from LBA = 0
#  - w: Write data to LBA = 0
#  - d: Deallocate LBA = 0
#  - l: Get Log Page
#  - i: Identify
#  - g: Get Feature
#  - s: Set Feature
#  - f: Flush
#  - t: Device Self-test
#  - z: Format NVM
#  - v: Security Receive
#
#  press 'q' to quit program

> i

# Input Controller or Namespace Structure (CNS) value (in hex):
#    Supported CNS values are:
#     00h = Namespace data structure (NSID = 1)
#     01h = Controller data structure (CNTID = 0)
#     02h = Active Namespace ID list
#     03h = Namespace Identification Descriptor (NSID = 1)

> 1

# Identify : Controller data structure (CNTID = 0), Press 'y' to continue

> y

(snip)

[M] Format NVM Attributes (FNA):
        bit [      2] 1 = Supports cryptographic erase operation
        bit [      1] 0 = Cryptographic erase or user data erase as part of a format is performed on a per namespace basis.
        bit [      0] 1 = Format operation applies to all namespaces

(snip)

# Input command:
#  - r: Read data from LBA = 0
#  - w: Write data to LBA = 0
#  - d: Deallocate LBA = 0
#  - l: Get Log Page
#  - i: Identify
#  - g: Get Feature
#  - s: Set Feature
#  - f: Flush
#  - t: Device Self-test
#  - z: Format NVM
#  - v: Security Receive
#
#  press 'q' to quit program

> z

# Format NVM : CAUTION!! all data are erased on the target drive
# Format NVM : Press 'y' to continue

> y

[I] Issuing Format NVM command by DeviceIoControl(IOCTL_STORAGE_REINITIALIZE_MEDIA) is succeeded

Regards, Ken

[ken-yossy]

Next, I will try to issue the command with the drive on Windows 21H1 (build 19043).

I succeeded on Windows 10 21H1 (build 19043) with Samsung 970 EVO Plus.

My next action is the following.

Also, I will try to find drives other than the above one that FormatNVM command can be issued with this tool among drives that I have.

And I will check what arguments are passed from Windows to drives using qemu.

[ken-yossy]

Hi Charles,

Could you tell me the "Format NVM Attributes (FNA)" of your drive? You can get it with Identify command with CNS = 1 (Controller Data Structure).

You will see something like that:

[M] Format NVM Attributes (FNA):
        bit [      2] 1 = Supports cryptographic erase operation
        bit [      1] 0 = Cryptographic erase or user data erase as part of a format is performed on a per namespace basis.
        bit [      0] 1 = Format operation applies to all namespaces

I think one possible reason is that some arguments along FormatNVM command your drive expects may differ from Windows passes.

The attribute is one of indications of it.

Thank you, Ken

[CharlesJuGit]

Hi Ken, The FNA is got by identify command with CNS=1 below: I will also research if there is some value different with standard case. And I will try to use another device for testing by Tuesday. Thank you. Best Regards, Charles

[ken-yossy]

Hi Charles,

Thank you for your information. It's interesting that bit 0 of "Format NVM Attributes" is different from Samsung 970 EVO Plus. I will check NVMe spec to find what behavior is expected with the value of this field, too.

[CharlesJuGit]

Hi Ken, I also found a possible factor which is [O]Sanitize Capabilities(SANICAP). The device shows: [O]Sanitize Capabilities (SANICAP): bit[2]0=Does not support Overwrite sanitize operation bit[1]1=Supports Block Erase sanitize operation bit[0]1=Supports Crypto Erase sanitize operation

Maybe this is another factor of "Format operation is specific to a particular namespace".

Thank you, Best Regards, Charles

[ken-yossy]

I captured the arguments of FormatNVM command that Windows 10 Insider Preview (build 21354) issued (by IOCTL_STORAGE_REINITIALIZE_MEDIA)

Then I found that Windows issued FormatNVM command with the following arguments regardless of the value of FNA bit 0. For CDW10, bit 10 means "Cryptographic Erase", and bit 4 can be ignored (about metadata).

[NVME] >>> Format NVM
[NVME] >>>   NSID  = 0x00000001
[NVME] >>>   PRP1  = 0x0000000000000000
[NVME] >>>   PRP2  = 0x0000000000000000
[NVME] >>>   CDW10 = 0x00000410
[NVME] >>>   CDW11 = 0x00000000
[NVME] >>>   CDW12 = 0x00000000
[NVME] >>>   CDW13 = 0x00000000
[NVME] >>>   CDW13 = 0x00000000
[NVME] >>>   CDW13 = 0x00000000

I will check NVMe spec for FormatNVM command that specified an NSID.

Another point of view: In my test, all target NVMe drives were not mounted ("offline" and volumes were not created on them). Therefore, I thought that Windows might not have issued the FormatNVM command because the target drive (volume) was mounted.

I tested....but Windows issued the command to a drive even if it was online and the volume on it was mounted.

Thank you, Ken

[ken-yossy]

According to the NVMe spec (1.3d), for Format NVM command with Secure Erase (SES field is not zero), controller changes its behavior by bit 0 of FNA field in Identify Controller data structure.

If bit 0 of FNA field is zero, the format operation is affected to the namespace that the Namespace ID (NSID) of the command specifies; NSID = 0xFFFFFFFFh is not allowed. If bit 0 of FNA field is one, the format operation is affected to the all namespace in the NVM subsystem (SSD) as long as the NSID is valid one or 0xFFFFFFFh.

Devices we tested support cryptographic erase for Secure Erase, and Windows seems to issue Format NVM command with requesting cryptographic erase.

As described above, for Format NVM command with cryptographic erase, the bit 0 of FNA is referred for the behavior of the drive, but we found that Windows specified 0x1 for NSID. It seemed to be a valid NSID.

So, at this time, the situation we examined here seems to depend on the drive.

Thank you, Ken

[CharlesJuGit]

Hi Ken, In your investigation it seems to be related with FNA bit 0 and NSID. I will check this part and drive.

Thank you, Best Regards, Charles.

[CharlesJuGit]

Hi Ken, So far I'm still investigating it. And I would like to try out other method like sanitize or secure erase. I'll close this issue first. Thanks for your kindly help.

Best Regards, Charles.